The 2018 SilicoNegevBGU startup competition is underway. The competition is open to technological startups from across the country that focus on the Negev region and are working to strengthen the Negev on both the national and the international level. The competition is under the auspices of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Tech7 innovation community, and the Meta Foundation for Development and Growth.
Twenty startups out of those that register for the competition will be selected to make presentations to the investors. Five of these will go on to the final stage. The winner will receive investment of up to NIS 500,000 from the Meta Foundation for Development and Growth. Registration is open until March 28.
The final event of SilicoNegevBGU will take place on May 23 at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, during an entrepreneurship and financing event for young companies.
Last year's competition was won by Consis Medical, a company developing an innovative disposable colonoscopy device designed to significantly reduce the costs of gastro-therapy and treatments.
Prof. Rivka Carmi, president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, said, "The university is the beating heart of the developing innovation ecosystem of the Negev. For that reason, our joint venture with the SilicoNegevBGU event, which includes the most significant startup competition in the area, is natural. The university promotes entrepreneurship in the south through its Advanced Technologies Park, attracting international companies that raise the quality of jobs in the Negev region, as part of the vision of turning the Negev into the wellspring of innovation coming out of Israel."
Gideon Shavit of the Meta Foundation for Development and Growth said, "The partnership between the Meta Foundation for Development and Growth and the Tech7 organization at SilicoNegevBGU promotes innovation and hi-tech initiatives in the Negev. This year we joined with Ben-Gurion University in organizing the Entrepreneurship Festival, in order to further strengthen the southern innovation ecosystem."
Other organizations participating in the competition are the Beersheva Municipality, the Negev Development Authority, Poalim High-Tech, the law firm of Tolchinsky Stern Marciano Cohen Levitski & Co., Israel Chemicals (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL), and the Israel Innovation Authority.
Tech7 is the official tech and entrepreneurship community of Beersheva and the South. It was founded in January 2015 by a group of representatives from the Advanced Technologies Park, students and local entrepreneurs. Tech7's aim is to strengthen and develop the tech community in Beersheva and to enable it to become a technological leader on a global scale. Today, the community has over 14,000 members and over 100 startups.
META (Future Technologies Center) was founded in order to assist innovation initiatives in the Negev region. The organization invests up to NIS 500,000 per company in projects with a positive economic chance of success.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 26, 2018
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