CES 2019 to showcase best of Israeli innovation

The companies are expected to take part in some 700 business meetings on the sidelines of the conference with senior decision-makers from the world’s leading technology companies.

By EYTAN HALON
Updated: JANUARY 8, 2019 06:18
The lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center is shown prior to the opening of the trade show floor during the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018 (photo credit: REUTERS/STEVE MARCUS)
The lobby of the Las Vegas Convention Center is shown prior to the opening of the trade show floor during the 2018 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 9, 2018
(photo credit: REUTERS/STEVE MARCUS)
A record-breaking delegation of Israeli innovators are joining more than 180,000 hi-tech professionals and 4,400 companies in Las Vegas on Tuesday as the four-day Consumer Electronics Show – the world’s largest technology gathering – gets under way.
The annual CES conference is the unrivaled destination for start-ups wishing to exhibit their innovations on a global scale. Last year’s conference featured some 20,000 new products produced by companies from 150 countries.
This year, an unprecedented 22 Israeli companies from fields including cyber, mobility, consumer products and retail will represent the “Start-Up Nation” at the Israel Pavilion, sponsored by the Israel Export Institute and the Foreign Trade Administration of the Ministry of Economy and Industry.
The companies are expected to take part in some 700 business meetings on the sidelines of the conference with senior decision-makers from the world’s leading technology companies.
Brodmann17, a Tel Aviv-based developer of practical neural-network based software for deep-learning vision applications, is one of the companies gearing up to demonstrate its technology at the Israel Pavilion.
“The market for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) is rapidly growing, promising to make roads safer as our cars become smarter and smarter, and we at Brodmann17 have developed a superior ADAS offering based on an original, patent-pending deep learning algorithm,” CEO and cofounder Adi Pinhas told The Jerusalem Post.
“We are coming to CES to spread the word about our innovative technology and raise awareness of the Brodmann17 solution as the industry’s leading alternative to Mobileye.”
Israeli global investment and crowdfunding equity platform OurCrowd will also be highlighting 14 members of its investment portfolio – a mix of Israeli and foreign start-ups – at its own conference booth, including C2A Security, Edgybees and VayaVision.
Other OurCrowd portfolio companies will be showcasing their technology independently or at the Israel Pavilion.
“For once, CES attendees will actually be able to invest in some of the exciting start-up companies that they see at the show,” said OurCrowd founder and CEO Jon Medved.
“These companies are funded through our unique democratic platform of venture capital where accredited investors can start making intelligent start-up investments with as little as $10,000. Investors may want to set aside some of the money they were planning on spending at the tables and visit us first.”
Avi Reichental, general partner at Israeli early-stage venture fund Cognitiv Ventures, believes smart home technology, health-tech, autonomous vehicles and unlimited uses of data will dominate the conversation at this year’s conference.
“For Israeli companies that are largely developing products for global markets, CES is a must,” Reichental told the Post.
“Both in terms of being discovered, building channel alliances and go-to-market-strategies, and also attracting necessary strategic partners and investors, CES is where go-to-market partnerships and strategies get formed and forged together.”
Even before the conference kicked off, Israeli innovation was recognized at November’s CES 2019 Innovation Awards – an annual competition honoring outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products.
Innoviz Technologies and Watergen were awarded two of 20 CES awards in the categories of vehicle intelligence and tech for a better world, respectively.
“Israeli companies returning to CES year after year is very indicative of, first, the importance of CES to emerging Israeli hi-tech firms, and second, the recognition that most Israeli early-stage companies are more likely than not to build their market and find their exit in North America,” Reichental said.