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Manila Bulletin devider Others devider Israel builds bridges of innovation with Filipino startups

Israel builds bridges of innovation with Filipino startups

Published Jun 9, 2022 08:02 am

The Embassy of Israel in the Philippines, in partnership with IdeaSpace-QBO Innovation Hub (QBO), hosted a Qlitan Networking night to motivate and uplift the startup industry in the Philippines.

Department of Trade and Industry Sec. Ramon Lopez and Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Israeli Innovation Authority Dr. Ami Appelbaum

“Israel is known as the startup nation with over 6,000 active startups. We have built a strong ecosystem joined by various innovation key players. We are even shifting from start-up nation to building a smart-up nation to sustain innovation and prepare in addressing future challenges,” Ambassador Ilan Fluss said in his opening remarks. “We would like to share the success story of Israel as a startup nation and create partnerships with the innovation community in the Philippines. We have to build bridges of innovation between our countries to contribute to addressing the development challenges of the Philippines,” Ambassador Fluss added.

Around 50 Filipino founders of startup companies and investors in the Philippines participated in the networking night. The event aimed to connect Filipino startups and key players of the innovation community and to come up with a collaboration between Filipino and Israeli startups. The night also featured a net café session wherein Philippine startup founders engaged with Israeli businessmen and officials to exchange views and best practices in the industry as well as find ways to work together.

“We need to build a bridge between our two countries so that startups can benefit and gain business,” Butch Meily, president of IdeaSpace Foundation and QBO said. QBO is the Philippines' first public-private partnership platform for Filipino startups led by the IdeaSpace Foundation and supported by JP Morgan Foundation, the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). It connects and develops the local startup ecosystem.

Benny Schlick, founder and managing director of Innovation without Border, joined the networking night via Zoom and shared the Israeli innovation ecosystem’s recipe.

Ambassador Ilan Fluss also announced during the event that Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez signed an agreement with the chairman of the Israeli innovation authority to cooperate in technological innovation and research and development. “With this, we are opening more bridges to partner with you and build a stronger startup industry,” Ambassador Fluss shared.

The Qlitan Networking night was held on June 7 at QBO Innovation Hub.

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