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DLD Innovation week - the largest annual startup conference held in Tel Aviv was kicked off with the Mayor's reception on September 6th. Mayor Ron Huldai played host to his counterparts from around the world, startup companies, CEOs and journalists. BOOM asked the attendees, "Why Tel Aviv?"
A walk through the crowd throws up a lot of different faces – East Asian ones, African ones, South Asian ones, Nordic ones. This obvious international gathering has congregated in Israel’s financial capital city Tel Aviv.
They are éntrpreneurs, angel investors, computer programmers and venture capitalists who have come together to partake of all that the city has to offer. And the city has a lot to offer – it has been ranked as the number one place to start up outside the silicon valley and has one of the highest density of technology companies in the world. Chances are if you are looking for a programme or a software that is not available anywhere else in the world, you will probably find it here.
The Mayor’s reception on September 6 started off the DLD week, which had events all over the city from meet-ups, to lectures, seminars and summits. Over 180 dignitaries from various countries were present at the event and they all spoke of the, “palpable energy, fascinating people and an innate drive to overcome challenges that were the characteristics of the city of Tel Aviv”.
Yossi Vardi, legendary investor, god-father to more than 40 Israeli-startups and a community builder says, “Tel Aviv is a startup city because we believe in the people and we work to provide them with an opportunity to prove themselves.”
Apart from being startup friendly, Tel Aviv was awarded the prize for being the “World’s Smartest City for 2014,” a great feather in the cap for Israel which came into existence just 67 years ago. The Mayor’s reception was a chance to see, hear and understand what the international community thinks and wants from the city and we went around asking people, “Why are they in Tel Aviv, what do they want from the city so - Why Tel Aviv?”