The Israel-China love affair is taking a new step. On Wednesday, the first Israeli innovation accelerator program landed in China. With support from the Israeli Ministry of Economy, the Israel Global Accelerator Program signed an agreement with Day Day Up, a Beijing-based co-working space company and international business platform, and Shengjing Group, China’s largest management consulting, training, and investment advisory firm serving SMEs.
“This program was started in order and help Israeli startups coming to China,” Day Day Up co-founder Jerome Scola told TechNode. The aim is to introduce Israeli companies to the Chinese market and help them find contracts and investments, he added. The accelerator program will last six months and bring 10 in promising startups from Israel to China.
“We are currently starting the selection and a campaign in Israel to promote this,” said Scola. We expect the companies to arrive mid-October, we will have five (in Beijing) and five will be in Shenzhen. It is a six-months program so the plan is to finish by the end of April, ideally just in time for GMIC.”
Day Day Up and Shengjing also aim to help Chinese companies land in Israel and promote the completion of a Chinese startup accelerator in this country.
Israeli startups have good reasons for courting Chinese investors: investments by Chinese companies in Israel rose tenfold in 2016, with many of the key investments going into internet, cyber-security and medical startups.
The Head of Trade and Investment Mission at the Embassy of Israel in Beijing Ophir Gore, who participated in the signing ceremony, noted that China is becoming one of the two dominant players in the Israeli economy. In March this year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China to establish a partnership for innovation.