Patrice Campariol from start-up Intuilab makes an interactive 3D visualization table that runs like a giant play station, what Toulouse insiders call a unique human-machine interface product. He is sure he will get positive feedback from the firms he is seeing in Tel Aviv. “We have a strong visualization product, and the Israelis are strong in biotech and defense,” he said.
Gaston Nicolessi at tiny Nanotimes, a developer of nanotech simulation software also in Toulouse, has never been to Israel either, but knows of its fundamental research labs. And Israel can be a springboard to the US market.
Daniel Benchimol, CEO of Eurogiciel, a 700-person strong developer of aeronautic software and a supplier to Toulouse’s flagship industry, Airbus, sees great potential in Israel. “The Israelis could be working much more in the European aeronautics and space industries,” he notes. “For us, working with them would be much more about cooperation than buying or selling. We would like to import Israeli technology and use it Europe-wide.”
The business delegation currently visiting Israel from Toulouse, the largest high-tech industrial pole in France, is following something of a high tech meeting model for maximum human-human interface, to keep the same lexical focus. And for the record, with 32 French firms participating, this may be the largest such delegation from France ever to visit Israel.
"We have used extensive insider networks to set up on-site face to face meetings between Israeli and French companies on this trip,” says Dominique Bourra, head of NanoJV, a facilitator for business ventures between the two countries.
“Before we left France, we had already identified product and idea-based company matches that we hope will lead to technological and strategic alliances. I know that sounds like a mouthful and probably reads like a speech, but with that and an extensive follow-up program, let’s say we have taken the one-to-one model one step beyond.”
“And that is why we hired Dominique to put together this trip with us,” comments Daniel Abehsera, the president of France-Israel Chamber of Commerce (CCFI) in Toulouse and himself the CEO of CS, a company already working with Israel. “This kind of meeting strategy with a strong follow-up is not standard. In fact, I’ve never seen it before.”
Abehsera also cooperated with the business mission of the French embassy in Tel Aviv and the Midi-Pyrénées regional council, which is backing the entire operation..
The veteran of French Israeli business cooperation believes, as do many other operators in France, that there has not been enough work done between the two countries for a number of reasons. A group from Toulouse went to Israel in 2005 but got few results.
“There are certain dynamics at work now because, yes, Nicolas Sarkozy has definitely de-complexed French business about working with Israel,” says Abehsera. “This time, we are doing a follow-up program on the person-to-person and company levels. That is a lot of work, and people are enthusiastic about it. Certainly many of the non-Jewish delegation participants have never been to Israel and know little about the country.”
Benchimol at Eurogiciel has never worked with Israeli firms, though he knows the country on a personal level. “Let’s say that both sides have changed,” he says. “Business contact is following the political evolution in France, and the Israelis are more willing to cooperate, as opposed to simply selling their technology.”
Abehsera has been working with Israel for years, as has Dominique Bourra. “The French are very high up in innovation technology, but are not good at communicating internationally,” says the CCFI Toulouse president. “Look at the HMI visualization table. I really think it is unique, but no one outside France has seen it.”
Bourra prefers talking about complementary technological and strategic points. “We are looking at four fields here,” he says, “aeronautics, biotechnology, IT security and nanotechnology. This is not a hit and run operation. It is about establishing and maintaining relationships.”
That is exactly what seduced Serge Labouygues, the field rep for Forest Liné, a three-factory, 500-employee French machine tool manufacturer that is already a supplier for Airbus, Boeing and IAI, Israel Aircraft Industry.
“I have already been proposed one-on-one meetings on delegations in Russia, the Baltic States and elsewhere,” he says, “but I have never seen a model with so much advanced preparation and a follow-up plan. I know the IAI people very well in Israel, but not the mid-sized subcontractors in aeronautics. I cannot tell you to which company sites I am going in Tel Aviv. That is all Abehsera and Bourra’s job. And I cannot possibly do the follow-up myself, so this is great for me.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 30, 2008
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