“My favorite feature of Israeli startups is their out of the box thinking”

“My favorite feature of Israeli startups is their out of the box thinking,” said Tomoko Inoue, CEO of Omron Ventures, speaking on a panel with Dr. Jonathan Glazer, Partner at Pitango HealthTech during the Israel-Japan Conference in Tokyo on Tuesday.

“We witness a lot of innovation that seemed like science fiction once but is now coming true. With this out of the box thinking, Japanese manufacturing technology can make a lot of things come true,” added Inoue.

Founded in 2014, Omron Ventures is a corporate venture capital arm of Japanese electronics giant Omron.

“We can learn a lot from Japanese investors and entrepreneurs about how to build companies that last for centuries,” said Dr. Glazer. “In the past, Israeli companies were looking for quick exits and were mainly a target for acquisition, but nowadays, we are shifting towards long term building, and Israeli companies become acquirers. When we invest, we try to find companies that we believe will last for the long run, create billions of dollars in revenue, and become century old companies.”

Dr. Glazer noted that while healthcare takes a long time to change, he is expecting to see a lot of opportunity and a lot of disruption over the next few years.

"The story of Israel is of an innovation journey," he added. "Upon foundation, Israel had no resources or assets, so we had to invent for ourselves. It was innovation out of necessity. Today, we invent for the world. We had to overcome language barriers, cultural differences and geographical distances to reach the global markets. The result is that today Israel is no longer an island, but a ship that can sail the world, identity opportunities in the global market and build innovation not only for itself but also for the world."

You can watch the full discussion in the video above.