People key driver behind Israel's life science industry
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Israeli Ambassador Uri Gutman
By Kang Hyun-kyung
“Israel is blessed with scarce natural resources.”
This is what people are most likely to hear when they ask their Israeli counterparts how the country came to achieve so many things that initially seemed unfeasible considering the myriad of challenges facing it.
In the face of scarce resources, they say, Israelis turned their attention to humans as a sustainable and reliable resource.
Israeli Ambassador Uri Gutman agreed with the idea. He said that competitive, innovative human resources are one of the key factors that made Israel’s strong life science industry possible.
Gutman said that cultural, educational and geopolitical circumstances also played their part to move the industry forward.
“Like mothers in Korea, many Israeli moms want their children to become medical doctors,” he told The Korea Times after the Korea-Israel Medical Device Seminar at the Seoul Garden Hotel in Mapo on Feb.5.
“With this ambition, together with a strong basic research system, we managed to develop an advanced healthcare industry.”
The Israeli Embassy hosted the medical device seminar to promote the MEDin ISRAEL Exhibition slated for March 23 to 26 in Tel Aviv. The embassy encouraged Korean importers and medical service sector staff to take advantage of the exhibition to have their first-hand experience of the world-class Israeli medical device industry, and find partners as well.
Yair Bauer, country manager of Japan and Korea at INSIGHTEC based in Tokyo, said that strong start-ups and innovative ideas helped the nation become what it is today in the life science industry.
“I think the Israeli education system supports and encourages innovation and independent thinking,” he said. “A lot of Israeli people have new ideas and they come up with new plans. That’s why we have many start-ups.”
Ambassador Gutman proposed that his country and Korea team up in the medical device industry to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes in a third market.
“Most chaebol in Korea have medical units. So we can collaborate and work together in third markets,” he said.
“Our two markets are relatively small. But if we join hands together in this area for big markets outside the two countries, I think we can make things that we could never think of without cooperation.”
The Israeli envoy noted that the two countries’ abilities in the medical sector are proven.
Industry experts remain optimistic about Korea-Israel cooperation in the field.
Park Yang-su, director and chief consultant at consulting firm MEDITIP in Seoul, noted that Israel has a strong medical device industry and Korea’s medical professionals have world-class expertise.
“The Israeli medical device industry might be lesser known in Korea than in other countries. But their competitiveness is as strong as that of global leaders such as the United States or Europe,” he said.
“So if the two sides cooperate for a third market project based on their competitive advantages, I think it will create enormous opportunities for both sides.”
In addition to a third market project, Ambassador Gutman said there are various ways for the two sides to work closely together in the area.
He said that Korean conglomerates which are interested in investment in the medical device sector can find promising Israeli start-ups for their investment and then become partners seeking joint gains in the global market.
Last year, the Korean government announced a plan to include the medical device industry as one of the engines for growth in the future.
Under the vision, it set the goal of supporting the industry so that it can become the world’s No. 7 supplier by 2020. Currently, Korea’s ranking in the global medical device industry is 11th. Nearly 65 percent of medical devices that are used in this country are imported from overseas suppliers.