World's biggest fund discovers Tel Aviv

 Analysts: Israel to be attractive developed marketDeutsche Bank says although Jewish state will be alongside world's richest economies, its growth characteristics will keep more in line with emerging market Reuters  Published: 05.19.10, 10:28 / Israel Business    Israel will be an attractive investment after its upgrade from an emerging to a developed market this month in the MSCI Index, analysts say. Deutsche Bank said this week that although Israel will be alongside the world's richest economies, its growth characteristics will keep more in line with an emerging market. "(Israel) can offer active developed market investors the opportunity to enjoy emerging style growth and performance without having to invest off-index," the bank said in a report. Index compiler MSCI announced last June it would include Israel in its World Index and its EAFE Index, the third such upgrade in its history. When the May 27 reclassification takes effect, passive investors in emerging markets will have to sell Israel holdings. It may take time for developed market funds to take their place. "The Israeli economy is in relatively good shape. For a developed market investor, Israel would be quite an attractive place," said Andrew Brown, an investment manager at British firm Aberdeen whose emerging market fund has about $700 million in Israeli companies. "These stocks are of relatively good value," he told Reuters. "We will not rush to sell them." Foreign investors surveyed by Thomson Reuters Extel in March said the biggest challenge to the Israeli market would be the shift from comprising about 3% of MSCI's emerging markets index to some 0.4% of its developed market index. Fidelity International's Nick Price, portfolio manager of the Emerging Europe Middle East and Africa Fund, said the switch will not have any effect on his fund because of Israel's size. "I will stay with stocks that I like and I believe that most people will do the same," he said.  Top-heavy market A Citigroup report said $2.8 billion in passive outflows were expected from Israeli stocks with the change – but eventually would be more than offset by inflows of $3.6 billion. Foreign investors already hold nearly 30% of Israeli equities, mostly in top companies like Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Israel Chemicals, Bezeq Israel Telecom and the largest banks, Leumi and Hapoalim. UBS and Merrill Lynch also view the move as a short-term negative with a more positive long term. The Tel Aviv 25 index hit an all-time high last month of 1,237.85 points, buoyed by strong economic growth. It has eased back to 1,162 with the global decline in stocks. The country recovered relatively quickly from the global crisis, its economy expanding at an annualized 4.8% rate in the fourth quarter and 0.7% for all of 2009. The central bank predicts growth of 3.7% in 2010.  Israel was also invited to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) this month. The Bank of Israel said that while there is a chance of an ebb in passive inflows, in previous upgrades there was no evidence of a significant drop in the volume of investment.

Technology and Innovation Making a Better Tomorrow at Research@Intel EventNEWS HIGHLIGHTSToday marks the 11th annual Research@Intel event, showcasing 20 research projects from around the world, each exploring technologies to enrich lives with smarter cities, homes and offices, and with smarter ways to shop, communicate and drive.Intel Labs is developing some of the world's most promising technological advancements, both on its own and in conjunction with leading academic institutions worldwide.Intel Labs helps pave the way for future innovations through technologies that support life enrichment, easier access to big data, and a more connected computing experience.SAN FRANCISCO, June 25, 2013 – Car tail lights saving lives, immersive displays allowing photos to tell their own story, personalized shopping experiences. These are just a few of the innovations presented by Intel Corporation today at its 11th annual Research@Intel event, a showcase of the most innovative new research spawned from Intel's internal efforts and external collaborations. Justin Rattner, Intel's chief technology officer, kicked off today's event by highlighting some of the 20 groundbreaking research projects on exhibition today.Supplementing its own robust and diverse research efforts, Intel Labs two years ago deployed a unique model of direct collaboration with the world's leading academic researchers, creating a global network of seven Intel Science and Technology Centers (ISTCs) and six Intel Collaborative Research Institutes (ICRIs). Each center has built its own vibrant community of researchers to speed advances in embedded, cloud, social and secure computing, among other fields. Today's event showcases a sample of these research advances – and many from Intel's own labs – across these and many other sectors, including visual and context-aware computing as well as significant progress in fields such as big data."The majority of our research is conducted by Intel's own researchers but we are delighted by the quality and quantity of research coming out of the ISTCs and ICRIs," said Rattner. "Importantly, the deeply collaborative structure of these engagements is based on an open IP model benefiting not just Intel and researchers, but the high technology industry and human society at large."Research@Intel Demo ShowcaseDemos at the Research@Intel event are housed in four different zones. These zones include:Enriching Lives: Developing computing experiences that simplify, enhance and enrich people's lives. This research is intended to help people be understood, expressive and free. One demonstration, titled "Be Meaningful," using "Shelf Edge Technology (SET)," can help detect a person's presence in a store and create a more meaningful, personalized shopping experience. If a car needs an air filter, for example, SET could use the vehicle's service records to alert the owner about the need for a specific filter when the owner enters an auto parts store. If a person has peanut allergies, SET could warn of potentially dangerous products. If a person plans to cook salmon for dinner, SET could recommend wines to best compliment the dish.The Data Society: Unlocking the power of data for everyone. In addition to pushing the boundaries of what institutions can do with big data, Intel Labs has put an emphasis on the exploration of meaningful data exchange among individuals. Researchers are looking at ways to adapt the digital infrastructure to allow people to better capture, move and work with digital information easily and effectively. In a demonstration titled, "Vibrant Data Communities," Intel Labs researchers combine public and personal data with context-aware algorithms to identify and present the most useful information to individuals. For example, air quality sensors in a neighborhood could help steer a person clear of pollen hotspots in during allergy season.Intelligent Everything: Innovations that