Addressing the Jerusalem Post 10th Annual Conference, Dr. Haim Amir, CEO and founder of Essence Group, which develops cloud-based, end-to-end security and healthcare solutions, recalled his arrival in Israel as a 10-year-old from Casablanca, Morocco, with his family. Amir spoke of the early years living in a transit camp for new immigrants.
“When I look back,” said Amir, “I think that the need to survive, the desire for security became the basis of everything my company, Essence, represents today: security and healthcare accessible for all.”
Amir said that Essence’s systems are installed in more than four million homes and that its sensors, controllers and AI-based cloud systems are deployed in 46 countries around the world.
During his IDF service, Amir helped develop strategic combat systems, satellite missile-detection capabilities, and anti-missile defense systems. At age 45, he decided to make a change and founded Essence.
“I was convinced that I could harness technology to save lives daily, and not only during conflicts,” he explained. For example, while observing his parents as they aged, he began to devise technologies that create a protective shield of sensors utilizing small radar technology and artificial intelligence cloud systems that detect movement, identify the moving person, and their condition – if they are sitting, standing, or falling. Once a fall is detected, Amir explained, an alert is sent to the call center, and a two-way voice channel is automatically opened between the call center and the home.
“With Essence’s technology, the elderly can go on living in their own homes, in their own neighborhoods, and within their own communities,” said Amir.
Taking special pride in his blue-and-white innovation, Amir said that almost all production takes place in the southern Israeli town of Ofakim, where close to 1,000 workers manufacture Essence products.