6 | JANUARY 13 • 2022

essay
A Look at Israel: 2022
D

espite entering the
third year of the glob-
al pandemic, it seems
that 2022 is looking quite
positive for Israel, albeit with
some challenges. Over the
last 12 months,
Israeli tech IPOs,
as well as merg-
ers and acqui-
sitions, jumped
a massive 520%
over the previ-
ous year, with an
unprecedented value of $81.2
billion, compared to $15.4
billion in 2020. In addition,
2021 was a record year for
funding of tech companies
and startups, reaching $25 bil-
lion in investments. Analysts
are identifying this massive
growth partly as a result of the
development of a new busi-
ness culture.
Today, the maturing Israeli

entrepreneur is aiming to
build a strong local company
and take it public, rather than
developing technology and
then selling it, which was the
model of the last two decades.
This massive growth will be
challenged in the coming year
by the current shortage of
approximately 13,000 skilled
workers in the tech sector.
Israel’s Energy Minister
Karine Elharrar has
announced that 2022 will be
the year of renewable energy.
Her ministry will be setting
up, for the first time, a depart-
ment with funds of $320
million that will invest in a
national plan for researching
and developing clean energy.
As a result, the Minister said,
“gas can wait,” and will halt
the search for natural gas off
the Mediterranean coast to
pursue and optimize renew-

able energy projects.
The last decade has seen
young Israeli families discov-
ering that home ownership is
almost unattainable. Housing
prices have been rising con-
tinually, and 2021 witnessed
the highest rise in a decade, at
10.3%. According to the Alrov
Institute for Real Estate, an
average Israeli couple would
both need to work 27 years
to buy a standard four-room
apartment. The good news is
the Bennett government has
recently developed a four-year
plan from 2022 to increase
the supply of housing and
ultimately reduce prices, with
the aim to narrow the gap
between supply and demand
by 2025.
I hoped we would not be
writing about COVID-19 by
now, but here we are in that
familiar scenario. Israel is

currently closed to tourism
while waiting to see what the
new Omicron variant has in
store for us. The good news:
Israeli biotech company Bonus
BioGroup has developed a cell
therapy for treatment of severe
cases of COVID. The recent
trial had a 94% success rate,
with 47 or the 50 patients sur-
viving conditions of life-threat-
ening respiratory distress.
Although closed off to
the world, the Israeli econo-
my is open and vibrant and
COVID rates remain low. We
hope 2022 will be the year of
renewed tourism and that we
will see you here soon.

Naomi Miller is Director of Israel
Partnerships at the Michigan Israel
Business Accelerator and Israel
Representative and Missions
Director for the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.

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