Development of Advanced Employment
The Jerusalem Development Authority, together with the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage intends to increase the number of technology companies operating in Jerusalem, thereby creating more employment opportunities in the city’s growing hi-tech industry.
Recent years have seen the establishment of a network of innovation centers and accelerators in the city’s academic institutions (the Hebrew University, Jerusalem College of Technology – Lev Academic Center, Azrieli College of Engineering, Hadassah College, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design) and also in Jerusalem’s hospitals (Hadassah, ALYN, Shaare Zedek Medical Center). Development and innovation center programs are a platform assisting in the establishment of technology companies emerging from the institutions. They help the companies take their first steps to grow in the city through providing a supporting envelope consisting of professional support by the program managers and mentors from within the industry, a shared workspace, making contact with investors and leading corporations, and so forth.
Infrastructures for the development of advanced industry
MassChallenge Israel
MassChallenge is considered one of the best, most sought-after acceleration programs in the world. The program offers developers high-quality apprenticeships from the world’s largest corporations (Google, Microsoft, Uber, Kraft, and many other world-leading enterprises in their respective fields), and consulting hours free of charge, content, and networking with partners from the private and public sectors. MassChallenge-Israel currently has over 350 mature companies that have so far raised over USD 1.5 billion, creating over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs worldwide. As a global program, it attracts companies from Israel and abroad to Jerusalem as well as investors and sponsors to support the work being done in the city.
Shaare Zedek Accelerator
The Jerusalem Development Authority and the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, jointly with the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, the Azrieli College of Engineering and several investment funds, has set up an accelerator in the field of medical instruments. The center has been set up on the grounds of the Shaare Zedek Medical Center and is expected to increase the number of technology companies operating in Jerusalem, thereby creating more employment opportunities in the city’s growing hi-tech industry.
Biogiv
The Jerusalem Development Authority, jointly with the Hebrew University, has set up a specialized laboratory zone with access to shared equipment and tissue culture facilities, research infrastructures and scientific support through the Hebrew University’s experts and scientists in an IP-protected space in the Givat Ram hi-tech village, Jerusalem. The Biogiv enables biotechnology and biomed companies in their earliest stages to access the Hebrew University’s core infrastructures and core facilities.
Biogiv is a non-profit organization seeking to support development of new technologies and to strengthen the biotech sector in Israel in general and in Jerusalem in particular.
BIOHOUSE
The LR Group, together with the Hadassah Medical Center and the Jerusalem Development Authority have set up a 1,300 sq.m. complex housing some 200 workstations, which is intended to house dozens of start-ups in the fields of digital medicine, medical instrumentation and biotechnology. The complex contains shared infrastructures, laboratories, access to information and data processing services. It enables access to the medical center’s infrastructures (infrastructure for experimentation on animals, access to patients undergoing treatment at the medical center in order to offer them the opportunity to take part in clinical trials etc.), as well as the option to rent furnished private offices, workstations in the open-space and meeting rooms for biomed companies. The companies in the shared workspace also enjoy a program of meetings with potential investors, partners and customers.