Where Startups Meet Strategy
Elbit Systems' VP of Innovation shares how scouting and scaling civilian tech is becoming key to national security-and why the real secret lies in human connection.
In times of war, innovation doesn't slow down – it speeds up. For Elbit Systems, that means identifying startups with breakthrough ideas and helping them turn vision into viable defense solutions.
The ability to craft the future means taking an idea that might seem like science fiction and harnessing it with a goal of creating a unique and effective defense technology.
Israel has been known as The Start-Up Nation, and it has seen an increase in cooperations between the Ministry of Defense, the defense industry and civilian startups since the outbreak of the current war. It's an ecosystem where the strong and relentless pursuit of innovation can help lead to lives being saved and assist in solving urgent national security problems.
Defense Tech has grown not only in Israel, but around the world. The United States Military and NATO have invested millions into the field and those investments include adopting commercial/civilian technology and accelerating its merger into the world of defense at speed and at scale.
Bringing Bright Minds Together
The growth in innovative defense technology and Israel's technological might, led to the first International Defense-Tech Summit in Tel Aviv in December that was led by the Israel Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D), in collaboration with the Blavatnik Cyber Research Center at Tel Aviv University.
Hundreds of people gathered at the summit that brought together senior officials from the DDR&D, IDF, defense industries, including Elbit Systems, academia, entrepreneurship, startups, and venture capital funds.
Speaking at the opening of the event, Conference chairman Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel noted that Israel Ministry of Defense has reported a significant increase in engagements with 86 Israeli startups and small companies. Those startups join about 200 others that are already working with Israel's DDR&D.
Eli, VP Innovation at Elbit Systems, took part in a panel at the conference and when he was asked about bringing disruptive start-up innovators two years ago, said that "I would have told young startups to find their market in the civilian world. But now, and it's not only in Israel, the possibility to kickstart in the defense sector is very wide and is an opportunity for defense industries."
He explained that if one were to look 20 years ago, the most advanced technology was developed by the government. But "today, every Tesla car has more advanced technology than any of our UAVs. And that’s not only the basic technology, but the way that they develop, test, qualify and ensure that passengers are protected in their cars."
Credit photos: Dror Sithakol, Lense Productions
It’s All About Demand
According to Eli, Elbit scouts and screens over 400 companies a year, the majority of which specialize in dual-use technology.
"We take startups and help pivot them to be concentrated in the defense sector because of the need and opportunities." Eli said during a panel at Defense-Tech. "We understand the needs of the military and have the ability to look 10 years ahead in order to maintain the product."
"We want to give the startups the ability to leap ahead instead of failing several times before they succeed," he said.
Human Connection and Passion For Tech
Large industries such as Elbit Systems work with accelerators and have several programs for startups where the company's engineers share their expertise to help new defense tech startup navigate towards being awarded a contract and deliver results in a relatively short amount of time.
"When we find an opportunity, we work with the division and aim for a future product," he said. "Proof of Concept (PoC) is aimed to be done in a relatively short period of time to prove that the technology has the ability to work, and we then show our client that we were successful in showing this PoC. This usually takes between six months to a year, and once the PoC is successful, then it is passed on to the relevant division for full scale development."
What's most important, Eli said, is the human connection and passion for technology.
"And at the end of the day, it's all about people and connecting people," he said. "We at Elbit excel in connecting entrepreneurs from inside the company to those on the outside, leveraging everyone's strengths to enable a better eco-system. It’s a potential win-win-win situation for everyone: for the financial group that funded the startup, for Elbit and for the startup."
