9 will say: ‘we all live and die by the work of our Israeli teams.’ It’s much more than just outsourcing call canters to India or setting up IT services in Ireland. What we do in Israel is unlike what we do anywhere else in the world. Over 80 Israeli unicorns are now operating in the US. Part of this exodus can be explained by the need to be close to clients and major markets.” Partly, with that in mind, the Canadian government is keen to support joint R&D projects with a high potential for commercialization. Tapping into this robust tech infrastructure in Israel, the Canadian government has put out a call for proposals for collaborative industrial R&D across all sectors, with a focus on: agricultural technologies; agrifood technologies; clean technologies; low carbon economy technologies; clean transportation and mobility; climate resilient building and infrastructure; renewable energy, water and wastewater management; smart cities and smart mobility; environment protection technologies; health and biosciences; and quantum computing technologies. More details can be found on the Canadian government website. Resilience of the Israeli tech sector While the impact of the war has been felt by the high-tech sector in Israel, there are also growing reports in the business press of longer term resilience and growth. Tzahi at OurCrowd adds: “Despite the geopolitical challenges, the Israeli economy has really demonstrated resilience and continues to be a hub of innovation and technological advancement. Canadian investors looking to capitalize on opportunities in Israel could consider several sectors that are particularly attractive and has alignment with Israeli strengths.” “Canadian investors are impressed by Israel’s resilience in the aftermath of the October 7 terror attacks,” agrees Jason Saltzman, partner at Gowling WLG in Toronto and co-head of the firm’s Israel Desk. “They are still very much interested in investing in, and otherwise supporting, Israel’s high tech, security tech (including defense and cybersecurity), med tech / life science and climate tech sectors as Israel is, and will continue to be, a leader in these important industry sectors. Members of our law firm’s Israel Desk continue to work closely with Israeli companies in these sectors in their efforts to raise capital from Canadian investors through private and public financings.”
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