Israel - The Country With Future Vision and Innovation

There are many countries in the world with great capacity and advanced technologies. But from the last few decades, one country that attracted many technologically advanced companies of the world is one and only Israel.

So, how does Israel, a country which is 158 times smaller than India, is rapidly growing in terms of advanced technology? And does India really need Israel as his strong alliance?

Let’s understand the importance of Israel one by one.

Israel is the only Jews or Jewish country in the entire world. And as per www.usnews.com reports, Israel is the 8th most powerful nation in terms of military strength that no country can match their firepower.

If you look into the history of world war 2, Hitler killed more than 6 million Jews during that time. Of course, Hitler killed many non-Jews too. So, after this incident, the Jews people demanded a separate country for them.

But even before that if we look into the history of Jews people they have faced many atrocities around the world. And they were in no position to claim any place as their own country. Poland was the only country that gave Jewish people complete freedom to stay and live without fear.

Previously, Israel was part of Palestine which was controlled by Arabs. Before Israel became a nation by marking out their own territory within Palestine, the majority of people living in this region were Palestinians. But on May 14, 1948, Israel was officially declared a state of Israel, a new country, marking the first Jewish state in over 2,000 years.

Geographically Israel is surrounded by many Muslim dominated countries. And when Jewish established their state in the Palestine area it was not digested by Arabs. So, Egypt, Syria and Jordan made a pact among themselves to fight together against Israel and to finish it off if ever war breaks out.

As expected in the 1967 war broke out between Israel and Egypt. The main reason for conflict between them was “The Straits of Tiran”. And slowly more Muslim dominated countries took part. Nations like Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Algeria, Kuwait all got involved.

To destroy Israel, these countries selected Jordan as their military base. But before these nations could attack, Israel used their Air Force power and destroyed more than 350 fighter jets of enemy in one go. More than 100 pilots of Arab allies lost their lives. But Israel didn’t stop there and they moved towards Jordan, then Syria and then Iraq. Within the next four to five hours, the Israeli Air Force was everywhere in the sky. This was the biggest turning point of the war as they destroyed 90% of the air defence system of Arab allies.

Later early morning war started on the ground level but since Israel now had dual advantage i.e ground and in the air. So, they won the war within six days. Not only they just won the war but also captured the old city of Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Sinai Peninsula etc. But during these six days of war, more than 20000 Arab allies and 800 Israeli soldiers died. This was also known as the June War and was fought between 5 and 10 June 1967.

Within a few decades, Israel became one of the biggest arms exporters in the world. Although in comparison to the USA or Russia it’s very less but today they are among the top 10 arms exporters in the world. India is one of the biggest arms importers of Israel.

One best feature about their invention is first they develop the technology and use within their country. Once they see promising technology they rapidly start manufacturing them and then they start transferring those technologies to its friendly countries.

Even the world’s wealthiest billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have said Israel is one the safest country to invest despite geographical instability around it. Israel is also known as the silicon valley of the Middle East. Today, many technology companies have set up their R&D centre in Israel. And the credit of this achievement goes to “Israel Innovation Authority”. Israel spends 4.5% of their GDP budget towards innovation and technology.

Many people don’t know many recent Microsoft Windows updates are made in Israel. Cisco developed all its technologies in Israel. World’s first small mobile, USB, USB Port, first R&D centre of IBM outside the USA, a large number of Biotech start-up, first voicemail, first antivirus, VOIP service, the first router etc were all built by Israeli engineers and scientists.

Israeli people are very far-sighted and their country works on the ICDS model. In simple words I stand for identity, C stands for create, D stands for delivery and S stand for sell.

First, they see and identify the problem which is going on in the market. Then they ask their scientist, engineers and other man force to come up with the solution. After that they deliver those solutions to their own people and once they see it as a promising solution they rapidly replicate it, patent it, copyright it, make it as source of royalty, then, at last, they franchise it or sell by giving licence.

TTO stands for Tech Transfer Organization. Now we need to understand the function of TTO. When a team of engineers or scientists comes up with solutions these TTO calls big corporate organizations and they showcase the invention.

They ask these big organizations how much they can pay to get the technology. So, in this way, they transfer the technology and earn revenue or royalty etc. Yissum is Israel’s biggest TTO in terms of patents (10,000-plus) and licenses (900) in the record. So, now you can see how much royalty they might be earning.

Israel is moving ahead with new plans and when I came to know about this I got surprised. They are so far-sighted. They are highly successful in attracting many big venture capitalists from around the world.

So, how did Israel attract them? They told many venture capitalists to invest in their country and in return, they will not be charged any income tax. And because of this reason, many small start-ups have come up. They got many foreign investments because of this reason.

But they didn’t stop here; they even went ahead with another new scheme. Under the new scheme, they are asking many new generation start-ups to come up with ideas. Then these startups will be asked to share their ideas with the government. The Govt. will validate those ideas through their experts.

If the idea gets the nod then Govt. will invest all the required money. If the business becomes successful then Govt. takes some interest only on the given amount. But in return, the people of Israel get job opportunities. And if by chance business fails Govt. don’t punish the startups but ask them to come up with another idea and again Govt. will invest all the necessary money. By the way, I am happy to inform you that Israel's unemployment rate is around 4%, which is one of the best in the world.

Israel played another masterstroke with big corporate giants of the world. Govt. said - if they will open the first new office here in Israel, then Govt. is going to give a whopping 40% salary to all employees for the coming two years of any corporate.

Does India need an alliance with Israel? Yes, more than 100% India needs far greater alliance with Israel. Many people don’t know Israel helped India during the Kargil war by transferring the laser-guided missile technology to the Indian Air Force.

Currently we are going through a tough time due to the coronavirus. But I am sure soon Israel will come up with a vaccine in the market. And the main reason Israel became so powerful within a few decades is because their internal Govt. is extremely strong and people deeply love their country. Every citizen of Israel has to compulsory serve two years in the military, three years in case of a male. That’s how they have developed a love for their country. India should follow this practice.

Israel is playing many major roles in terms of technology development and innovation and is one of the fastest developed countries in the world. In human history, they have suffered a lot in the past but now it’s their time to shine bright. I believe India and Israel together will play far greater roles in the future. But I also want Russia and Israel to come closer which is not the case right now. India can definitely act as a tactful mediator.