The Israeli government wants to expand its partnership in Davao City through startup innovations.
"We are here to create bridges between Israel and the Philippines. These bridges can be in our government, doing businesses, organization, and between people. Also, one important thing is the bridges of innovation," Nir Balzam, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Israel in Manila, said during the Davao-Israel Innovation Night: Davao Startups Spotlight event at the Acacia Hotel on Thursday, August 11.
Balzam said Davao City is one of the premiere cities to have innovation promoted.
The startup scene in the city, he said, is promising considering the growing number of startup innovators.
In addition, he said they also saw a growing potential of other places in the country as another potential startup hub.
Itamar Gero, Vice President for External Affairs of the Israel Chamber of Commerce, said the partnership between two areas is also a way for the parties to share their best practices towards innovation, particularly in the field of agriculture and food production.
Israel being dubbed as a "startup nation,” Gero said they hope to share their country's success story and create partnerships with the innovation community in the country.
He also said this is also an opportunity for the younger generation to showcase their potential in entrepreneurship.
Miguel Carlo S. Guillermo, Project Leader of the IDEAS Davao, said innovation night is one of the events wherein premier startups are highlighted in the region.
"The startup ecosystem now has grown over the years, especially with some of the startups in Davao Region now being assisted by the technology business incubators," he said.
He said the start up scene in Davao City and neighboring regions in Mindanao has been thriving discreetly.
However, he said due to lack of support over the past years, several startups struggled to succeed, while some ideas for impactful ventures have materialized without public knowledge.
Guillermo said the city government and other concerned agencies had been addressing the gap by building infrastructures and creating an environment for budding enterprises, in a bid to put the city on the "startup map in the Philippines and the world."
He said that creating a startup ecosystem is a great way of addressing the existing social problems.
"This is the drive that we need from our Filipino people. We believe we can create this ecosystem [where] all of our society's pressing problems can be addressed," Guillermo said.
During the event, 10 startup groups pitched their project to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). RGL