"YPO Innovation Week" Gathers Innovators for Israe

TEL AVIV, 26 APRIL 2017 - YPO , the world's premier chief executive leadership organization, today announced that Tel Aviv, Israel, will host InnovNation: the Israel Innovation Experience as a part of YPO Innovation Week 2017 , the world's largest and most impactful global innovation initiative. 

YPO Innovation Week 2017 features more than 50 events around the world, designed to bring together the world's most dynamic innovators for a rare chance to connect, challenge conventional thinking and gain actionable insights. Israel, known as "The Start-Up Nation," will host one of five Innovation Week signature events, showcasing technologists and start-up visionaries from a cross-section of Israeli industries, including defense, biotech, medical, food, agriculture and cybersecurity, with exclusive opportunities to experience the latest groundbreaking innovations from Israel.

At the three-day InnovNation: the Israel Innovation Experience event, YPO members will have the opportunity to meet Israel Prize winners, the Israeli Chief Scientist and government officials, high-profile venture capitalists and private investors. YPO members will be able to explore breakthroughs and best practices with some of the world's best-known innovators from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, recently declared the fifth most innovative academic institute in the world. 

Speakers at InnovNation include:      

• Erel Margalit, Labor Party Member of Knesset (Israel's Parliament)
• Dr. Einat Wilf, former Israeli Knesset member, 8200 intelligence officer and foreign policy advisor to Shimon Peres
• Gabby Czertok, a Co-Founder and General Manager of The Bridge in Israel, Coca-Cola's first commercialization program in the world, bringing innovative technology into  corporations from the tech start-up community in Israel
• Dame Shirley Porter, Founder of the Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at the Tel Aviv University (TAU) formerly conservative leader of Westminster City Council and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Other InnovNation speakers include Dr. Yehoshua Gleitman, Managing Partner of Platinum VC and former Director-General and Chief Scientist of the Israel Ministry of Industry and Trade;  Gideon Ben Zvi, Venture Partner, Consumer Technologies at Aviv Venture Capital Ltd and Chairman, Wizcom Technologies; Nadav Zafrir, Co-founder and CEO of Team8, Israel's leading cybersecurity foundry; Liat Aaronson, Partner at Marker LLC, a leading venture capital and growth equity firm based in New York City and Herzliya, Israel.

"Every business leader needs to focus on innovation to grow and thrive," said Nirit Harel, Chair of the Board at Intergam Communications Ltd. and Chair of InnovNation:The Israel Innovation Experience . "YPO Innovation Week will provide hundreds of opportunities for YPO members to learn from each other and from the most well respected global innovators, disrupters and inventors to help integrate innovation at the most strategic level across all businesses. Combining research, technology and business leadership, Innovation Week is the one place where the world's most innovative companies share their inspiration and insights."

In early May, YPO Innovation Week 2017 will hold events in more than 30 countries around the world, including Tel Aviv, Israel; New York, New York; Melbourne, Australia, Silicon Valley, California; Hong Kong, China and more, all dedicated to driving innovation across a diverse range of industries. The week will feature idea jams, workshops, live-streamed panels, insider company tours, global conference calls, TED-style presentations and debates.

For more information, visit the YPO Innovation Week website .

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About YPO The premier leadership organization of chief executives in the world.

YPO is the global platform for chief executives to engage, learn and grow. YPO members harness the knowledge, influence and trust of the world's most influential and innovative business leaders to inspire business, personal, family and community impact.

Today, YPO empowers more than 24,000 members in more than 130 countries, diversified among industries and types of businesses. Altogether, YPO member-run companies employ more than 15 million people and generate USD6 trillion in annual revenues.

Leadership. Learning. Lifelong. For more information, visit YPO.org.

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