There are no non-stop flights linking Tel Aviv with San Francisco or San Jose. But if this new deal works out, the number of flyers is expected to increase and justify such routes. The historic deal was signed at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.
You couldn't find two happier politicians doing a deal, Silicon Valley style. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Gov. Brown signing a deal calling for collaboration on water, energy, and cyber security technology; issues where sharing knowledge could lead to breakthroughs.
"Solar, biofuels, alternative energy, another," Netanyahu said. "We're doing that. Cyber, we'll need to protect the privacy of individuals and not only our public systems. You don't want your user accounts to be pilfered or your bank accounts stolen."
"There's a lot we can do, there's a lot we can learn, a lot we can share," Brown said. "Israel is dynamic. California is dynamic."
The invited guests were from tech startups and agencies promoting international collaboration.
"What lessons can be learned in Israel and transferring those to here, and having partners that can help develop those products here is very important, and I think this effort here you saw in terms of signing an MOU is going to cement that relationship," San Jose Chief Economist John Lang said.
The Palo Alto security company Qylur is an example of that kind of collaboration. It makes high volume screening devices to check tickets and bags at major events. Its work force is in Israel and Silicon Valley.
"It's helped us to grow by being able to expedite and create technologies in a budget and a timeline that really wouldn't be possible without putting those things together," said Qylur Founder and CEO Lisa Sagi-Dolev.
And the goal of Wednesday's deal is to foster even more sharing of knowledge
