“It just seems like it’s raining Aussies on us. I’ve never seen so many,” says Jon Medved, chief executive of OurCrowd and one of Israel’s leading hi-tech venture capitalists. After a period of “clearly not enough” investment in innovation, Australia seems poised for a “really great moment”, he believes.
It looks like we’re about to realise we can “actually make [money] on minds not mines”, he says in his Jerusalem office, his voice as loud as his floral-themed shirt.
Some of them were among the 350 people, including Australian businessman and Israeli resident James Packer, who made it to the Australian embassy’s “#Ozraeli” party celebrating ties between the two countries on the ocean-front in ancient Jaffa in September.
A rock band, drag queens and a stand-up comedian provided the entertainment at the function, described as “one of the most unusual diplomatic functions that Israel has seen“. It was a high point for the innovative diplomacy of Australia’s ambassador to Israel (and youngest ever ambassador) Dave Sharma. It even trended on Twitter, briefly.
Read the full article by Catherine Armitage at the Sydney Morning Herald.