I came across this article about how the Israeli military powers its high tech industry.
Israel’s army does not just train soldiers … it nurtures entrepreneurs.
Teenagers conscripted into high-tech units gain experience “akin to a bachelor’s degree in computer science”, says Ruvi Kitov, co-founder and chief executive of Tufin Technologies, an Israeli software firm. Almost all of Tufin’s employees in the country are, like Mr Kitov himself, veterans of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). One of the firm’s cash cows is software that finds spam servers and blocks their transmissions. It is based on IDF cyberwarfare technologies that developers first used as soldiers.
As our whole military set-up is based on the Israeli model, and S’pore and Israel have good R&D and venture capital ties at the state agencyl level, how come we don’t have such successes? It’s not as though we don’t want such successes.
Are S’poreans incompetent? Hence the need for FTs?
Or is there sumething wrong with the system here, the failure of the military to emulate the Israeli military in producing high tech entrepreneurs as a by-product of national service?
It’s the culture.
1) Israel has a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship. Off the back of my head (do check this out), the number of start-ups and venture capitalists in the country rivals Silicon Valley.
2) Israel is a full fledged democracy – people are more willing to break the mould. As an example, the strongest criticism and opposition to the occupation of Gaza comes from within the country itself.
3) State doesn’t siphon off all potential talent into the scholarship route. Nuff said.