Today, I was due to be in Israel for a special event in collaboration with our wonderful friends at MEKOROT® and MEKOROT® Innovation – WaTech® at The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. Unfortunately, a not so peaceful incident, near Ben Gurion Airport Sunday led to flights being cancelled and despite best efforts to get there, there was no way to get a flight back home. But the show must go on.
There is an incredible resilience and fortitude that comes with living in a zone where a risk of conflict is ever present, it reminds me somewhat of what it was like for families growing up in Belfast and Derry in 1980’s Northern Ireland, (recently brought to life with both sensitivity and humour, in the Netflix series Derry Girls), where you just have to get on with things.
And get on with things we did.
David Balsar , Relly Bar-On and team rallied and helped us pivot to a virtual link-up and David hosted a fire-side chat that was the very next best thing to being there in person.
We chatted about the motivation to write The Dynamics of Water Innovation, the links to the dynamic water hub ecosystem in Israel and also set the scene for a screening of Our Blue World. I can not imagine a more beautiful setting in which to share the film, than with the waves lapping on the beach in the background in Jaffa. Three nations that stand-out globally when it comes to water innovation: Singapore, The Netherlands and Israel. In all three, water has a very special place in the national psyche and this peremeates policy, innovation and science. There is an existential nature to the need for water innovation in all three countries and as small nations, this leads to vibrant unified innovative and enptrepenrial ecosystems. I had the opportunity to meet with a number of the companies that are working with Mekorot. Aquatis Rapida Argu and Bimmatch
I look forward to my next visit in person and continuing to collaborate with a utility that helps create the next wave of lighthouses.
Thanks to all at Mekorot, David, Relly, Yossi Yaacoby for making this happen.
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