The only items in the conference room at the Herzilya office of Zvika Rubinstein, for the past four and a half years CEO of Meytav Technological Enterprises Innovation Center Ltd., one of the two outstanding incubators in 2007, are a whiteboard on the wall, and a briefcase full of scientific magazines, and surveys. It is obvious that this office, with its lack of any personal touch, is not his home ground. Meytav, which is 85% owned by biopharmaceutical holdings company Biomedix Incubator Ltd. (TASE:BMDX.M) and manages 20 companies engaging in life sciences, medical devices, and biopharmaceuticals, is headquartered in Kiryat Shmona.
Rubinstein, who has resided in the Jezreel Valley settlement of Timrat for the last 25 years, is an enthusiast about northern Israel. He prefers to hold meetings in Kiryat Shmona or in Tel Hai - where the Tel-Hai Academic College, the Migal-Galilee Technology Center and Meytav have come together to form an R&D cluster. To this end, the three organizations recently announced they would invest $90 million in the infrastructure for the a leading biotechnology center. Three times week, Rubinstein has to get up at five in the morning in order to hold meetings at his office in central Israel.
Rubinstein is an agronomist by profession. He started his own irrigation company a few years ago, which later switched to medical devices and went bankrupt five years ago. Since then, he has dedicated himself to the field of bodily health, and he is currently working to recruit scientists both Israeli and foreign, to his incubator. His task is to raise funding from investors and build infrastructures with the goal of turning the Galilee into a Silicon Valley for biotechnology. To this end, he has put together a task force consisting of Teva chairman Eli Hurvitz, former Weizmann Institute of Science president Prof. Ilan Chet, former Minister of Finance and current chairman of the board of governors of Tel-Hai College Avraham Shochat, and other colleagues who meet once every six months to discuss how to move forward their biotechnology program for the Upper Galilee and Kiryat Shmona, called "Galil Biotech." "Industry, a medical school, R&D, start-ups - anything that can contribute to the Galilee," he says.
Should it get off the ground, the government plan to build a medical school in the Galilee will give Rubinstein's plan a considerable tail wind. The success of the idea, according to him, will ultimately be measured by the number of jobs it creates. "There is a paradigm that the best area to live in is between Hadera and Gedera," he explains. "The herd mentality is well known; that is why anyone who chooses to live in rural settlements is swimming against the tide. Changing a paradigm or the movement of a herd is like penetrating a innovative product to the market. We're patient. Our profession is creating jobs. We created 50 jobs in 2007, and once we reach 250 we will become a critical mass beyond which people will come on their own. This is a challenge that we intend to meet during our term."
Globes: What timescale have you set for this?
Rubinstein: "A year more, a year less, it depends on global factors and the environment. We will create 250 jobs such that a doctoral graduate of the Weizmann Institute will consider us. That is what we would like to see happening."
Growing human collagen from genetically modified tobacco
Among the developments of the companies operating under the Meytav incubator are a device to staple soft tissue in women suffering from pelvic prolapse (Endogun Medical Systems Ltd.), a circular breast ultrasound scanner for the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer (Helix Systems Ltd.), and other developments which Rubinstein is hoping will win recognition that will translate into a lot of money. One development of which he is exceptionally proud is that of CollPlant Ltd., which he has been promoting together with Prof. Oded Shoseyov of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and which has made a breakthrough by growing human collagen from genetically modified tobacco plants.
"I love projects that take courage," Rubinstein says. "I sat with Shoseyov and we decided to go for the idea; we had no proof, just papers. Everyone told us to get lost, and said anyone can produce papers and ask for $600,000. Then we had a hard time of it with the Chief Scientist, but today CollPlant is considered one of Israel's more promising companies. Collagen, which is more commonly associated with the cosmetics industry, is also a known player in orthopedics. We've solved a major problem here, because people normally use animal-derived collagen. I like this project, as do a good many other people, and that gives me a lot of satisfaction. I really hope that Shoseyov makes a lot of money from this."
Do you find yourself motivated by negative forecasts?
"I have the full confidence of my board. I tell them a story and whether or not they want to believe it is up to them. It's a tremendous responsibility. When the faith turns out to be well-founded, it is hugely gratifying. I like it when there is a fog, and you can see something through it all. Most people don't have the right glasses with which to see through this fog. And when I manage to find something in the fog, and then everyone sees I was right, that is the satisfaction I get from doing my job. Shareholders are happy when they make a pile of money. These projects, which I sometimes take on against the view of the majority, and without much data, such as Prof. Shoseyov's project, often pose a challenge which I really enjoy tackling."
What is holding the Galilee region back?
"Everyone knows that the Galilee is an acute problem. The trouble is that while it is the beautiful part of Israel, people come up for weekends and then go home on Saturday night. For the Zionist state, it is an important and undisputed place. It has been marked as belonging to us every time the borders have been drawn, but it won't really be ours unless we are there."
"A scientist leaves at the wave of a dollar"
Rubinstein feels the split into more than 10 local authorities is to the Galilee's detriment. "In contrast to the Negev which is very centralized, the Galilee is terribly fragmented. There are 13 local authorities from the Golan Heights to the Mediterranean Sea. As a result the Negev makes a far better job of looking after its interests. So there needs to be consolidation. We're a small incubator (we might be big for an incubator but as an economic entity we're small), we need infrastructures - research, people, factories. Since infrastructures are a prerequisite for biotech, we decided to harness anyone who can come on board with the needs of the region, like Migal, for example, a research institute with 150 people, the Tel-Hai College, which places special emphasis on biotechnology, and so on. These are things that can be brought together."
Do you have the means with which to tempt scientists who have emigrated into returning to Israel and settling down in the Galilee specifically?
"The good scientists get fantastic offers in the US. Here, the amount of money channeled into science from public and private resources is ludicrous. You can't take a person who wants to grow and thrive and say 'live in the Galilee instead of Boston.' The question is what sort of education has that person received, and how many dollars would he be willing to forego in exchange for the pleasure of living in his homeland. It sometimes happens that we negotiate with a scientist and suddenly he gets a far more attractive offer from overseas. There is a good deal of pain in all this business, we've taken quite a few blows. The grandparents and parents cleared swamps and did some amazing things when they came to Israel, and then for the sake of few dollars, a scientist leaves us. Reading about these problems in the newspapers is one thing, but it really hurts when you see the individual in person."
Despite the difficulty in measuring success at the incubator stage, what is your success rate so far?
"As an incubator engaging in the fostering of young projects, the only test is an objective one - how many times has a third party been willing to invest in a company? That is the measure of our success. The key question is how many of the companies which have been invested in, carry on. At present, our rate is amazing. I don't want to mention a figure so as not to tempt fate, but it is very high. Out of a total of $30 million in private investment in Meytav companies, 7-8% is earmarked for life sciences."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 14, 2008
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