So I’m off to Israel tonight for the first time. There is no doubt that Trump will change America but that doesn’t mean it has to change Australia.
Israel is a remarkable nation. Rising out of the ashes of World War II, it now has a population of 8 million people crammed into an area one-third the size of Tasmania.
It is also a world leader in cyber security and our delegation is part of building Australia and Victoria’s capacity as a cyber security powerhouse.
It’s going to be a fascinating week in Israel with a packed agenda of cyber security organisations, universities and start-up companies.
I’m sure that I’ll come back with the view that Australia is not doing enough. And certainly not as much as Israel which spends 4.3 per cent of GDP on R&D, well ahead of our dismal 2.1 per cent. Their high-tech goods and services account for one-eighth of their GDP and half of their industrial exports. And it’s all paying off. The cyber security industry is now worth around $70 billion a year and growing at a rate of 10 per cent. Israel cyber-related export products now amount to about $6 billion a year and that’s up from $3 billion in 2013.
Today, Be’er Sheva is a high-tech hub for Israel’s thriving cyber security industry. The world’s leading cyber players are all there in a technology park set up alongside Ben Gurion University.
Read the full article by Harold Mitchell in The Sydney Morning Herald