Israel: The economy, health technology in focus

The Israeli Association of Friends of the Weizmann Institute has been hosting a series of virtual talks for friends and supporters, including one in June with the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Prof. Amir Yaron, who spoke about the impact of the pandemic on the economy. “This economic crisis is different than that of 2008, which did not greatly affect the Israeli economy,” he said. “In contrast, the corona crisis hit Israel when its economy was strong and is indeed affecting the country’s economy.”

Dr. Yair Schindel, Co-Founder (with Marius Nacht) and Managing Director at aMoon, a health tech and life sciences venture fund, spoke to the Israeli friends on another occasion about the effect of the pandemic on the healthcare industry.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the convergence of healthcare and technology more so than ever before,” said Dr. Schindel. “The health-tech sector is surging, and Israeli entrepreneurs in this industry are uniquely positioned to create real change.” He added, “When we founded aMoon, we thought that the digital health revolution wouldn’t be fully realized for 10 years, maybe 20 years. Timelines have shortened dramatically in recent months and this revolution will happen sooner than expected.”