At the heart of Israel’s startup nation

Tel Aviv University (TAU) sits at the epicentre of Israel’s startup ecosystem, producing alumni and inventions that have shaped the nation’s reputation as a global innovation powerhouse. But university president Professor Ariel Porat is equally focused on how the institution can contribute to healing Israeli society after two years of war.

In an interview during his recent visit to Australia, Porat outlined the university’s role in commercialisation, its response to the anti-Israel boycott movement, and initiatives aimed at bridging divides within Israeli society.

The startup engine

Asked how TAU’s geographic proximity to the startup towers of central Tel Aviv influences its contribution to Israel’s high-tech sector, Porat emphasised that networking matters more than location alone.

“Israel is a small country … it’s quite easy to come from one place to another,” he said. “I think it’s more, not only, or not mainly, the geographical proximity, but the acquaintance among people. Some of them are classmates, or people that served in the same unit in the military. I think networking is critical.”

Many alumni go on to establish startups across security, biotech and high-tech sectors. Some professors participate directly in commercialisation. The university operates a department of commercialisation and an on-campus incubator called TAU Ventures, which functions as both incubator and venture capital fund, providing seed money for alumni and professors bringing inventions to market.

“A lot of inventions came out of alumni of the university. Iron Dome, some of the people that participated in developing that technology [are] alumni of Tel Aviv University. But this is true also with respect to other inventions, like in the biomed area,” Porat said.

He highlighted two current developments in clinical trials. Professor Tal Dvir is working on human spinal cord technology, while Professor Ronit Satchi-Fainaro is duplicating tumours in laboratories to test therapies on the lab-grown tumours instead of patients.

“These are just two inventions from the last year or so which are going on. They are still not commercialised, but they are close to commercialisation,” Porat said.

Within two years, the university plans to open an 11-floor building on campus where part of the space will be occupied by startups and companies.

“The companies or the startups that would reside on campus wouldn’t be those that pay the highest rent, but instead those that faculty has the highest interest in,” Porat explained. “This is a way for us to enable and to encourage more collaboration between professors at the university and PhD students and the industry.”

Australian connections

During his visit to Australia, Porat met with officials at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), where discussions focused on potential collaboration in entrepreneurship, commercialisation of inventions, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. “I think that all those kind of things Australian universities might have an interest to collaborate with us, but I think more generally, collaboration is mostly between individuals,” said Porat.

“Monash University is one that there is a tradition of collaboration.”

However, he said some Australian universities have signalled disinterest through their actions.

Porat cited an incident at the University of Sydney in which his vice-president for international collaboration and colleagues “found themselves trapped in a room with 20 or 30 pro-Palestinian protesters, where nobody actually paid attention or tried to secure them”.

By contrast, his meeting with the UWS leadership left a different impression. “Both the chancellor and the vice-chancellor were very, seems to me, very much willing to collaborate … and that’s what we agreed to do.”

Fighting the boycott

The anti-Israel boycott movement presents ongoing challenges, particularly what Porat describes as “soft BDS” that operates beneath the surface. “Soft BDS means that nobody says anything, but at the same time, Israeli professors are not invited to conferences, or a faculty avoids any collaboration with Israeli professors, or if they compose a consortium to get grants from the European Union, the consortium, for this reason or another, would not include Israelis,” said Porat.

The impact extends to academic and scientific publications around the world.

“Israeli professors submit their publications to top journals in the world, and there is some impression that the level of acceptance of submissions made by Israelis has also decreased,” Porat said. “Somebody’s paper is not accepted. Who knows? Maybe the paper was lesser quality. But once you see the numbers, quite possible that there could be the editorial board or somebody else that prefers to avoid publishing Israeli papers.”

Porat challenged the logic behind boycotting Israeli academia, even for those critical of Israel’s actions. “Putting pressure on Israeli academia changes nothing. The Israeli government is not affected by such threats on academia,” he said.

“I want to believe that the world has something to lose if they do not collaborate with Israeli academia. So it’s not just a loss for us, but it’s a loss for the world.”

Healing and bridging divides

Beyond research and commercialisation, Tel Aviv University has launched initiatives addressing societal challenges in Israel. After October 7, the university established a centre for post-trauma, providing psychological aid to civilians and soldiers across Israel.

The university is also working with local mayors on improving education in the country’s north.

“If you have an excellent educational system, people would be much more motivated to return to their homes, and also other people would have incentives to relocate to the north,” Porat said.

The university runs programs for distinguished students from Israel’s periphery, admitting them to competitive departments even if their scores don’t meet standard thresholds, provided they excelled relative to their class.

Immediately after October 7, the university responded to tension between Arab and Jewish students by creating groups where people are able to talk to each other.

One initiative brought together left-leaning professors and activists from the right-wing Likud party to discuss Israel’s legal reform and find compromise. “Those people actually created a group in which they discuss issues and try to find ways of compromise and settlement. This is one example of some activity that is taking place today on campus,” Porat said.

He noted that many Israelis remain more concerned about internal divisions than external threats. “Most of us have never thought that Iran or Hamas or Hezbollah could really destroy Israel,” he said. “The internal crisis is, in a way, much more bothering, definitely the moment once the war is over.”