Ed Vaizey MP and New Media Delegation to Israel - March 2012

Update 9 March 2012:

To see photos of the delegation, click here to see our Facebook photo album.

Further updates to come...

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Britain’s Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaizey will visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories next week, bringing with him some of the leading names in Britain’s media and creative industries sectors.

The visit will introduce leading British content providers to cutting-edge Israeli technology companies with the goal of fostering future partnerships between the sectors in both countries. Minister Vaizey will also meet with Israeli Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon and Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat to discuss opportunities for UK/Israel cooperation.

Ahead of the trip, Minister Vaizey commented: “This will be an exciting and ground-breaking visit, as we build partnerships that connect content with consumers. The UK is a world leader in content production, and Israel is a world leader in developing technology that gets content to consumers. So there is enormous potential for collaboration.”

The delegation is a joint initiative of the Trade and Economic Office at the Embassy of Israel in London, the British Embassy in Israel, UK Israel Business, the British Council and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

Noah Shani, the Minister for Trade and Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Israel in London, commented that “with such a creative variety of Israeli technologies on offer, this visit has a great potential to develop new and exciting business partnerships between the UK and Israel. With delegations such as these, it is clear to see why the UK is now firmly fixed as Israel’s second largest world-export market.”

Among the companies participating in the delegation are BBC Worldwide, Ogilvy, Albion and Samsung.

During the trip, the delegation will meet leading Israeli businesspeople including Meir Brand, CEO of Google Israel, Avi Nir, CEO of Keshet broadcasting, Mimi Nofach-Mozes, Chairman of Yedioth Ahronot and Ron Ayalon, CEO of YES, visit TechLoft a start-up incubator in Tel Aviv to experience some of the newest, most innovative technologies coming out of Israel and tour JVP Media Labs in Jerusalem. The delegation will also visit Keshet and NDS, and meet representatives from Israeli success stories such as The Gifts Project (acquired by eBay) and LabPixies (acquired by Google).

Haim Shani, the recently-appointed non-executive Chairman of the UK-Israel Technologies Hub, said “Israel and Britain are ideal partners in technology, with complementary strengths that offer great potential if we can get our companies working more closely together. Building such a partnership is now a priority for both governments”.

An event at the Israel Museum organised by the British Council in Israel will bring together leading figures in the Israeli cultural world to mark the first visit by a British minister of culture.

A dinner sponsored by Microsoft Israel and organised by UK Israel Business will officially launch Innovate Israel Technology Conference planned to be held in London this June. The dinner will enable the delegation to meet over 120 growth stage web, mobile and media entrepreneurs as well as technology showcasing from Microsoft, Waze and Conduit.