The theme of TiE Global Summit 2024 in Bangalore, which gathered over 25,000 attendees Dec. 9-11, and featured well-known speakers such as bestselling author Deeprak Chopra and tennis champion Andre Agassi, was “Putting Entrepreneurship First”, with a focus on reshaping the future of global entrepreneurship.
Highlights of the conference, which is organized by TiE Bangalore and supported by the Karnataka government and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, included the launch of an India-Israel innovation corridor project with 10 Israeli startups specializing in dual-use technologies aimed at the India market (see the photo); a TiE women pitch competition which highlighted the leadership and innovation of women entrepreneurs worldwide and an initiative which recognized outstanding early-stage startups from across the globe.
Building An India-Israel Innovation Corridor
The conference included a one-hour track about the building of an India-Israel Innovation Corridor. Panelist Asha Jadeja, the founder of The Motwani Jadeja Foundation, a global non-profit organization based in Silicon Valley that seeks to accelerate innovation, entrepreneurship and cross-border collaboration, inaugurated the Motwani Jadeja Centre of Excellence at T-Hub in Hyderabad, India on December 9. The center will serve as the cornerstone of the Foundation’s India-Israel Innovation Corridor, a major step aimed at fostering collaboration and innovation between the two countries.
The panel discussed a new project called Dual Use Robust India Israel High-Tech Innovation or DRISHTI for short, a collaboration between Israel’s DDR&D (MAFAT) – Directorate of Defense Research & Development and the T-Hub accelerator in Hyderabad. DRISHTI, derived from the Sanskrit word for “vision” or “insight” reflects the program’s mission to provide a forward-looking platform for innovation and strategic partnerships between India and Israel focused on dual-use technologies such as AI, robotics and drones. DRISHTI is supported by three key pillars: a Center of Excellence in Hyderabad the Foundation is setting up at T-Hub to enable cross-border partnerships and provide market entry support for Israeli startups in India; an India Market Access Program (IMAP) organized by T-Hub to equip startups with a go-to-market strategy and facilitate business connections; and high-profile networking events organized by the Foundation to bring together startups, industry leaders, and delegations from both nations. The Israeli companies participating in DRISHTI will additionally benefit from the Foundation’s strong connections in Silicon Valley. Jadeja’s vision is to build an innovation triangle between Israel, India and the U.S.
The track began with a video presentation from Brig. General Dr. Danny Gold, the head of the Defense Research and Development Directorate (DDR&D) since July 2016. Dr. Gold was awarded the 2012 Israel Defense prize for his initiation and management of the Iron Drome missile/rocket defense system. Under this leadership the R&D unit was awarded the Israel Defense Prize eight times. He explained to the audience the role technology has played in helping Israel defend itself on multiple fronts since the October 7, 2023 attack on the country.
Panelist Golan Malka, head of the dual use division at DDR&D, a technologist who previously worked as an entrepreneur and business executive, said that the Israeli military is working with 270 defense startups, many with dual-use applications. In addition to testing and buying technology from these startups the Israel’s DDR&D leads joint projects with some of the startups and helps them find dual-use cases in foreign markets. It works with 17 countries. India is a particularly good fit, said Malka, as the two countries have strengths in both AI and drones.
Jadeja, the founder of the Motwani Jadeja Foundation, spoke about how there is an opportunity for Indian and Israeli companies to collaborate on solutions for the India market and then export their technology to the rest of the world. “This represents the realization of a long-standing vision: to create meaningful bridges between India and Israel, two nations that share a deep commitment to innovation and resilience,” she said. “By uniting Israel’s technological prowess with India’s vast market potential, we are creating a robust India-Israel Innovation Corridor for breakthroughs in defense, AI, and dual-use technologies that will shape the future of both nations.”
DRISHTI mentor Rajan Luthra, head of special projects in the Chairman’s Office of Reliance Industries, talked about the evolution of collaboration between India and Israel. From the 1980s until 1999 Israel supported India’s critical needs on defense and smart irrigation. Between 2000 and 2016 there was a deepening of delivery of defense supplies from Israel and expanding bilateral trade of tech, products and services. Collaborations between the two countries have evolved from 2017 onwards into the level of a strategic partnership in dual-use technologies, deep tech and AI, apart from innovation in water, agriculture and space with equitable contributions from both sides, he told the audience. Rajan has led investments on behalf of Reliance Industries in more than a dozen Israeli startups covering everything from AI to quantum computing to cybersecurity and neural-tech. He highlighted that the India Israel Innovation Corridor program is a wonderful initiative that is perfectly timed as India and Israel ties reach another inflection point. India provides the best opportunity for Israeli startups to leverage the unique technology scaling capabilities through Make-in-India to create win-win strategic partnerships, said Luthra. “The India-Israel collaboration opportunity is a long term bet that serious investors and companies can ignore at their own peril,” he said.
