Building Relations with Israel at All Layers in the Sigma Software Office

Last week in our Kyiv office we welcomed top-tier speakers from the Ukrainian and Israeli tech industry, key players in the fields of cybersecurity, telemedicine, and healthcare, representatives of digital health startups, venture capital funds, government officials, and corporates. Everybody gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities created by the pandemic crisis, spotlighting breakthrough technologies and creating access to international innovation in order to fight the pandemic.

Ukrainian-Israeli Innovation Summit 2020 featured:

• 800+ participants online throughout the day
• 51 speakers
• 17 cases of Israeli Ukrainian companies applying anti-pandemic technologies
• 10 hours of live broadcasting
• 5 hours of random networking
• 4 panel discussions
• 6 live broadcasts on Facebook and on the Pine platform
• 9 startup pitches to Ukrainian and Israeli Investors

The conference embraced the whole scope of cooperation between Ukraine and Israel at different layers: government, corporate, startup, and investment.

As all governments face major challenges in regard to healthcare and the economy, coordinated efforts are required to overcome the negative impact of the pandemic and adapt to changing conditions. The Summit featured an impressive list of Ukrainian and Israeli public officials working in this direction: ministers of healthcare, ambassadors, and other officials of the two countries. They shared how both countries responded to COVID-19 and discussed further actions.

Digital transformation is one important tool discussed during the speeches at the event that is part of the anti-COVID strategies of Ukraine and Israel. Digitalization of government services makes them more efficient and enables the continuation of business and social activities during the conditions of the pandemic.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime-Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, said:

“This pandemic is a huge tragedy for humanity. We cannot change it globally, but we can change ourselves. This is an opportunity for both the state and businesses to use this time for a digital leap and for development. The Ministry of Digital Transformation will utilize this opportunity.”

Representatives of businesses that joined the event help to advance digitalization in the area of medical services. BioBeat, Binah.ai, Tyto Care, and others presented Israeli case studies and telemedicine technologies that are transforming the way that healthcare is provided right in front of our eyes.

In line with generating transformation ideas, businesses need to secure investment for their implementation. Roman Gold, Managing Partner at JSCapital, uncovered the results that the Israeli venture capital ecosystem demonstrated during the era of the coronavirus. According to Roman, over the first six months of 2020, Israeli startups raised $5.25 billion in investments. This amount became the absolute record – last year fundraising for the same period equaled $4.6 billion.

Prominent startup movement figures – Jon Medved, Founder & CEO at OurCrowd, Yossi Vardi, Internet Entrepreneur, the Chairman at DLD, Eugene Kandel, CEO of the Start-Up Nation Central, Oleg Malenkov, Partner at TA Ventures, Moshe Medved, Managing Partner Medved & Co. – gave blitz interviews answering questions about reshaping the future of startups, VC, and the tech ecosystem after fighting the Pandemic in 2020.

The discussion panel hosted by Sigma Software gathered Ukrainian IT service companies that co-organized the Ukrainian pavilion at OurCrowd Global Investor Summit in February 2020. At the same time, Sigma Software arranged Ukraine Tech Days in Israel with the help of USAID and the USAID Competitive Program, UTEW Tech Tribe community, Ukrainian government institution Export Promotion Office, European Business Association, and Global Israeli Initiative. Representatives of Ciklum, Beetroot Inc., SHALB.com, and Innovations Development Lab shared why they decided to cooperate, the results they achieved, and what lessons they learned.

Valery Krasovsky, CEO and co-founder of Sigma Software, represented our company at the panel and revealed how the idea of making the Ukrainian pavilion at OurCrowd occurred to him. Our company is a service business that contributes to the balanced development of the tech ecosystem in Ukraine. We have created our own investment fund called Inspirium Laboratories and also Sigma Software Labs that supports startups in Ukraine and abroad. The OurCrowd model is interesting for those who contribute to the startup ecosystem development: investing in startups and taking them to a higher level before inviting them to pitch at their event. The event itself is also outstanding with more than 20 thousand visitors in 2020 and pavilions from distant countries like Australia. Ukraine had to be represented there too. At the beginning of 2020, Sigma Software,  Ciklum, Beetroot Inc., SHALB.com, and Innovations Development Lab with the support of the made it happen and had extremely productive time networking and telling Israeli businessmen about the advanced Ukrainian IT industry.

The final panel of Ukrainian Israeli Innovation Summit 2020 included pitches of 9 Ukrainian products that make a social impact to investment professionals Vlad Tislenko (Partner at SMRK VC Fund) and Yana Pidlisna (Advisor to the Head of the Board at Association of Investors and Employers of Ukraine). A.D.A.M., Cardio.AI, Doctor Online, MindSelf, Bimedis, Qardiax Inc, UniExo, Black Snow, and IOON had a chance to speak about their products to dozens of Ukrainian and Israeli startups.

The organizers of Ukrainian Israeli Innovation Summit 2020 made sure that the participants in the event didn’t miss out on the networking opportunities that virtual events are often missing. With an extensive networking functionality provided by the conference platform Pine, participants stayed connected throughout the entire event. During breaks between speeches, the attendees made use of random networking sessions where they joined video conversations with interesting people to expand their professional network and make useful connections for their businesses.

Organized by: Global Israeli Initiative
Co-organizers: Sigma Software, JSCapital
Strategic partner: OurCrowd
Government partners: Embassy of the State of Israel in Ukraine, Embassy of Ukraine in the State of Israel, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ministry of economy and industry of Israel, Ministry of health in the State of Israel.

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