Inside Israeli Innovation

In this week’s episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessey take you behind the scenes of the recent “GoforIsrael” investment event. Over 1,000 tech experts, entrepreneurs and investors from Israel and around the world took part in the event, and Hoffman and Hennessey interviewed many of them.

They share their discussions with leaders in cyber, robotics, medical, green, food and mobility technologies. The GoforIsrael event is a Cukierman & Co. Investment House and Catalyst Investments project.

In this week’s episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessy take on the future of the Internet and data safety and the role that Israel can play.

The podcast features an interview with Reputation.com and Heroic Ventures founder Michael Fertik, who tells Hoffman why he is “bullish on Israel.”

“So many skills that made Israel successful in cyber … are also elements of AI and now generative AI. In the start-up world, we talk about ‘product market fit.’ Israel has nation market fit with AI,” Fertik says.

Then, Hennessey talks to Gal Ringel, co-founder and CEO of MineOS, a company that allows people to understand better and control their data footprint on the Internet. Ringel explains why people should care if they are being observed online.

Israel celebrates 75 years of independence on Wednesday. So, Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessey weigh in on some of the country's leading innovations - the kind of inventions that gave Israel the name the Start-up Nation in less than a century.

Hoffman and Hennessey compiled a list of the top dozen Israeli innovations from various sectors.

The list is not scientific or in any order.

In this week's episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Zachy Hennessey and guest host Eliav Breuer discuss the recent downgrade of Israel's economic forecast by credit rating organization Moody's. Calanit Valfer, founder and managing partner of Elah Fund, offers the perspective of an Israeli VC on the situation.

Is this a non-issue as the Knesset has suggested, or merely the first straw on the camel's soon-to-be straining back?

This Passover holiday, Israel has been battered by rockets and terror. So, in this week’s episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, hosts Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessey ask:

• What kinds of weapons are being used against Israel?
• Are they more sophisticated now than they were in previous escalations?
• What weapons and defense technologies are needed to keep citizens safe?
• How much does Israel invest in defense technology?
• How has the Iron Dome been upgraded, and how are smart weapons used?
• What’s the next big thing in Israeli security?

To help answer these questions, they speak with Gen. Yaakov Amidror, a former National Security Advisor and head of the Research Department of Israeli military intelligence, and Jerusalem Post Senior Contributing Editor Seth Frantzman, who has been covering the Middle East for more than a decade.

In this week's episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman, Deputy CEO of Strategy & Innovation, and Zachy Hennessey, business correspondent, talk about fusion energy - a hot topic as it is what many scientists and governments consider to be humanity's energetic lifeline.

A breakthrough in fusion will have a significant impact on the environment and geo-strategic and economic development issues.

To start, they interview Dr. Astorre Modena, a managing partner at Terra Ventures and physicist, who helps define fusion energy and explains why it has taken so long to develop it for civil society. Then, Maayan talks with Oded Gour-Lavie of NT-Tao, Israel's only fusion energy start-up, aiming to build a compact fusion device that will be scalable to power anything from a factory to an entire city.

Finally, Zachy talks to Raissa Hacohen, managing partner at Longevity Venture Partners, to discuss "silver tech," the term for start-ups developed by people over 65.

In this episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman, deputy CEO of Strategy & Innovation, and Zachy Hennessey, business correspondent, define artificial intelligence and discuss its impact on our daily lives.

They examine a question raised by Bill Gates last week, is there "a threat posed by humans armed with AI."

Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler joins the show to talk about the need for generative AI platforms to take responsibility for how people use them and raises a red flag about this new technology's potential challenges. "They are premature because they are great bulls**t machines," Shwartz Altshuler says.

"You cannot control the possibility of abusing them. Furthermore, these companies do not believe they will have legal responsibility for harmful content created by their machines."

Hennessey talks to Udi Karpas, Squad Director at AI21 Labs, about his company's latest AI innovation: Jurassic II.

And Hoffman speaks to a representative from Magen David Adom to find out how the emergency response organization is the first in the world to use a specific kind of AI to save time and lives.

In this week’s edition of Inside Israeli Innovation, Jerusalem Post Deputy CEO Maayan Hoffman and Business Correspondent Zachy Hennessey discuss the collapse of the California-based Silicon Valley Bank or SVB and its impact on Israeli start-ups and technology companies in general.

Then, Maayan talks about Fashion Week and its new focus on “FAC” or fashion, agenda and community, which combines the world of fashion with promoting awareness of topical social content such as social and gender equality, sustainability, women’s health and innovation. She speaks with Tlalit Bussi Tel Tzure, vice president of business development and global marketing for IceCure Medical, which has an FDA-cleared and CE-Marked cryoblation system for destroying breast cancer and other tumors.

“IceCure is creating a revolution,” Tel Tzure says.

Next, Zachy talks with Liza Mash Levin, co-founder and CEO of Gable, about managing and empowering employees in a hybrid workplace.

In this week's episode of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessey talk about the food tech revolution as investments in Israel and worldwide continue to flow into the alternative protein and food additive arenas despite the economic downturn.

You'll learn how plants, the cloning of cells and even flies (yes, bugs!) could offer a high protein option for less money and without the negative environmental impact.

Zachy talks with Brevel CEO Yonatan Golan, which is using what it calls "breakthrough technology" to unlock the true potential of microalgae as the ultimate source of sustainable protein.

Maayan then speaks with Tamar Field Gersh, a business and life coach who has raised her family vegetarian and talks about the art of healthy eating while providing entrepreneurial inspiration.

In this week's edition of Inside Israeli Innovation, Maayan Hoffman and Zachy Hennessey talk about technology: the good, the bad and the ugly. First, they discuss Israel's focus on 5G and some new uses of 5G to improve the country's medical system. Then, Maayan interviews Rafi Fischer, director of public and media relations for OrCam, who shares about the company's latest technology. OrCam Learn is for students with reading and learning differences and helps them improve their reading fluency, accuracy and comprehension.