Forbes: Israel Set to Become ‘Internet of Things’ Powerhouse

TEL AVIV – According to an article in Forbes, Israel is set to become a powerhouse for innovation in the Internet of Things (IoT) industry.

The author, Eyal Bino, a co-founder of the first NYC-based accelerator for early-stage Israeli tech start-ups, asserts that IoT has experienced a massive upsurge in recent years and one of every 20 startups in Israel in 2015 is IoT focused.

The Internet of Things essentially eliminates the need for human intervention by making objects from a range of verticals internet-enabled. Connecting objects to the internet means that information and data can be collected remotely and processes can be automated. The result is smarter homes, cities, and governments.

A report by McKinsey & Company reveals that IoT will encompass between 20 to 30 billion connected devices by 2020, and that’s excluding PCs, tablets, and smartphones.

A landscape study on the space reveals that the Israeli high tech scene is ripe for developing IoT solutions across verticals, ranging from applications to platforms and components. In 2015, Israel had 330 IoT startups across five verticals and 23 sub-verticals.

Israeli know-how in industries like machine learning, data mining, and predictive analytics has bolstered the effort to create big IoT companies. Early successes of Israeli companies like Weissbeerger (IoT for the beverage industry), Argus Cyber Security (cyber security for the automobile industry), and GreenIQ (smart garden hub) are forecasting the huge role that Israel will play in the future of IoT.

Yair Snir, Director of M&A and Business Development at Microsoft MSFT -1.82%, said, “The Israeli tech ecosystem has evolved in terms of development lifecycle, form-factor, and cost from the traditional defense industry through medical devices and now to cheaper and smaller connected devices’ technologies.

“Israeli entrepreneurs master some of the core competencies that are key for IoT, such as big data and predictive analytics that are critical in order to make sense of a huge amount of signals generated and gathered from multiple connected devices.”