Creating a community of innovation - Rotem

The visit to Rotem was a unique opportunity to look at how government can work with private sector to foster innovation. It is a tricky job because incentives have to be pitched perfectly. Too much financial aid and people with non-viable businesses will try to be a part of this community and waste general resources. Too little aid, and you lose the entrepreneurs with the good ideas.

In particular, Rotem was focused on hi-tech renewable energy technologies. Unlike internet and software innovations, these require extremely long incu

bation periods and capital investment. In many cases, beta testing can go on for several years. That is a huge commitment and one that is difficult for individual entrepreneurs to take on - unless someone like Rotem comes along to help.

A theme that kept appearing in this trip was the fact that Israel is committed to energy independence (or as much of it as they can have). And this was clearly seen through organizations like Rotem which are government owned - but run like private sector companies. As the US government looks to boost jobs with innovation and entrepreneurship - I think there are many useful insights from case studies like Rotem on how to be helpful without interfering.

Read more: http://www.h-v.co.il/