"If we want a million more high-tech employees we need to exit Tel Aviv"
Tapuach CEO Anat Tzur: "It is essential that the education system creates a drive for students to enter the high-tech sector." Tzur spoke at the launch of the Anashim.IL Innovation Community, which focuses on education, learning and work, for the development of human capital in Israel
"Only through cooperation between the various sectors can we crack the issue of reaching one million employees in high-tech." said Anat Tzur, CEO of the Tapuach Association, speaking at the “A Million to High-Tech” conference last week.
"In order to drive change in the country in any field - we saw it during Covid-19 in food distribution and also in high-tech - we need cooperation between: the public sector as a policy maker, the business sector as the business engine, and the third sector in associations and philanthropic foundations. Until a few years ago, this triangle did not exist and each sector saw the others as enemies. Today, there is an understanding that cooperation between the sectors is essential for success."
Tzur stated that "Tapuach was founded in 2000 in order to reduce the gaps between digital equality and access to technology. What Tapuach believed in the past is what the whole world is seeing today. We are the leading organization in Israel on the issue of vocational training in the social and geographical periphery. We are also talking about the population in the center in places like Jaffa, Bat Yam and South Tel Aviv - you need to know how to educate and help them."
According to Tzur, "We must begin our journey with youth through education. We run the Neta Youth Organization, which is the only youth organization for technological youth, that offers training from the fifth grade to the twelfth grade. People who later reach technological leadership. We are the body that leads the relationship between the business sector and the public and government ministries. We connect the business sector and the third sector to civil society in order to increase the number of high-tech employees."
Tzur further addressed the issue of working in a diverse company: "Our diversity at work - Arab, Bedouin, Ultra-Orthodox and other disadvantaged populations - is our flagship and it has economic value. When everyone looks the same they also think the same, and if there is a diverse population the thinking gets more creative."
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According to Tzur, "Employers understand that in order to reach one million high-tech employees, the focus must be on the entire State of Israel and not just on the State of Tel Aviv.
"The purpose of the community we are establishing is to bridge the parallel worlds. Only cooperation will bring Israel's human capital to the new labor market. How do you reach a million people in high-tech? We need to understand that we need to create an enabling environment between the various population sectors. We need physical infrastructure, high quality Internet and basic public transportation. However, the most important task is to create drive in the education system."
