by Nick Kolyohin
JERUSALEM, March 2 (Xinhua) -- As the world industry is moving fast toward a highly sophisticated and autonomous future, Israel is seeing an excellent chance of playing a significant role in the industry transformation by virtue of its strengths in the cutting-edge technology.
One of the ways Israel evolves its tech ecosystem is by continuously sponsoring international technology spectacles to promote the Israeli start-up industry and multinational collaboration.
Take the four-day Israel Industry 4.0 Week 2020 event ending on Thursday. About 1,000 global industry representatives, including those from international corporations and governments, participated in the event held in Tel Aviv.
Eugene Kandel, chief executive officer of Start-Up Nation Central, an Israeli non-governmental organization responsible for the event, told Xinhua that Israel is in the world's top three in terms of venture capital (VC) investment in the local 4.0 industry.
In 2019, Israel attracted eight percent of the global VC investment, just after the United States and China, according to Kandel.
Unlike countries with massive industrial economies where the technologies developed inhouse, Israel is an innovative state where all look forward to making fortune out of the next disruptive technology.
As the leader of the cutting-edge technology, the Israeli army recruits the country's best talents to its tech units and prepares them for existential threats and immense challenges on a daily basis.
The advancement of technology would compensate for the shrinking workforce of the industrial production and bring more tailor-made products.
"Industry 4.0 is here (in Israel) on many levels. It's already being used in many companies. That's a way to improve productivity," said Ami Appelbaum, chief scientist and chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority.
Israel is expecting to develop the technological products that would have the highest value for the global industry, Appelbaum told Xinhua.
"It doesn't have to be a full product. It could be subassemblies ... that will go to different products," he said.
For example, "the electronics in the car industry are worth more than the car itself, meaning the electronics are the highest percentage in terms of value and cost in the car," the Israeli scientist explained.
