Promoted content'The people don’t care about that BDS madness, they want Israeli innovation'

Social Innovation Challenge bookends Jerusalem Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebration

Six final groups compete for grants of $15,000, $35,000 and $50,000 to help them pursue projects aimed at benefiting people of all backgrounds across the capital

Yaakov Schwartz is The Times of Israel's deputy Jewish World editor

Finalists from the Jerusalem Double team, one of six groups competing for three grants. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)
Finalists from the Jerusalem Double team, one of six groups competing for three grants. (Yaakov Schwartz/Times of Israel)

JERUSALEM — The Jerusalem Foundation kicked off its 50th anniversary celebration fittingly — with the announcement of the finalists in the foundation’s Social Innovation Challenge, a $100,000 giveaway split between three winning projects.

In honor of the establishment of the Jerusalem Foundation 50 years ago by Jerusalem’s beloved former mayor, Teddy Kollek, 250 of the foundation’s closest friends from around the world have gathered in Jerusalem to mark the occasion and work towards fostering another 50 years of growth.

The celebration runs from September 20-22, with a program for guests that includes visiting projects throughout the city, panel discussions on a variety of topics, presentations, a helicopter tour, a reception at the President’s residence Tuesday evening, a Gala celebration for the foundation’s top donors and an evening at the Jerusalem Theater saluting the foundation’s partners throughout the city for their dedication to Jerusalemites.

The opening plenary was jam-packed with activity. Conference goers were invited to brush elbows with distinguished guests during the opening reception, after which a number of well-known personalities addressed the audience. Speakers included the foundation’s president, Yohanna Arbib-Perugia, chairman of the Board David Brodet, Professor Irwin Cotler, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and esteemed journalist Ari Shavit.

Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd — a Jerusalem-based online equity crowdfunding platform — and a prime mover behind Jerusalem’s blossoming startup ecosystem, chaired the Social Innovation Challenge. Medved opened the final presentations with an inspiring message of hometown pride.

Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd, chaired the Social Innovation Contest and opened the stage for presentations by finalists. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)
Jon Medved, founder and CEO of OurCrowd, chaired the Social Innovation Contest and opened the stage for presentations by finalists. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)

“We chose to build OurCrowd in Jerusalem for a simple reason: this is my home. This is all of our home. This is the capital of the Jewish people. Where else would you build a game-changing platform?” he said to thunderous applause.

Taking a look at Jerusalem’s startup landscape today, he noted that Jerusalem was recently ranked by Time Magazine as the fastest-growing startup hub in the world.

“We’re being inundated with missions and delegations of people who are flocking from the four corners of the earth to see the miracles that are going on in this country… They say ‘Bring your innovation to us.’ The people don’t care about that Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions madness, they want to look up to Israeli innovation,” he said.

The six groups of finalists in the Social Innovation Challenge touted projects that stand to benefit a wide demographic across geographically diverse areas in the city – and utilized technology, social platforms, along with various unconventional means of connecting people to achieve social change.

Tamar Freundlich presenting for the Making Jerusalem project. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)
Tamar Freundlich presenting for the Making Jerusalem project. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)

Projects included the Time Bank App, a system currently being used by over 3,000 residents in the Jerusalem area to exchange time as a currency, allowing people possessing different skills to help one another, as well as Medabrot Ivrit, a free educational program for non-Hebrew speaking women from East Jerusalem, taught weekly at the nearby Hebrew University campus. Medabrot Ivrit helps Jerusalem’s women Arab residents learn the Hebrew-speaking skills they need to pursue higher education in mainstream Israeli institutions and secure employment.

Also in the running is Making Jerusalem, a digital manufacturing technology program designed for Jerusalem’s diverse youth, be they Orthodox, Muslim, secular, or Christian, which encourages natural dialogue between demographic groups through a shared creative process.

Hirbet Arza seeks to connect residents of Gilo — one of Jerusalem’s “periphery” neighborhoods, and also one of its largest — by renewing the Hirbet Arza archaeological site, an undeveloped treasure, and creating a centralizing space to give residents a sense of identity and connection to their neighborhood.

One of the most unconventional projects, Jerusalem Double, is also about connecting residents — this time, residents of East and West Jerusalem, who often see each other but rarely interact meaningfully. Jerusalem Double uses backgammon, a game with deep historical ties to the Middle East, and extremely popular among all populations in Israel, to bring residents of Jerusalem together. In the two short months since the project’s launch, hundreds of residents from all over the city have visited neighborhoods they wouldn’t normally go to, enjoyed food and music of their counterparts, and participated in one of Jerusalem’s favorite activities — backgammon tournaments.

Gary Leibler, one of the judges and a board member of the Jerusalem Foundation, presenting the finalists. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)
Gary Leibler, one of the judges and a board member of the Jerusalem Foundation, presenting the finalists. (Courtesy Jerusalem Foundation)

Finally, the Bloomfield Science Museum shared its vision of promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education throughout the city by developing a STEM wagon, a mobile unit which can visit neighborhoods around the city, teaching kids, fomenting innovation and increasing social mobility.

While a panel of judges has brought the contestants thus far, from here on out the three winning teams will be selected democratically, by the contributors to the Jerusalem Foundation themselves. The $100,000 prize money will be divided in increments of $15,000 for the team coming in third place, $35,000 for second place and $50,000 for the first-place project.

The vote will take place and will be announced on Thursday, September 21 during the closing plenary.

Gary Leibler, a Jerusalem Foundation board member and managing partner at Shavit Capital — one of the most active private equity funds in Israel — and one of the contest’s judges, was enthusiastic about the challenge’s outcome.

“The foundation’s Social Innovation Challenge reaches out to the grassroots projects, the entrepreneurs who are putting together exciting new projects on the cutting edge both technologically and conceptually,” he said. “The spirit and energy that these projects represent is going to be a major asset in Jerusalem in the years to come.”

UPDATE: As of 17:00, the winners of the Social Innovation Challenge are in. Conference goers voted for the finalists of their choice in real-time via handheld device, and were informed of the results minutes later by Foundation president Arbib-Perugia.

In first place, winning the $50,000 prize, came Medabrot Ivrit. Receiving the $35,000 second prize was Jerusalem Double, and in third place was the Jerusalem Time Bank, receiving $15,000.

Jerusalemites can look forward to some phenomenal accomplishments from these groups going forward, thanks to the generous gifts from the Jerusalem Foundation.

 

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