A new nonprofit called welaunch is co-sponsoring a tour of Israel built around agricultural and food technology. The goal is to build business ties between Israel, often called the Start-Up Nation, and the Silicon Prairie. In fact, that name covers a group of Midwestern and Plains states.
The tour is a joint mission of welaunch, Israel’s Economic Mission to the Midwest and the Jewish National Fund. A group of 10 people was set to be in Israel from May 6 to 10, 2018. It included government officials, industry leaders and corporate executives from the Midwest.
Welaunch was formed to promote trade, investment and partnerships between Silicon Prairie states and Israel. Its map runs from Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas to Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. It also takes in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. For now, though, the group is concentrating on Indiana, Nebraska and Iowa.
The founder of welaunch, Baruch HaLevi, was born and raised in the Midwest and had recently moved to Israel. He pointed out that Israelis usually head to Boston, New York or California. As a result, they tend to fly over the Midwest. In his view, that leaves room to connect Israeli startups with the region. He also argued that closer business ties would strengthen the Jewish community.
The sectors on the agenda include ag tech, clean tech and water technology. In addition, welaunch lists what it calls wheat tech, which covers agronomy, seeds, yield and precision agriculture.
