“Israel is a very, very entrepreneurial country. Many people are inventors, many people are not afraid to start new things. And people are not afraid to fail. We think that learning from your failure is very, very important.” - Tamar Raz, CEO at Hadasit Medical Research Services & Development

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This episode of Techtalk features Tamar Raz, CEO at Hadasit Medical Research Services & Development, the technology transfer company of Hadassah University Hospitals in Jerusalem, and a Technology Transfer Expert with nearly 20 years of experience leading business transactions and management in the biotech and life sciences sector. Tamar is also the Director of KAHR-medical Ltd. and she serves as the chairperson of Hadasit Bio Holdings, a public holding company allowing public participation in the promising field of biotechnology. 

This conversation covers Tamar’s point of view about the technology transfer in Israel and her remarkable experience as an expert and entrepreneur who brings medical innovations from the laboratory to the market. 

Tamar starts with an historical overview of the technology transfer sector in Israel and continues by giving us precious insights about the technology transfer infrastructure, steps, phases and key departments. We discuss not only the basics of technology transfer, but also more advanced industry activities like the incubation or acceleration programmes, that can not exist without the infrastructure described before.

IBM Alpha Zone - the first accelerator that IBM built in the world, located in Israel - is a great example. 

Moreover, Tamar shares lessons about how a technology transfer center like Hadasit can become financially sustainable and the importance of a flexible business model that means long-term investment and short-term activities that bring revenues.

“We worked in Hadassah, in the last 4 or 5 years, to enlarge the innovation ecosystem of Hadassah. So, we want to bring companies to work with us not only based on our IP, but also based on their IP, on their ideas. Because we believe that connecting the physicians and professors of Hadasa to the industry and to the start-up companies, we create a cycle of innovation at Hadassah that will bring us more work and will bring us more revenues. But also we create better inventors that will think about the new ideas all the time”, Tamar explains.

Tune in to find Tamar’s favorite Hadasit success story and: 

• Historic overview of how Israel became such a great example of technology transfer (04:30)
• How the technology transfer infrastructure was built (10:30)
• The universities input in creating technology transfer departments (18:30)
• The first steps that Romania, or other countries with an undeveloped technology transfer sector, should take (26:00)
• Key departments for successful technology transfer (35:30)
• The differentiators of an incubation or acceleration programmes (39:00)
• Why Digital Health? (41:00)
• IBM Alpha Zone and its impact (43:00)
• What makes a technology transfer center like Hadasit financially sustainable? (45:00)
• Tamar’s favorite Hadasit success story (48:30)
• The economic impact of the technology transfer in Israel (57:30)

Follow Tamar Raz on Hadasit website and LinkedIn.

Hosted by Ștefan Koritar, the Techtalk podcast is dedicated to exhibiting the entrepreneurs, innovators and experts in the Central Eastern European startup ecosystem. A show powered by Grai Ventures startup studio and distributed by Romania Insider.