The hour-long India-Israel track, moderated by Jennifer L. Schenker, The Innovator’s Editor-in-Chief, included presentation of DRISHTI’s first cohort of ten Israeli startups:
Next-Dim: Its AI platform analyses large-scale transaction networks, blockchain data, and social media activities. It uncovers complex patterns of financial crimes like money laundering and terror financing while identifying disinformation campaigns.
Corsound AI: Corsound AI’s patented Voice-to-Face technology generates facial sketches from voice samples for identity verification. Its deepfake detection system identifies fraudulent or synthetic voices, preventing impersonation and fraud.
Flycomm: Flycomm’s AI based SaaS platform provides real-time analytics to optimize telecom network performance. It maps wireless coverage, identifies infrastructure gaps, and benchmarks operator performance.
CopterPIX: CopterPIX designs high-performance drones with extended flight times and heavy payload capacities. Its UAVs support tactical defense missions, industrial inspections, and logistics operations.
OptiDefense: OptiDefense’s Light Blade system uses precision lasers to detect and neutralize rogue drones and balloons. It protects sensitive airspace around airports, urban zones, and critical infrastructure.
Rogat Engineering: Rogat designs modular robots equipped to handle complex terrains and extreme conditions. Its robots assist in military reconnaissance, locate victims in disaster zones, and perform infrastructure inspections.
Elsight: Elsight’s Halo platform ensures uninterrupted communication for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations. It combines LTE, 5G, RF, and satellite networks for reliable connectivity in critical missions like disaster recovery and public safety.
InnerEye: InnerEye’s technology directly connects a user’s brain and AI models, combining them into a unified system called Minded AI, addressing challenges in development, training, and personalization of AI models. It uniquely enables real-time collaboration between human users and AI modelsfor faster, more accurate, and flexible decision-making.
Eikolos: Eikolas specializes in optical communication solutions that enable high-bandwidth, immersive connectivity for multiple users. Its proprietary system utilizes lightweight transmitters to broadcast digital data via optical light sources, with cameras acting as receivers. An IP software component identifies pixels receiving optical data and decodes the light back into digital information, allowing for the correlation of objects with the data they emit. Applications include friend or foe drone identification and homeland security.
Airobotics: Airobotics specializes in fully autonomous drones equipped with AI-driven data analytics for real-time surveillance, mapping, and disaster response. Its drones are tailored for smart city planning, industrial monitoring, and public safety operations, offering rapid aerial data collection and actionable insights for decision-makers.
Boosting Women Entrepreneurs
The TiE Women Global Pitch Competition, an initiative of TiE Global, a global non-profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship through networking, mentoring, incubating, educating and funding, supported by the Motwani Jadeja Foundation, attracted 3,100 women-led startups from 62 countries across sectors like edtech, healthtech, AI, agritech, and sustainability. Teri Sirset, Co-Founder and CEO of DASI Simulations from TiE Southern California, a company that has developed AI-driven simulations that provide interventional cardiologists with precise insights into patient-specific heart conditions, won the first place prize of $25,000. Adithi Aji, Founder and CEO of Adrich, a consumer insights and smart replenishment platform powered by AI and IoT, from TiE Pittsburgh, secured second place and a prize of $15,000, and Irena King, Founder and CEO of Surgicure Technologies, from TiE Boston, a medical device company that is innovating airway management for civilian and military use, won third place and $10,000. The prizes were awarded on stage by Jadeja, the head of the Motwani Jadeja Foundation.
The Foundation signed a three- year partnership with TiE Women in 2023. Under the agreement Jadeja, the founder of the Motwani Jadeja Foundation , is sponsoring and supporting five TiE Women participants to come to Silicon Valley. These participants will get a once in a lifetime chance to immerse themselves in the heart of Silicon Valley through the Motwani Jadeja Fellow program.
Winners Circle
The TGS100 initiative at the TiE Global Summit 2024 targeted outstanding early-stage startups from across the globe. The competition attracted 1,300 applications from 17 countries. The top winners were all Indian: Breer Limited, a food upcycling startup that collects unsold, uneaten and surplus bread, and uses it to brew local craft beer; Takeme2space, an aerospace technology company focused on enabling advanced computational infrastructure in space; and Proleri Technologies, an agritech company innovating the use of farm-grown plant leaves to produce high-quality proteins.
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