Business Secretary Sajid Javid has backed further UK-Israel tech cooperation and highlighted the important role to be played by the Israeli-Arab sector as part of a three-day Israeli tech trip to London.
The Conservative Cabinet Minister stated: “If the UK is going to thrive as a digital centre and become one of the best it has to work with the best in the world and that of course includes Israel”. Mr Javid was speaking at the second Arabtech event, which brings together tech start-ups from the Israeli-Arab sector to build links with British companies.
The Business Secretary also highlighted the importance and recent success of UK-Israel bilateral relationship, observing that there are “more than 300 Israeli companies with a physical presence in the UK…responsible for thousands of jobs”. Overall trade between the two countries has broken records in recent years and is now worth around £5 billion per annum.
The UK Israel Tech Hub at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, a public-private initiative aiming to build a stronger tech partnership between the countries, has been running an initiative to help Israeli-Arab rising-stars develop their skills and foster business relationships abroad in an effort to encourage more Israeli-Arabs to enter the sector.
The Arabtech delegation mission to London showcased 10 promising entrepreneurs from Nazareth to British accelerators, investors, companies and leaders from the UK’s tech ecosystem.
Earlier this week, it was announced that hundreds of British and Israeli researchers will benefit from new bilateral programmes agreed between Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space and the UK Government’s Science and Innovation Network. The new initiatives, announced to coincide with UK Israel Science Day, will benefit areas including water, medicine, agriculture and nanotechnology.
UK Ambassador to Israel David Quarrey said, “the British economy can greatly benefit from partnering with start-ups from Israel’s Arab community. Just like other sectors of the Start Up Nation, entrepreneurs from this community bring huge amount of talent and innovation. The British Government, through its UK Israel Tech Hub, is proud to introduce the British business community to tech opportunities from this community”.
