Daniel Taub recently spoke to the Britain-Israel Chamber of Commerce, where he discussed how Israel is becoming a popular place for technological innovations, much like Silicon Valley is now. Israel has found considerable success in the technology industry, currently responsible for innovation at a rate that is second only to Silicon Valley. Taub offered a great deal of insight into this development, explaining why Israel is showing such success in this industry.
Taub mentioned the “Davka Principle” as a way to describe to the CoC what is going on in Israel. “Davka” is a Hebrew word used to discuss an unexpected consequence or development. Despite the use of the term “unexpected” there is no negative connotation when he discusses this principle. While these actions are expected to be negative normally, the outcomes have in fact been fairly positive. One of the most significant of these factors is that Israel possess very few to no natural resources.
Typically, this could be disastrous for the economic stability of a country, but Israel recognized their limitations, deciding instead to focus on their intellectual resources. This led to innovation that would carry this country to competitive heights in the tech sector.
The “Davka principle” has played a role in developing Israeli society in many more ways. The situation in Israel has long been precarious, which has led to the requirements of its citizens to serve in the military for 2-3 years. Military might tends to drain the economy in the short term, but it has also harnessed what young adults need to become successful innovators and entrepreneurs. Taub argues the military is surprisingly one of the best places for a person to learn about innovation because the military has much to teach about proper networking, improvisation, and leadership skills.
Another typically negative effect on the economy according to Taub is immigration. Immigration has a way of hurting the economy, but Israelis were able to utilize the unique skill sets immigrants brought into their country to help further innovation in the technology industry. There was an influx in immigrants who were educated, with backgrounds in engineering and technology. People across 70 countries have immigrated into Israel, creating diversity that helped to inspire cooperation and creativity. Working together across many cultures and attitudes is something that can make all the difference in the world, as it helps bring a multitude of approaches to a single topic.
The geography of this location is an unexpected advantage as well. First of all, the small size of Israel makes it so that tech businesses need an international approach to marketing their business. Daniel Taub went on to discuss the volatile location where Israel exists. Hostile neighboring countries causes Israel to be a bit more creative when launching satellites. The normal method would cause other countries east of Israel to shoot them down the minute the satellites appear in their airspace. To make satellites a possibility for Israeli tech firms, they needed to make them out of lighter material and launch them against the rotation of the earth westward, away from any imminent danger.
One valuable lesson from Taub’s talk for other nations is that they do not need to be a large superpower to find national success in any industry, especially in the technology industry. Taub breaks down each of the negatives that should be working against Israel’s success and then contrasts them by showing how they can in fact lead to a more desirable outcome. Some of these lessons can be quite applicable to businesses as well, not just countries.
Israel has overcome many obstacles to thrive in innovation. By taking perceived weaknesses, one can find new strengths that other people may overlook. Innovation is all about taking strengths and using them to come up with solutions that are outside of the box. To take an example from Taub, Israel could have just spent valuable time focusing on finding natural resources like oil to help their economy. Instead, they realized that they could use their intellectual resources to further their country’s advancement. Every obstacle that this country could have had, ended up helping them find their true calling as innovators in this technological world.
Daniel Taub studied at University College in Oxford and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He moved to Israel in 1989 and shortly after served in the Israeli Defense Forces. While serving in the IDF, he was a combat medic and then later became a reserve officer in the international law division.
He has written numerous articles on the Middle East, in publications such as the Huffington Post, The Guardian, and the Daily Telegraph.
Read more about Daniel Taub: https://thenewsversion.com/2018/03/israeli-diplomat-daniel-taub-puts-faith-back-into-diplomacy/
