from the July 2012 issue

Abby Joseph Cohen: Israel is high tech superpower

Speaking at the Technion, the Goldman Sachs senior strategist said that Israel and the US are top of the global high tech table.

"We're used to seeing China and India as future technological superpowers but that's a mistake. Those two countries don't have high tech in the Israeli and US sense, " Goldman Sachs partner and senior US investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen told the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology board of governors meeting yesterday in the Yitzhak Modai Memorial Lecture entitled "Economic Growth and Innovation."

She said, "China and India manufacture products requiring relatively simple technology, and a cheap workforce, and not products with high added value. Within the context of advanced technology, the US and Israel are top of the table and that's an excellent reason for optimism." Also high on the list, she said, were Switzerland and Germany with China, India and Brazil bringing up the rear.

She described the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute in New York City, the joint venture between the two universities for applied engineering and science research as a most important enterprise merging private and public resources to promote education for science and technology through understanding that education is a prerequisite for economic growth and sustainability. She said, "Investment in education is the most important economic investment and the Technion Cornell University venture in New York is an excellent example of such an investment.

She continued, "Economists love to talk about GDP and the state of the capital market and other variables as indices of a country's economic situation whereas here I'm talking about indices that influence the long term economic situation, and quality education is the most significant single source influencing long term economic growth. We must understand that higher education is an integral part of effective economic policy."

Reprinted from the Israel High-Tech & Investment Report July 2012

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