Since October 7, Israel’s brand equity has been tested. Even as exits like Wiz make the headlines, the juxtaposition of images of war coming out of Gaza is challenging for some international audiences to contextualize and can drown out the positive connection with the Israeli brand.
In some frameworks, the presentation of October 7 as an Israeli security failure might cast doubt on the country’s technological capabilities, especially when there is no differentiation between the government and private sector. Additionally, advancements in the hot AI space have not been directly associated with Israel, leaving the country, in some sense, out of that game.
In a reality where relevance and positioning are dictated by the latest news cycle, Israel finds itself in a situation that necessitates consistent efforts to reposition itself as a leader in the world of innovation.
To achieve this, the discourse surrounding Israel needs to be refocused toward values: innovation, addressing global challenges, and positioning Israel as a country of forward-thinking when it comes to future global needs.
Addressing climate change
We must build the narrative around Israel’s role in the global effort to address climate change by sharing our story. Promoting the country’s technological advancements and their use as climate adaptation solutions, much as we actively promote our cyber solutions, is one step.
Climate change presents significant challenges worldwide in sectors including transportation, which leads all sectors as the largest source of emissions; water safety; food scarcity; agriculture, which is highly sensitive to climate change and is already experiencing declining crop yields in some geographies; and energy and infrastructure, where supply and demand is highly influenced by the climate situation; as well as in increasing climatic resilience in response to events such as the fires in California, floods in Spain and France, and hurricanes on the East Coast of the US and especially in Miami.
In each of these areas, Israel’s global leadership can be demonstrated.
Doing our part
At the Israel Innovation Institute, we have focused our activities on specific sectors: agriculture, aquaculture, climate change, and transportation. The communities within these sectors collaborate to rebrand Israel as a hub, birthing solutions to global challenges.
And while branding is not the end in itself, it is the means to bring forth the knowledge, resources, and connections that advance Israeli industry. With this in mind, there are several avenues of action we should be taking to nurture the Israeli climate-tech story.
- Centralizing efforts under one body: The country should establish a governmental body, such as the European Institute of Innovation Technology, to connect incentives, academia, regulation, and the ecosystem while ensuring each sector grows and flourishes both domestically and globally.
- Strengthening offices and bodies to act: We should be investing resources in developing solutions, facilitated by the Israel Innovation Authority and the Economy and Industry Ministry; Agriculture and Raw Food Security Ministry; Transportation Ministry; and the Environmental Protection Ministry. However, cutting the budgets of chief scientists in government ministries could harm this effort.
- Promoting cooperation from within: Encouraging cross-niche cooperation between academia and industry, civilians and business, education and consumers, is critical to success.
- Living lab activities: We should be promoting the transformation of governmental agencies and public organizations into innovation hubs to support development, encouraging a new approach to doing business.
- Investing in the Israeli brand: We should be doing justice to the exceptional accomplishments taking place within the Israeli climate-tech industry by sharing success stories of the many Israeli companies that have become global leaders in this field.
- Connecting the ecosystem to global partners: Participation in events and conferences, international tech accelerators and incubators, nurturing academic and research cooperations, and building the infrastructure around these are integral to growing the country’s international reputation.
Ensuring our presence at events such as the UN COP climate change conference and Climate Week NYC, as well as hosting events in Israel such as December 2025’s planned agriculture, food, and environment conference, are all part of the effort to strengthen our standing with colleagues worldwide.
Israel may be small, but it has big potential. By investing in our greatest resource – our knowledge and ability to innovate – we can build out a new and solid foundation for future generations. It is both possible and important that we achieve these goals.
The writer is the CEO of the Israel Innovation Institute.