Israel To Host First 'Innovation Launching Pad' For Australian Entrepreneurs

Israel has become the first pit stop in the Australian Government’s mission to create innovation “launching pads” across the world.

Israel’s Tel Aviv was touted as the equivalent to Silicon Valley when Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Innovation Minister Christian Pyne announced the international focus of their $1.1 billion “ideas boom” strategy last week.

Israel — which has a population of eight million — is home to thousands of technology start-ups raising billions in capital.

The small country has the third highest number of companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York and locals have even dubbed the cluster of high-tech companies around Tel Aviv as “Silicon Wadi” — the term in Hebrew and Arabic for valley.