transform inanimate objects by adding sensing capabilities, helping enable sustainable and smart living experiences. In one demonstration, researchers are working on easy-to-use tools to automate contextual cues with already-existing sensors so that a home behaves usefully in response to events and a family's unique needs. The demonstration shows how to easily link a Web camera and a music system to act as a home security system and to link a Web camera that receives contextual cues from a baby in a crib and an alarm by the parents' bed to act as a baby monitor.Tech Essentials: Technology building blocks – including circuits, architecture and software – that provide a foundation for all of the areas above. For example, the "Protecting Sensor Data" demonstration uses Intel hardware and software to prevent malicious parties for accessing personal information recorded by cameras, microphones and GPS locators embedded in mobile devices.To get the latest Intel Innovation news, visit www.intel.com/newsroom/research, and join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Everyone wins when a big company acquires a start-up.From GlobsExactly three years ago, Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) co-founder Larry Page again took over as CEO, ten years after leaving the position. Eric Schmidt vacated the post to become chairman, and Page began to take the search giant in a new direction. Schmidt, who had been parachuted into the company in 2001 because of investor pressure as a responsible adult to turn the small and bubbling start-up into the corporate giant that Google has become. However, three years ago, it was decided to go back to basics, and not just with a personnel change, in order to give Google the feel and atmosphere of a start-up that it had lost over the years. The idea was to instill innovation, agility, and a faster pace of decision-making in a company with tens of thousands of employees.This was only part of Google's strategy to feel younger and more innovative. In fact, the company is one of the most active buyers of start-ups and technology companies, with over 150 acquisitions amounting to billions of dollars. This method has brought many new faces to Google's departments, and kept its head above the water in a range of fields.Google is not alone of course. Many enterprises in Israel and other countries are trying to bring in innovation through the back door. However big and smart they may be, these enterprises know that not all wisdom is found in the company's corridors, and that there is a need for some smarts and new thinking from outside, either through acquisitions, or more efficiently and smartly through strategic collaborations.Examples are Qualcomm Corporation (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Deutsche Telekom AG (XETRA: DTE). The two giants have shown great interest in tiny Ness Ziona-based Magisto Ltd. and have embraced it. The Israeli company has developed an advanced app for editing video clips directly from smartphones. The app is installed in hundreds of thousands of Deutsche Telekom handsets and the company works closely with Qualcomm on future developments."Video is one of the key elements in 4G networks, which are far faster than their predecessors. We consume as much as Facebook or WhatsApp in almost the same way, but Deutsche Telekom sought the extra something to offer its users, and provide this with our video editing service," says Magisto co-founder and CEO Oren Boiman.Boiman says that the collaboration with Qualcomm put it in the lead. "All of Magisto's technology and the set of products that we're developing are not part of Qualcomm's repertoire," he says. "They know how to make high-speed cameras, but we bring the product that is supposed to be the killer app, which can differentiate between what it sees through the camera, how to take automatic pictures, track the person in front of the camera, and so on."The advantage of big enterprises cooperating with start-ups is the added value and differentiation for their users when the need to answer the question whether our product causes their product to be better and different from other products. They know that they can't do everything in-house."In Israel, too, the same feeling that the lack of innovation can be solved by linking up with start-ups is also understood. For example,Zap Group Ltd. linked up with several Israel start-ups to offer added value to its advertiser clients. Zap Group CEO Nir Lempert says, "Assimilating a start-up in a big company can give it many advantages, such as a system-wide perspective, relevant ties in Israel and other countries, and help solve relevant business problems from life and not just in theory."Lempert says that the company's cooperation model with start-ups allows them use the large enterprises as a kind of beta site for various experiences and to see how things work in practice, and to change direction, if necessary. "We can install the product on our websites and apps and together try and promote the finished product in the world," he says.Lempert says that two successful examples are MobeeArt Ltd., which began as a company for building mobile sites for small businesses, and now develops systems for managing a full digital presence for these companies, and Vcita Ltd., which began as a diary management solution for free professionals, and with the influence of Zap Group developed the product to manage leads for small businesses."The change and development was made at our demand and needs, and these products are now sold in a number of countries. These transactions are win-win for both sides," says Lampert.Who will win smartup2?"Globes", in collaboration with Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) is launching the second annual SmartUp competition for Israeli start-ups. As part of the project, "Globes" correspondents will track three start-ups, which receive assistance from incubator experts and Bank Hapoalim advisers, based on the understanding that many companies with good groundbreaking ideas get stuck at the start because of difficulties that prevent them from achieving their potential.The project is designed for Israeli companies that have raised at least NIS 250,000 in seed funding. Each company selected for the program will receive over three months advice from the high tech and business world on a range of topics relevant for early-stage start-ups, such as marketing, financing, human resources, and heading overseas. All they have to do is to register at smartup2 page (in Hebrew), and tell us why your start-up should participate. Participating companies will receive a start-up package from Bank Hapoalim, including a high-tech account at preferred terms and a NIS 20,000 grant.The three winners will receive assistance from leading Israeli incubators and accelerators Explore.Dream.Discover, 8200 EISP, andNielsen Innovate.Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 21, 2014© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014Globes - Everyone wins when a big company acquires a start-up