Israeli high-tech firms eye greater opportunities in China

Israeli entrepreneur Gal Goren was busy introducing his product -- a robot named Temi -- to his Chinese counterparts at a high-tech forum in east China's Xiamen city Tuesday.

Currently, more than 1,000 Temi robots are being used by Chinese companies in retail, education, security and health care, and the number could grow exponentially in the future given China's vast market, Goren said at the inaugural Xiamen-Israel Cooperation Forum on Technological Innovation.

Four years ago, Goren moved his start-up to Shenzhen, an innovation hub in southern China, to tap more opportunities. Now the company has more than 70 Chinese employees.

"China is leading the world in the digital and smart-service sector. There is no better place to make such complex products than the great market in China," Goren said.

Israeli company Bermad, which focuses on providing water control solutions to businesses, entered the Chinese market 25 years ago and has set up offices in cities such as Xiamen, Shanghai and Chengdu, according to its general manager Dan Leshem.

"Israel's market is small. China has rich water resources and its agricultural irrigation market is such a huge space for us," Leshem said.

At Tuesday's forum, Peleg Lewi, Consul General of Israel in Southern China, expressed the hope that more Israeli companies would bring their technologies to the prosperous Chinese market.

"Israeli companies cooperate with Chinese companies in technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, modern and digital agriculture and new ways of education," Lewi said. "What Israel is capable of doing is to bring innovative ideas to solve problems in the production system, to enlarge the win-win situation."

Businessmen from more than 20 Israeli companies and over 70 Chinese firms based in Xiamen attended the forum.