Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:02:1
The Media Line Staff
Having already mastered telecommunications and defense, analysts say health could be the next big thing for the Israeli high tech industry.
Banking on a tradition of multi-disciplinary innovation, Israeli firms for health information technology (HIT) are slowly becoming leaders in the international health field.
"Health IT is a huge sector and we have some leading companies here," Aaron Mankovski, Chairman of the Israeli High Tech Association and Managing General Partner of Israel's largest venture capital firm, Pitango, told The Media Line at the Globes Israeli Business Conference in Tel Aviv. "I think the potential is very big."
"It can definitely be one of the big new things here," said Mankovski, whose firm has over $1.3 billion in committed capital and has helped more than 100 companies grow. "The whole health IT is a multi-disciplinary sector and Israel over the years has been very good at multi-disciplinary systems and multi-disciplinary companies."
Health information technology is the management and exchange of health information used by various parties, from medical staff and government agencies to insurance companies.
"Israel is a very advanced innovation hub," Sherif El Diwany, head of the Middle East & Arab Business Council of the World Economic Forum told The Media Line at the conference. "It is the number two innovation center in the world according to our studies."
The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, is known for its annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, attracting the elite of the global business community. Over 1000 companies worldwide are members of the forum, 10 of them Israeli.
Business analysts have predicted that as the Israeli market is relatively small, HIT companies are looking to foreign markets, in particular the U.S., for growth opportunities.
On Monday American health care company Abbott purchased Israeli laboratory information management systems developer STARLIMS in an effort to strengthen its position in the global diagnostics market.
A system developed by Israeli company dbMotion gives caregivers secure access to integrated patient records even from facilities outside the healthcare network and from access points with limited technological facilities. HIT's proponents argue that its increased utilization will lead to a more efficient health care system with fewer errors, less paperwork and a knock-on effect for affordable health care.
According to some estimates the U.S. is spending some $40 billion on health information technology as part of an initiative launched in January by President Barack Obama to build a nationwide, interoperable, private and secure electronic health information system.
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