A coming June a course for investment management and analysis in technology companies will open at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). This course is the first of its kind and aims to expand and deepen the professional and analytical knowledge of this sector amongst the investor community in Israel. The course is intended for institutional bodies, fund managers, analysts, investment managers, financial executives at technology companies, TASE members, people active on the market and more.
The high-tech industry is one of the growth engines of the Israel economy – this sector, which presently represents 50% of the industrial export of the State of Israel, recorded peak capital raisings of $3.4 billion and opened 2015 with exits amounting to $900 million. However, more than 80% of venture capital investments in Israel are made by international investors and funds that consider Israel an attractive investment destination. In contrast with the situation in the United States, where most of the funds for high-tech investments originate in pension funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors, their Israeli counterparts seldom invest in high-tech.
Institutional bodies in Israel manage more than one trillion Shekels, and 1% of this amount allocated for investment in the technology sector would be sufficient to create a huge leap in the industry.
The reason for this is partly that the dynamic nature and complexity of the sector requires a high analytical ability of and constantly keeping up-to-date with the cyber, microchips, internet and communication sectors.
The initiative for the course came as a result of the understanding that fundamental research and the ability to conduct a deep analysis of the sector are significant tools in making investment decisions and constitute important tiers in the development and specialization of the entire market.
The course will include comprehensive lectures by senior executives and holders of key positions in the global and Israeli technology industries. It will focus on the analysis of future trends in the fields of technology and innovation, while touching on a broad range of financial and business aspects, with the purpose of providing participants with tools for investment management and educated decision-making.
The course will take place in June 2015 at the TASE Conference Center and will consist of four sessions, each of which will be dedicated to a different topic:
Go App: Software and the world of online and mobile applications.
Somewhere over the Rainbow: Hardware, networks and cloud.
Cyber: Cyber and information security.
The Conductors: The semiconductors industry.
Among the lecturers at the course you will find senior executives and holders of key positions in the global technology industry and the Israeli high-tech industry, such as: Ofer Druker, Co-Founder & CEO, Matomi; Adi Diamant, Innovation Labs Director, Microsoft; Shay Wolfling, CTO, Nova; Yahal Zilka, Managing Partner, Magma Venture Partners; Alon Haimovich, Country System Engineering Manager and business architectures leader at Cisco Systems; Harel Ifhar, Country Manager - Israel, Amazon Web Services; Oded Cohn, VP at IBM and Director of Research Laboratory, IBM Israel; Prof. Yossi Matias, VP & Engineering, Managing Director of Israel R&D Center, Google; Dr. Zvi Marom, Founder & CEO, BATM Advanced Communications; Dr. Shlomo Markel, VP, Broadcom Corporation; Nadav Zafrir, Co-Founder & CEO at Team8 VC, former commanding officer of the IDF Unit 8200; Arik Kleinstein, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Glilot Capital Partners; Dr. Yair Schindel, CEO of Digital Israel, Prime Minister's Office, National Digital Bureau; Yoav Chelouche, Co-Chairman of IATI and Managing Partner at Aviv Venture Capital, and others.
The course constitutes and additional tier in a series of actions taken by the TASE with the aim of promoting Israeli high-tech, expanding the analytical research and knowledge of the sector in order to establish a broad and professional infrastructure, while encouraging a redirection of capital and investments in the technology companies.
Participation in the course is free of charge. Advance enrollment and a participation confirmation from the course's admissions committee are required.
