Google on Monday launched a Tel Aviv-based workshop center, at a press
conference attended by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
According to
Google, “Campus Tel Aviv” will be a one-floor workshop where Israel-based
start-ups and entrepreneurs can work on their endeavors, with access to Google
experts and infrastructure.
On Monday, Yossi Matias, managing director of
Google’s Research & Development center in Israel, spoke of how Google
started as a garagebased startup and “we recognize the huge talent that has made
Israel the ‘start-up nation,’ the world’s second largest center of tech
start-ups after Silicon Valley. Israel’s future innovation success needs a
supportive environment that will foster the next generation of young
talent.”
The press conference at Google Israel headquarters in Tel Aviv
was heavy on terms like “innovation,” and in his remarks, Netanyahu spoke of the
importance Israel must continue to place on innovation, especially as the rest
of the Middle East “is moving back to the Middle Ages. In the end freedom and
knowledge and curiosity will be victorious.”
The prime minister said that
“without innovation it doesn’t matter if you have everything else, if you don’t
have freedom and innovation all of your investments in education and advancement
will fail.”
Netanyahu also spoke about how in recent years Israel has
soared in terms of innovation and technology, while education has often lagged
behind. He then spoke of how this dichotomy illustrates the need for greater
investment in education.