Technology Conference Highlights Israel’s Business Side

The second annual Israel Conference, billed as a showcase of “incredible technology, amazing companies … from the shores of the Mediterranean to the shores of the Pacific,” drew a crowd of approximately 650 people to the Luxe Hotel in Bel Air on June 3.

Sharona Justman, managing director of the conference, said the event aims to “heighten the awareness of the qualities of business and brands in Israel.”

The daylong conference featured dozens of speakers and panelists whose business endeavors bridge tech-savvy and capitalist ambition, including Yossi Vardi, who co-pioneered instant messaging technology in 1998 and co-chaired the conference; Moshe Lichtman, head of Israel research and development at Microsoft; and Nikesh Arora, president of global sales operations at Google.

Vardi, sounding like a philosophical life coach, lectured on “Fun and Creativity From Israel,” saying, “When people enjoy what they’re doing, they get results.”
Lichtman discussed “Building Israel’s Crown Jewels,” which, for him, is the development of a technological product with the ability to alter the course of the world — for the better — like Microsoft accomplished with personal computers. “It is about the thrill of impacting the lives of hundreds of millions — or billions — of people,” Lichtman said. Microsoft allowed him to touch every user on the planet, he explained.

Arora, a native of India, opened his charismatic lecture, “Betting on Disruption,” with a crowd-pleasing statement about traveling in Israel and enjoying his time there immensely. “People from India and Israel share of lot of cultural similarities,” Arora said. He also discussed the implication of the proliferation of smart phones, apps and Google TV.  “We’re on the brink of the biggest technological revolution in history,” Arora said, “bigger than airplanes and cars.”

A spirit of solidarity and support for Israel, in light of the international pressure the country is facing in the aftermath of the flotilla crisis, was palpable, even though the conference organizers discouraged speakers and panelists from making political or religious statements. “In general, we do not allow politics because we want to show the excellence of business. We want every Israel-based business to be judged on merit, not political issues of the day,” Justman said.

Vardi, however, was apparently exempt from these restrictions. Wrapping up his discussion on the importance of “Fun and Creativity” in the business world, Vardi showed a video of Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, delivering an Israel-praising speech on the country’s 60th birthday two years ago. “This is shameless propaganda,” Vardi joked.

For the most part, though, the conference focused on showcasing the technological innovation and business plans driving companies, including TuneWiki, which gathers marketing data based on consumers’ music tastes; Answers.com, a reference site founded in Israel; and Tigo Energy, a solar energy company.

Ron Hadar, president of Tigo, said he attended the conference for two reasons: “The first is to support Israel. The second is to present what I do to a larger audience.”

Conference organizers said 75 percent of the attendees were Southern Californians, while the rest came to Los Angeles from all over the world. Approximately 5 percent flew in from Israel.