Blumberg’s term of growth despite challenges

Ohad Blumberg will conclude his four-year term as Israel’s Trade Commissioner to Australia at the end of this month.

He spoke to The AJN on July 17 at TradeIL Australia’s office in Sydney, sharing both personal and professional highlights of leading the commercial and investment arm of the Embassy of Israel in Australasia, amid a challenging, yet ultimately successful period that achieved growth in both trade and economic and industry partnerships.

A family’s posting and a community’s embrace

For Blumberg, the term was as much a personal journey as a professional one.

He arrived in Australia with his wife and three children – now aged 10, six and four – and said, with a chuckle, “My wife and I will be leaving with three little Aussies!” – referring to their hint of an acquired Australian accent.

Much of the memories that they will cherish of their time here, he added, will centre on the warmth of Australia’s Jewish community, which “embraced” the Blumberg family from the outset.

His children attended a Jewish school in Sydney and he said the community’s support only deepened after the Hamas terror attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023.

“All that really made our experience here a positive one and I think you have a very special community here.”

Professionally, Blumberg said the moments he treasures most have been the small but telling ones – instances where he was able to show Australians in the corporate, industry, and private and public sectors, a side of Israel that rarely makes the news.

“I was able to leave a little bit of something of Israel in their minds and hearts,” he explained, pointing to Israeli achievements in cyber security, healthcare and agricultural technology, as quiet counterpoints to the headlines.

It is a theme he returned to when discussing the broader arc of his term, that while the government-to-government relationship between Israel and Australia cooled at times – and the broader atmosphere shifted markedly after October 7 – the trade and business relationship between the two countries not only endured, but actually grew.

“There were a lot of good things that happened in these years, trade and economic-wise,” he said, adding that he was determined not to let the difficulties of the period overshadow that progress.

“I’m very proud that we were able to continue grow not only the trade figures, but also the trade relationship, the tech partnerships and that we saw more Israeli companies engaging.”

Trade figures reach a new peak

Blumberg said that bilateral trade between Israel and Australia now sits at $US1.9 billion – an eight per cent increase on the previous year and higher than pre-war 2022 levels. Of the current figure, he revealed that about 87 per cent of that trade flows from Israeli exports to Australia and of that, some $US1.2 billion worth is in services, mostly in high-tech.

That services-heavy profile, Blumberg explains, makes the relationship distinctive. Despite the geographic distance between the two countries, Australia now ranks as the sixth-leading destination globally for Israeli tech companies – a mark Blumberg attributes to its position as an English-speaking market at the crossroads of the Asia-Pacific region, which is highly valued by Israel.

He said more than 150 Israeli companies now have local operations in Australia, describing it as an all-time peak, alongside the trade figure total itself.

Cyber security remains “by far” the largest area of activity and deal flows, followed by agTech, healthcare services and medTech.

Within cyber, Blumberg points to identity verification and management and payment verification for banks and large financial institutions as particular growth areas – a response, he explained, to Australia’s status as a heavily targeted country for cyber crime in recent years.

Companies such as BeeHero and irrigation leader Netafim, were cited by him as long-standing examples of Israeli agTech success in the Australian market, reflecting what Blumberg calls a shared story of two nations that have “punched above their weight” in agriculture and food production, despite having harsh climates and large proportions of arid land.

“Partnerships are the key here. Australia can benefit from Israel’s experience and innovation, and providing services and solutions to Australian farmers, to help build more sustainable ecosystems.

“And Israel can benefit from Australia’s experience in what it has been able to achieve in a lot of these areas.”

Delegations, partnerships and potential

Much of the growth achieved, Blumberg said, has been driven by sustained engagement rather than one-off deals.

TradeIL Australia has run a steady program of delegations and events, including a medTech showcase this May with Yissum – the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University – highlighting start-ups that were spin-offs from research done in the university’s labs.

TradeIL Australia also leads Israeli delegations each year to CyberCon in Melbourne, which is the largest cyber security conference and exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere.

“Each year we see more Israeli companies coming to it and participating in a full week of activities showcasing their technologies, and the beauty of it is from that, they are directly finding partners and further opportunities in Australia.”

Blumberg described the office’s approach as “nurturing companies through a full journey”, from initial market education through to introductions to Australian stakeholders and inclusion in delegations, leading to eventual partnerships, local offices and hiring of staff.

It is a model he expects will increasingly extend, particularly into quantum computing, artificial intelligence and technologies for mining, construction and energy.

He identifies those as the next frontier in the trade relationship’s potential, while noting that Israel and Australia are both founding members of the Pax Silica treaty, aimed at streamlining the AI value chain, from critical minerals to data centres.

Blumberg predicts bilateral trade could grow by as much as 50 per cent over the next five years, if that potential is realised.

“We have a lot of added value to offer each other’s countries – Israel, from a technological perspective and Australia, from an infrastructure perspective.”

Blumberg is quick to credit his three-member team at TradeIL Australia [also known as the Israel Trade and Economic Commission], whom he describes as always remaining dedicated – “which I have really appreciated”.

As for his own next steps, he is focusing on a smooth transition to his successor, and enjoying a short family trip to Queensland before flying home.