MK Erel Margalit (Labor), chairman of the northern region Knesset lobby and a former high tech entrepreneur and partner in the Jerusalem Venture Partners venture capital fund, is forging an interesting way of combining high tech with agriculture for the sake of developing the Galilee region. He intends to make the Galilee into a development center for medicinal food by starting a technology incubator in Kiryat Shmona.
"Globes": Why medicinal food in the Galilee?
Margalit: "High tech in Israel is looking for the next big thing, while the Galilee is searching for direction and definition. Israel in general, and the Galilee in particular, are leaders in agricultural research. There are excellent research institutes in the Galilee, such as the Tel-Hai College and the Migal - Galilee Technology Center, where research in next generation agriculture is taking place. These research institutes and others in the Galilee are dynamic and relatively new. They are capable now of reinventing themselves around a new and unique field of activity. At the same time, Israel is also a leading factor in the medical field, and a new medical school is operating in Tzfat that can cooperate in this field."
Margalit adds, "The incubator is only the beginning. As we did in developing the cyber field in Beersheva and the new media field in Jerusalem (two ventures in which Margalit was active as an entrepreneur in the private sector, G.W.), we will bring prominent Israeli companies and even international companies from both the food and agricultural sectors to establish a medicinal food development center in the Galilee. We have already spoken with several parties in international corporations, who expressed great appreciation for Israel's leading position in the field."
The cyber center in Beersheva, which has companies like EMC, Cisco IBM, and Lockheed Martin, is the model for the current activity. In the future, the incubator in Kiryat Shmona is also likely to compete for a place in the incubators program of the Ministry of Economy Chief Scientist, although the new incubator is not yet involved in the program. The Galilee already houses the Misgav technology incubator and the NGT incubator in Nazareth, both of which deal in the medical field. An incubator formerly operated in Kiryat Shmona, but it closed down.
In addition to three academics, 15 mayors and district leaders have already enlisted in Margalit's enterprise, including Kiryat Shmona Mayor Nissim Malka, Golan Regional Council chairman Eli Malka, and Upper Galilee Regional chairman Giora Salz. Leading agricultural figures have also joined the venture. "These are highly trained professional people, and some of them are powerful," Margalit said.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 6, 2014
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