The study published at the E-nnovate Israel conference shows that if Israel were to implement innovation in the education system and the government system we could be like Singapore
In the picture of the National Security Agency: the South Korean ambassador, Kim Il-soo; Policy Manager at Google Israel, Doron Avni; Minister of Economy, MK Naftali Bennett; and the CEO of Google Israel, Meir Brand. Photo: Niv Kantor.
Israel and Singapore are not so different from each other. They have a similar number of inhabitants, they were not endowed with significant natural resources and until the 80's there was even an analogy in their GDP (gross domestic product). More than 30 years have passed and Singapore has become one of the richest countries in the world. The GDP per capita there is about 60 thousand dollars. twice as much as Israel. What happened? What differentiates two countries that may be the same on paper, but are so different in reality? The answer lies in technology.
This understanding came through a study done by the consulting company Trigger-Foresight from the Deloitte Group, funded by Google and which was revealed this week in the capacity of the Minister of Economy, MK Naftali Bennett. The research consisted of three different levels: personal interviews in which about a hundred senior officials and opinion leaders in Israeli society were interviewed; Identifying government programs and projects that use technology and the Internet to promote innovation and economic growth in different countries; And comparing Israel to different countries in the world in order to understand where it is located in regards to innovation, growth and technology.
The study revealed that in recent years, Singapore has adopted a series of national programs all aimed at mainstreaming the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to accelerate innovation and economic growth. These programs resulted in labor productivity growth of approximately 4% per year, compared to only 2% in Israel. Israel does enjoy the nickname "Startup Nation" and is considered second only to Silicon Valley in terms of the concentration of start-up companies there. But while the State of Israel is a world leader in creating innovative technological solutions, it does not exhaust the potential of their assimilation and application in the Israeli economy to promote economic growth:
• The rate of schools in Israel is lower than in developed countries. In the last two years, programs were inaugurated to adapt the education system to the digital age. But the gap between the weak and strong students is the second largest in the world.
• Some of the hospitals in Israel are at the ICT level of the 90s. It was only in 2012 that technological thinking was added to the strategic plan of the Ministry of Health.
• Only 38% of the small and medium-sized businesses have online trading capabilities, and despite the great importance these businesses see in the computerization of their business (both in marketing and advertising and in day-to-day operations), only 30% intend to invest in computerization in the coming year.
Israel is able to catch up with Singapore. It does not have to accept the decree that the employment rate will decrease by 2019% by 2, and by 7% by 2059, due to the aging of the population or the low rate of employed in the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sector. Technology, and the Internet in particular, can help Israel deal with the demographic, social and economic challenges facing it and leading to an economic slowdown.
The Israeli government recognizes the importance of securing Israel's position as a leader in the field of innovation and is engaged in promoting innovation through a variety of tools. She even started implementing several programs in the field in the various government ministries such as health, education, science and technology and more. In order to continue and move it forward, the formation of a national strategy for the adoption of communication and information technologies must be promoted.
The model built from the research offers alternatives for formulating such a strategy. It requires work on three main levels: infrastructure, citizens and government activity. The first level refers to physical infrastructures such as optical fibers and cloud computing systems. The second level recognizes human capital as the most prominent "natural resource" of the country. Therefore, his skill in using digital tools should be strengthened and technological education should be increased. The last level says that the government believes in implementing ICT and encouraging innovation through regulation of processes and legislation.
Based on this work, the government ministries will be able to initiate and review any initiative or project in the digital field. The examination should include four questions: the first, who is the project's target audience; the second, what are the tools or software they use; the third, what is the information and content that the consumers of the program receive; Fourth, what are the devices with which the target audience will consume and interact with the content.
According to the authors of the study, a national program to assimilate the use of information and communication technologies can save millions for the economy and lead to growth in GDP per capita. The estimates speak of an annual increase of one percent to the 2% that exist today. This means that GDP is expected to grow by another 30 billion dollars.
You can see examples of such growth in different countries around the world:
• In the UK, the health services have established an online health portal called NHS Direct. The portal makes it possible to receive general medical information, make appointments online and self-diagnosis with the help of an application developed for him. It returned its investment in four years, leading to savings of approximately 110 million euros in 2008 alone.
• The virtual high school in Florida was established in 1997. In the teaching method, emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking and the ability to solve problems, while adapting the teaching to several learning styles. Studies have found that the cost per student there is about $1,000 lower than the cost per student in a public school in the country.
• In 2008, the European Commission launched an initiative to integrate ICT in small and medium-sized businesses in the textile and fashion industry under the name "eBiz". A uniform electronic language and a dedicated management tool for the industry were developed. Already in the first year of the project, the order management costs of the project companies dropped by about 65%. Two years after it started, on average a company saved 416 working days and about 130 thousand euros in the project.
MK Naftali Bennett, Minister of Economy: "In the State of Israel we have been blessed with gardens of innovation, but the garden alone is like a seed and cannot grow without suitable soil. The government's role is to prepare the ground so that the seeds that are already there will flourish. The entrepreneurs and the private sector are racing ahead and the government remains far behind. We must invest in the existing infrastructures and also in the human infrastructures. And we must invest only in businesses that are sustainable. The government should lift the old economy towards innovation and the high-tech economy, and consume the innovation created here and not consume it from other countries. I ordered the Director General of the Ministry of Economy to formulate an innovation plan for the entire State of Israel."
Meir Brand, CEO of Google Israel, Africa and Greece: "The probability that Israel will invent the amazing and innovative remote medicine device, but will only use it in Denmark, Singapore and Finland, is high. So that such a situation does not happen, Israel needs to learn from the experience of those successful countries and adopt a plan that handles the field of ICT in general and the Internet in particular in a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary manner."
One response
Forget the concession system, the government-backed monopolies, the huge tariffs, the rule of the committees and the Israeli oligarchy's takeover of the economy. All of these create a lack of interest in any change on the part of the factors controlling the economy. The government, the education system and other bodies are being swept away by the current. In Singapore there is an open market and strong competition for everything.