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 Dear Friends,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the MIXiii BIOMED 2019, the 18th
National Life Sciences & Technology Week in Israel. This annual conference and
exhibition, which is one of the world's largest and leading life science industry
events, showcases our country's major role at the forefront of the latest medical
devices, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and digital health developments. These
sectors are at the cutting edge of global efforts to enhance healthcare worldwide.
Israel has over 1,200 companies developing breakthrough, commercially-viable
technologies, products and services in life science related sectors and nearly 100
new startups in this sector are founded each year.
Israel is a global center for excellence in biotech, medical devices and digital health
due to the country's top universities and colleges and its world famous startup
entrepreneurial spirit. Israel's first-class academic institutions educate a highly skilled workforce and conduct
cutting-edge research in the life sciences, which together with hundreds of startups generate more patents
per-capita than any other country in the world, in such areas as medicine, biochemistry and agriculture.
The Israeli government is a major player in developing the life science industry. Through the Israel Innovation
Center headed by the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, we share the risks in biomedical
enterprises with potential by providing incentives that include generous grants and loans. The Israel Innovation
Center has also established and oversees a national network of incubators to nurture startups, many of them
dedicated to the life sciences, and forms consortia to bring together academia and industry. We have also
signed many international agreements which fund joint projects between Israeli firms and overseas partners
and are encouraging major pharmaceutical and healthcare companies to expand their R&D presence in Israel.
With private investors, we launched a $222 million venture capital fund dedicated to biomedical startups
that was so successful that the investors launched an additional $307 million fund. We are also allocating
$260 million to digital health endeavors. This is a fast-growing sector in which over 500 Israeli startups are
leveraging big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to advance personalized medicine, preventive
healthcare and bringing to market new therapies more swiftly.
Government funding acts as a catalyst, allowing Israel's high-tech knowhow and entrepreneurial spirit to
transform hundreds of innovative ideas into profitable products not only in med-tech but also in ICT, big
data, Internet and mobile communications, cybersecurity, semiconductors, autonomous vehicle technology,
cleantech and homeland security. These products earn Israel billions of dollars in annual export sales and
attract billions of dollars more in investments from leading global corporations, VC and investments funds,
and through the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and stock markets worldwide.
This publication provides comprehensive information about Israel's med-tech industries and focuses on the
enormous potential of the latest products and systems.
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