Netanyahu lauds Israeli tech — and ‘computerized cows’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israel’s burgeoning tech sector and innovation in an Thursday afternoon at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Among other things, he even touched upon the country’s agricultural know-how, boasting that “every moo is computerized” on Israeli dairy farms.

“Israel is often called a start-up nation,” Netanyahu said.
“I call it innovation nation.”

“We produce more conceptual products per capita than any other nation in the world,” he added.

Israel was ranked third, behind Switzerland and Canada, in a recent innovation index.

Netanyahu also laid out five reasons for Israel’s high-tech success: the need to come up with defense innovations; the world-class research institutions; the Jewish culture of learning; the small size of the country; and Israel’s history, which demanded innovation if the country was to survive.

“We have no choice – to survive we had to innovate. The birth of modern Israel was an innovation, the rebirth of the Hebrew language was an innovation.”

“We’re really small,” Netanyahu added, “like New Jersey or Wales. Everyone competes and collaborates with each other.”

Shifting the focus to what his country could provide European research and business, Netanyahu said that Israel “can be your science and tech incubator.”

“It’s a center for not only science technology, but for entrepreneurship.”

He concluded by calling on delegates to invest in Israel.