Intel announced today the establishment of acceleration center in Tel Aviv, called Ignite, to “accelerate startups in early stages, starting in Israel and then expanding to other countries.”
The head of the program is the former director of Microsoft’s global startup program, Tzachi Weisfeld. in 2008 he left the company, alongside Avner Goren, vice president of Intel’s architecture, graphics, and software group.
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According to Intel’s announcement, the program is designed for 10-15 startups from the pre-seed to seed stage in a 20-week program. Intel interested in developments that are most affecting the industry today, including AI, autonomous systems and data-focused technologies and other business models.”
The startups will receive practical mentoring from Intel and industry experts in a variety of product, business, management, and technology areas. “Intel is committed to accelerating the growth of the companies participating in the program and expanding the scope of their ideas. Intel will not be a shareholder in the participating companies or in the intellectual property that they are developing,” Intel said.
Intel emphasizes that “Diversity” will be a central guiding principle: “The participating startups will be selected from a variety of founders, owners, and representatives of Israel’s diverse social mix,” Intel said.
Intel will not hold holdings in the participating companies or in the intellectual property.
“Our idea is to bring Intel’s size and scale, and connect them to the dreams and ideas of entrepreneurs,” Swan said in a meeting with reporters.
“We want to make Harvard the startup accelerators in Israel, we want to build the best program,” said Weisfeld.
This is not the first time that Intel has announced a startup accelerator in Israel. In 2015, the company set up a startup program called IPP, which operates in a limited and focused format in business development.
During his visit to Israel, Intel CEO Bob Swann visited Intel’s R & D center in Israel and drove an autonomous car owned by Intel in Jerusalem and plans to visit the plant in Kiryat Gat.
Swann said. “We decided to expand our factories in Ireland, the US, and Israel in order to increase production capacity so that we will no longer limit the growth potential of our customers.”
He concluded: “Last year was our best ever, and much of our success is Intel’s role in Israel – production, R & D and operations.”
