Innovation Diplomacy

Start-Up Nation Central, IDB collaborate to boost tech relations among Israel, Latin America & the Caribbean

Innovation Diplomacy

August 10, 2020

By Einat Paz-Frankel

Start-Up Nation Central (SNC) has partnered with ConnectAmericas, an online business platform that helps small and medium-sized enterprises from Latin America and the Caribbean internationalize their business by providing them with access to communities of clients, suppliers and investors in the region and around the world. The network was created by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with the support of Google, DHL, Sealand, Facebook and Mastercard.The partnership comes on the heels of the global attention around Israeli technologies and startups that tackle unprecedented global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introducing 5,000 Israeli tech companies to Latin American corporations

The two partners created profiles for more than 5,000 Israeli tech companies, with data derived from SNC’s innovation tracking platform – the Start-Up Nation Finder – on the ConnectAmericas platform. As part of the collaboration, SNC provides support services and manages the introductions and interactions on the platform.

In addition, IDB and SNC have identified the areas of focus for solutions addressing the challenges in the region in face of the pandemic: healthcare, cybersecurity, food security, critical infrastructure and social services. IDB’s innovation lab, IDB Lab, will provide the sandbox to pilot the selected solutions, in order to scale the successful ones through the group’s operations. SNC is working with experts in each of these fields to understand the main challenges of the region and match them with the most relevant innovative Israeli solutions.

“Overcoming today’s most pressing challenges”

According to Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, the Israeli tech and innovation sector is receiving substantial attention from around the world in general, and especially during the global pandemic. “Our partnership with IDB plays a major role in connecting the ecosystems, allowing us to identify Israeli partners to jointly develop and adapt solutions to the challenges faced by Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said, adding that the partnership with IDB “helps its constituent countries overcome today’s most pressing challenges.”

According to Ana María Rodríguez, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge at IDB, “COVID-19 will accelerate the shift to digital and reshape the business landscape. Latin America and the Caribbean must be part of the digital future.” The partnership was officially announced at the Outsource2LAC Virtual Week 2020, one of the most prominent conferences in Latin America, where the partners held online webinars with hundreds of participants.

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