Google launches TA-based innovation workshop

“Campus Tel Aviv” will grant Israel-based start-ups and entrepreneurs with access to Google experts and infrastructure.

By BEN HARTMAN
Google office in Tel Aviv 311 (photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner)
Google office in Tel Aviv 311
(photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner)
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.