Historian explains factors behind Israel’s emergence as a technology hub — Jerusalem Post
Historian and author of the book The Network Effect: The Origins of Israel’s High Tech, Meir Valman, traced how Israel’s high-tech sector was formed — from academic institutions founded before the establishment of the state to entrepreneurs’ international experience and the return of specialists from abroad. He spoke about this in an Jerusalem Post article.
According to Valman, the development of the industry was not the result of the work of a single military unit or an individual company. It was ensured by the interaction of universities, the army, private business, transnational corporations, venture capital, and ties with foreign technology hubs.
A computer for the Weizmann Institute
Valman described as one of the early episodes in this history the Weizmann Institute’s decision in the early 1950s to spend about 20% of its budget on building a computer. This was a condition for mathematician Chaim Pekeris to move from Princeton to Israel, as he needed a computing machine for his work.
The computer had to be built from scratch. The Israeli army later gained access to it and used the machine, among other things, for ballistic calculations and programmer training. As Valman noted, this experience ultimately contributed to the creation of the Mamram military computer unit in the late 1950s.
The historian also emphasized the role of academic institutions founded before the establishment of the State of Israel. Among them, he named the Technion, the Hebrew University, and the Weizmann Institute. In his assessment, the Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering, particularly the microelectronics laboratory established in the late 1960s, made a significant contribution to training specialists for the microelectronics industry.
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The army, Intel, and international experience
Valman cautioned against a simplified explanation of Israel’s technological success based solely on the activities of Unit 8200. He called the Atuda program, under which the army funded university education for gifted students before they began service, a more important channel for personnel training. Graduates entered the military already trained in electronics and engineering, gained experience solving complex tasks and managing teams, and after their service some of them founded technology companies.
Valman named Elron, which Uzia Galil started in his apartment in Haifa, as the country’s first private high-tech company. Before that, Galil served in the navy, worked with radar systems, and studied in the United States, where he saw a model of cooperation between the military, universities, and business.
Intel’s arrival in Israel in 1974 opened new opportunities for engineers. At the same time, Valman believes Israeli companies have traditionally been stronger in engineering and adapting technologies than in sales, marketing, and customer support. He called work experience in the United States and specialists’ return home one of the key factors in the industry’s development, as this gave the country knowledge, professional connections, and networking opportunities.
A bet on life sciences
In Valman’s assessment, Israel’s technology sector continues to grow in the number of employees, startups, and its contribution to GDP, despite the war, international pressure, and the reduction or closure of certain operations by transnational companies. He considers biotechnology, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals to be the country’s next major opportunity. Unlike cybersecurity and defense technologies, life sciences rely more heavily on the university environment, where, according to him, women have made up a majority in many specialties since the 1990s.
