A remarkable yet vaguely understood development in the global high-technology world is the rise of Israel as a world-class, high-tech seedbed and the strong, symbiotic set of U.S.- Israeli business relationships supporting this activity. Based on collaboration with faculty from the William Davidson School of Management of the Technion Institute in Haifa, Israel, this Round Table offered first-hand insights from industry leaders on their hi-tech experience in Israel, as well as the latest scholarly perspectives on the high-tech links between Israel and the United States.

The discussion focused on the following questions:

• What factors now make Israel an often desirable choice for strategic technology solutions, and will this favorable situation continue?;
  
  
• How significant is the evolving U.S.- Israeli connection for modern global innovation strategy?; and
  
  
• Specifically, what are the management implications of the U.S.-Israeli high-technology relationship?
  
  

Industry and academic speakers and panelists included:

• Nir Barkat, Chairman, BRM;
  
  
• David Rubin, Economic Minister to North America, Israel Economic Mission; and
  
  
• Mordecai Soloff, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
  
  

Institute and faculty speakers, panelists and moderators included:

• Professor Peter Bamberger, William Davidson School of Management, Technion - Israel Institute for Technology, Haifa;
  
  
• Professor Avi Fiegenbaum, William Davidson School of Management, Technion - Israel Institute for Technology, Haifa;
  
  
• Professor Mel Horwitch, Director, Institute for Technology and Enterprise; Chair, Department of Management, Polytechnic University; and
  
  
• Professor Shlomo Maital, William Davidson School of Management,Technion - Israel Institute for Technology, Haifa.
  
  

Additional contributions of original cases, research and presentations included:

• "Global Integration of Marketing & R&D: IBM's Haifa Research Laboratory and its "WebCutter" Technology", by Mel Horwitch, Hariolf Grupp, Shlomo Maital, Galit Dopelt and Galit Sobel;
  
  
• An overview of the BRM family with Checkpoint and BackWeb as cases in point, by Ziv Navoth; and
  
  
• "Harnessing Israel's Telecommunications Sector", by Avi Fiegenbaum.