Transcript

Oded Distel: The Israeli Water Sector has great potential because it is engaged in this field for over 60 years and the technology, the experience, the know how that was accumulated in Israel for all those years is been reflected in the technology and products that are being developed.

Booky Oren: Because we don’t have enough natural resources we innovate many solutions. That's the reason why Israel's became the leader in drip irrigation,  in desalination solutions. The largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the world is located in Israel. Re-used water. We purify something like around 75-80% of our affluent and use it for agricultural purposes. I think that the whole mixture of it creates something that positions Israel as the real global Silicon Valley for water technology solutions.

Oded Distel: Israeli companies are very flexible, the cooperation between academia, industry, government, venture funds, is very intensive, so I think that from the point of view of large multinational that wants to be a player in this field, in a way they must examine the Israeli angle.

Itay Zetelny: One of the most interesting trends is to see more money coming from VC's, from the venture capital industry, into the water sector. This sector was considered always as a very old economy and a slow growing sector. What we see today is a lot of interest from VC's that are coming to Israel looking specifically for water technologies and innovation in Israel, and also globally.

Booky Oren: The water industry requires innovation and when we in Israel create the innovation and then create the right structure of partnership with local water players worldwide, we can really create the change.

Oded Distel: The Israeli government identified the potential for the Israeli industry in this field almost 4 years ago and we initiated a national program called Israel Newtech headed by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, and actually the role of this program is to combine all the tools that exist in the different Ministries within the Israeli government and we open the way for the Israeli companies to penetrate those markets, we attract investors to come to Israel, to cooperate with the local companies, join R&D projects, supporting all kind of cooperation with those companies.

Itay Zetelny: There are few companies like IDE, like TAHAL, like the irrigation companies that we are already global players, with companies that sell hundreds of millions of dollars each year. They have basic capabilities of building, planning, and then maintaining very big projects.

Oded Distel: About 3 years ago, we had about 100 Israeli companies active. Now days there are over 350 companies, so the growth is enormous.

Itay Zetelny: According to the government, the strong growth will continue and we will see a few billions of dollars in export. The industry might double itself in the next few years.

Booky Oren: there's no other industry in the world that presents such a mid and long-term clear horizon like the water arena. It's an arena that will expand and expand because we need more and more water. And no question that partnership with an Israeli player in this arena can create a clear opportunity that can not only bring the economical value, and it can bring the economical value, but it can really bring a sustainable change to the world that we live in.