There is a huge scope for collaboration between India and Israel in technology, said Avi Jorisch, a seasoned entrepreneur and author of the famous book Thou Shalt Innovate. There are multiple technology areas where both the countries are working and can work in the future expressed.
He said that both countries can leverage each other's technological know-how to work in different technology areas, especially in water technology and health care. He described that Israel had emerged as a technological hub due to its diversity, secular nature and the hardworking spirit of its people. Jorish was delivering the keynote address during the Bengaluru Tech Summit.
“Israel is no paradise, it is like the rest of the world. Israel has its problems like everywhere else and I don’t mean to suggest that Israel is the most innovative place on the planet. It is not. But where Israel really does shine in its technologies is the idea of curing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the needy—how do we make the world a better place as this has been our most sublime hope for the last 2000 years,” said Jorisch.
Jorisch described that Israel and India can work and have a deep cooperation in the field of water technology. He pointed out that Israel is a country that is 60 per cent desert and despite that, it is the world’s one and only water super power. It has more water than what is now with the US. The interesting aspect is that it doesn’t rely on the weather or its neighbours for its water consumption. Jorisch said that Israel had leveraged different technologies in order to become a water super power and some of it was created inside the country, some of that was created outside the country. However, now Israel has become this extraordinary water super power that now it exports water to its neighbours as well.
Jorisch mentioned that the water desalination technology was flagged by Israel. “Amazingly, this technology was created in the US, but perfected in Israel. We have now built around 400 desalination plants in 40 countries around the world, including the largest desalination plant in the western hemisphere in California in the US. We have also built the largest desalination plant in China and also manage the largest desalination plant in India at Chennai,” explained Jorisch.
He also mentioned how till the 1960s drip irrigation did not exist in the world in a viable commercial manner and how Israel made it commercially available. “Drip irrigation technology is being used today across the world by a billion farmers including in India. This is an area of major growth,” remarked Jorisch.
He also mentioned the importance of the technology of recycling wastewater. “In Israel we flush the toilets and then the water is cleaned twice and then reused for agriculture purposes. The human waste is also removed and then used as fertilizer. Countries can work together for the greater benefit of all. Egypt is going to run out of water in the next four years, Iran will also face severe water problems in the next 15 years. The UK also will face a massive water shortage in the next 20 years,” observed Jorisch.
He also added that in the field of healthcare, a company in Israel is working towards a GPS to the brain that allows scientists and doctors to place the electrode to the exact spot on the brain in order to treat brain diseases such as Parkinson.
“Brain diseases such as Parkinson's disease use deep brain stimulation for treatment. It is a kind of shock therapy in the body to give shock to the brain. If we do not get the exact spot in the brain to be simulated, it can turn them into a vegetative state. GPS to the brain helps in that,” added Jorisch.
Another technology Jorisch mentioned is the ambucycle (half ambulance and half motorbikes)-riding emergency responders, a technology that can alert any Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to reach and respond to emergency situations to reach patients in an emergency. In Israel, it now takes 90 seconds for any EMT to reach in an emergency. Israel has scaled up this technology and is present in nine countries across the world.
“In India, this technology is yet to come and we can collaborate on this technology with India in an efficient manner to save millions of lives. When PM Modi came to Israel this was one of the items of the agenda. It is my desire that Israel can export this technology to India in order to save lives,” said Jorisch.
He also mentioned that Israel had more startups combined than Canada, India, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom combined together. He said that Israel was the most diverse place on the planet and diversity powered the Israeli innovation ecosystem.
“In the next 20 years we are going to experience 25,000 years of human change. In 2030, less than 10 years from today, we are going to experience nothing short of miracles. In the next 10 years, we are sure to get rid of all major diseases, the difference between artificial reality virtual reality and reality itself will be indistinguishable. We are expected to really have almost a 100 per cent alternative ways of energy powering our economy—wind, solar and a whole host of other technologies are going to come into existence. In the next 10 years, we are going to put faces on the moon and be well on our way to going to Mars,” expressed Jorisch.
