Monday 26 September 2011

Citigroup to open R&D Centre in Israel

The ongoing efforts by the Israeli Government to encourage a technology hub for global financial services companies continues to pay dividends, with the recent announcement by Citigroup to expand their technology Research & Development to Israel.

Citigroup are now the second major bank to expand operations in Israel, after Barclays made the decision earlier in the year. While major brands such as Microsoft, Intel and Motorola have long established R&D facilities in high-tech and mobile communications, R&D within the financial services sector has yet to realise its full potential.

Acknowledging this situation, the Israeli Government established a scheme in 2010 to expose the opportunities to financial services companies. Under special circumstances, the government offers to meet some of the operational costs for R&D centres. Citigroup has recognised this opportunity and through the scheme been granted $25 million over five years to help finance the centre.

In a joint statement with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and the Ministry of Finance, Don Callahan, Citigroups's Chief Operations and Technology Officer explained how Citigroup “will add Israel to its portfolio of a centre of strategic innovation that will focus on the development of advanced products and applications for the capital market”.

While the financial and business benefits of having a major financial group arrive in Israel are obvious, the Israeli government is confident that the arrival of more financial R&D facilities will lead to a cluster that will emulate the renowned success of its high-tech incubators and thus offer an extra value to those choosing to establish facilities there.

Israel’s dramatic growth and development of information technology has been a major catalyst for the outstanding economic performance in recent years. In the banking sphere, Israel has developed specialist technology and programs in areas such as risk management solutions, brokerage compliance, fraud prevention and end-to-end software solutions.

With the technological advances coming out of Israel, coupled with the government incentives, it is believed that that Barclays and Citigroup are paving the way for future international relationships.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

The Israel Pavilion at IBC 2011 - The Results

IBC is the leading global tradeshow for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of broadcasting media and entertainment. Taking place over five days in Amsterdam, it was a record breaking year with over 50,000 in attendance.

For the third consecutive year, the Trade & Economic Office at the Embassy of Israel, London, partnered with the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute to create the Israel Pavilion to showcase the advances coming out of Israel in the new media sphere.

With approximately thirty companies presenting their solutions in their respective sectors, the Israel Pavilion at IBC served as a hub of innovation. In preparation for the event, the Commercial Office met with leaders in the UK media industry to understand the direction and focus of the UK market and tailored introductions between UK and Israeli representatives at the Israel Pavilion.

Senior individuals from all of the major players in the UK ensured they spent significant time at the Israel Pavilion at IBC. With over 1,300 companies exhibiting at IBC, visitors always feel the pressure when scouting technologies, but the Israel Pavilion became an oasis of expertise. With approximately 170 meetings taking place between Israel and UK companies, it was a record year for success at the Israel Pavilion.

The Israel Pavilion hosted representatives from the BBC, BSkyB, ITV, Channel 4, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, BT, Disney, Fox, STV, Samsung, Apple, Sony, Facebook, RIM, Bauer Media, to name but a few.

Feedback during the show was incredibly positive with quotes such as “the best hour I have spent at IBC” and “the most coordinated and productive meetings I have had this week”.

Our most successful year, we are already aware of many follow-up discussions taking place and significant interest from both the UK and Israel. We expect the results of this endeavour will be shown in the coming months with the forming of effective partnerships.

Three of our portfolio companies under the Israel Pavilion, LiveU, justAd.TV, and Tvinci, won prestigious awards in the field of media and broadcasting. The Israeli companies competed against hundreds of candidates from around 30 countries in Europe, Asia, and America.

LiveU won the prestigious award of the TVBEurope magazine for leading technology. The monthly magazine, which appears in a printed and digital American and European form, is one of the foremost magazines in the field.

The LU40i device, revealed for the first time at the exhibition, brought LiveU the prestigious award. This is a solution for video transmissions from anywhere in the world in real time, by using cellular and WIFI connections. The company’s product weighs just 700 gram and is simple to operate. The product transmits online broadcasts to the internet, and is intended for universities, video transmission of small events, radio stations, sport transmissions etc.

Ronen Artman, marketing vice president at LiveU said, “LiveU is proud to have won this important prize which places the company at the forefront of technology for quality video transmission for the television and online media markets.”

justAd.TV won first prize in the contest held by the Connected World forum in the category of Revenue Generation innovative technology. The category focuses on innovation and concept which help content producers and service providers generate revenue online. The panel of judges comprised 11 international experts from the world of TV and content.

After receiving the award, Yariv Erel commented, “the prestigious award shows international recognition of justAd.TV’s technological innovation and will help us in realizing our dream of leading the industry of interactive TV and postponed broadcasts advertising.”

justAd.TV specializes in up-to-the-minute and interactive advertising solutions, on a very large variety of platforms, and allows ways of presenting effective advertising on internet TV, connected TV, and mobile. The technology allows content owners to offer content free of charge and commercialise them by presenting state-of-the-art advertising models.

Tvinci received one of the most coveted awards in the industry, from the highly regarded CSI magazine, and was declared the Best Web TV technology of 2011. The award was based on the evaluations of a panel of expert judges. The company provides a Pay TV platform based on the web (Pay Over The Top TV).

Ofer Shayo, company founder and CEO: “This award represents further international recognition of Tvinci technology’s quality and innovation. A significant number of world viewers watch video using tablets, smart phones, video game consoles, and smart TV, and there are very few services worldwide which really connect between the various devices. We provide an answer to the ever-increasing requirement to provide pay TV which connects all the screens.”

Tvinci provides accessibility for television programs and movies in an individual manner for each viewer, on a variety of devices, beginning with the familiar TV converter, through smart phones, and ending with tablets, PCs and others.

Year on year, our efforts have proven to be productive and with innovation continuing to flourish, everyone is looking to discover exactly why people are calling Israel the new Silicon Valley.