So much has been written over the years about Israel, its economy, and where it stands in the world, and for that reason I have not ventured into writing about the country until now. What changed my mind? An advertising supplement I saw in Site Selection Magazine titled “Shine: An Introduction to Enlightened Direct Foreign Investment in Israel”.
Naturally it piqued my interest, and even though the supplement was just a list of statistics with a few lines thrown in between, it did its job and I decided to delve into the subject further.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
One statistic that really hammered home is that Israel has the highest concentration of engineers per capita in the world, which is stunning to me, but really shouldn’t be much of a surprise. However, after reading about Ford’s intention to mass produce fully autonomous driverless cars by 2021, in which the driver will be a mere passenger and passengers merely panicking, came after I read about the Israeli tech company SAIPS, which was recently acquired by Ford.
For those who are into this sort of thing, and by that I mean Trekkies like me, you should visit their website. Reading the page “Our Technology” makes it quite clear why Ford (F) was so interested in acquiring the company. To me, this would be reason enough to buy Ford for the long term.
Another Israeli company is doing amazing things in the area of 3D printers. Nano Dimensions has created a 3D printer that is capable of printing multi-layer PCBs (printed circuit boards), which will save companies time and money, as most currently have to send out the board to be printed. This company appears to have a great future and would be one that investors should investigate.
It has an ADR that’s traded on Nasdaq under the symbol NNDM. Although the stock hasn’t performed well and the company was only formed four years ago, in my opinion they have the potential to become a star and now may be the time to get in.
I was amazed by the number of high tech and startup companies located in Israel. It struck me that everyone and their brother who had an idea has gone into business. This must bode well for the Israeli economy, and of course GDP growth which has languished recently. So, now that you’ve had a taste of some of the innovation going on in Israel, tune in over the next few weeks while I look to uncover other gems in the making.
The aouthor, Peter Kohli, is Chief Investment Officer at DMS Funds
This post was first published at Nasdaq, Inc.
