Israeli Tech Hub Seeks To Match Defense Giants With Cutting-Edge Startups

By Shoshanna Solomon, The Times of Israel June 10, 2018 2 minutes

An illustrative photo of Israeli soldiers using a Spike missile developed by Rafael during a training exercise. Photo by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.

After setting up innovation hubs for the construction industries and the financial and insurance sectors, SOSA, an Israeli company that connects startups with investors and corporations, is now setting its sights on the homeland security and defense front.

The company has launched the Homeland Security (HLST) Innovation Hub, which, it says, is a “first of its kind” program that aims to create a defense and security innovation community that will match homeland security and defense industry firms with startups, to help industry giants maintain their leading edge. Defense electronics firm ELTA Systems Ltd. and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a weapons maker, are the first Israeli companies to join the program, SOSA said.

“We found a gap in the ability of startups to succeed in the defense arena,” said Col. (res.) Duddy Rokach, a former head of the Army Combat Weapon Systems Department at the IDF, who will be the managing partner of the new hub. “And that gap has left many victims along the way.”

Startups often lack the networks needed to access the often-vast defense companies. They also find it hard to navigate the tortuous regulatory processes and bureaucratic procedures necessary to penetrate the industry, he said.

But it is also true, Rokach said, that the defense industry globally is looking at startups and the civilian sphere for the next big thing in the defense world.

“Fifteen years ago, a big part of the platforms used in the defense industry were developed in the armies, and were later exported for civilian use,” he said. “Today civilian developments are taking the lead.”

The SOSA initiative, which started working some 10 months ago, is focusing on matching Israeli companies with startups. Eventually the reach will be international, Rokach said.

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