Smart thinking has led Israel’s desert city of Beer-sheba to emerge as one of the top cyber capitals of the world
From a dusty desert backwater at the time of Israel’s independence in 1948, Beer-sheba today is a thriving intellectual powerhouse attracting the best brains the world over. This should come as no surprise. Destiny has decreed! Abraham, the first of the three Patriarchs in Judaism, settled his difference here with Abimelech over a well of water, which the latter later conceded belonged to Abraham and in the Bible, Beersheba means “Well of Seven” or “Well of Oath.” Today, Beersheva is a “well” of intellectual talent.
The narrative threads from Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, who had a dream about ‘a stairway to heaven’ after leaving Beersheba (Genesis 28:10–15 and 46:1–7), right up to over 3000 years later when David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister too had a dream. In 1955, Ben-Gurion challenged his people to develop the Negev and make it flourish: “Israel’s capacity for science and research will be tested in the Negev … and this effort will determine the fate of the State of Israel and the standing of our people in the history of mankind.” That dream has come to fruition and is only fitting that the city’s university is named after this extraordinarily visionary – Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU). Today, there are many South Africans studying at BGU, which has a rich history of partnership with South Africa assisting it and other countries on the African continent in areas of water management, irrigation technology and cutting-edge research in agriculture. Now it is impacting the world in Cyber Technology.
Cutting Ribbons to Cutting-Edge Technology. Prime Minister Netanyahu (right) opening the first hi-tech building in Beersheva’s Advanced Technologies Park with mayor, Ruvik Danilovich.
Mayor of Be’er-Sheva, Ruvik Danilovich.
Everyone’s Talking
While concerns about changes in weather patterns were on every delegate’s mind at the Paris 2015 World Climate Conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu availed himself of the opportunity to announce to a global audience: “Israel today is a world power in cyber technology.” A true ‘barometer’ of this enthusiasm was the Prime Minister revealing on his return to Israel, “There was hardly anyone who didn’t talk to me about it.” With a major cyber storm brewing, Israel is anticipating that the eye of the storm is destined to ‘hit’ Israel’s desert heartland – Beersheva.
Desert Storm
Nearly two years ago when the premier prophesized that Beersheva was destined to become “the cyber center of the Western hemisphere”, many skeptics raised their eyebrows at his grandiose vision – and with good reason. While Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion believed that the future of the country lay in the Negev – comprising 60% of Israel’s landmass – and physically moved to Kibbutz Sde Boker in the desert to set a personal example, the multitudes of people, and large scale investment that he hoped would follow, did not occur. His final resting place became a shrine for tourists instead of a magnet for young people to come settle.
However, the spirit of his vision was embodied when the University of the Negev was established in 1969 – renamed in 1973, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev – and in recent times, the hopeful trends envisioned by Israel’s political founding father are now “all happening.” Fueling this process along has been the high-speed train and the extension of the freeway – Road 6. Where once Beersheva was considered “isolated” or “out of the way”, today it is 
easily accessible from all over the country. Also, its image as a periphery outpost has too changed dramatically. If once the mindset of Beersheva was of a brief stopover for motorists to fill up for gas or a snack en route to Israel’s southern tourist resort of Eilat, today it is a thriving city with a bustling economy and a world-renowned flourishing research center. In just the past 15 years, Beersheva’s population has doubled to 200,000 residents, with tens of thousands of new immigrants from about 60 countries, as well as young and veteran Israeli couples choosing to make this city their home. More than 100,000 of Beersheva’s citizens are under the age of 34. This is precisely the right age group to fuel the hi-tech revolution taking place here. Transforming ideas into reality, the PM’s Office’s Cybernetic Headquarters, in collaboration with the Beersheva Municipality, Ben-Gurion University, and the high-tech companies, formulated a comprehensive plan for the establishment of the National Cyber Center in Beersheva located in the high-tech park. Inaugurated in September 2013, Beersheva’s Advanced Technologies Park is a joint initiative of the city of Beersheva and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and is located near the university and Soroka Medical Center, adjacent to the city’s north train station. Described as “unique”, “the National Cyber Center will combine leaders in the cyber industry, ground-breaking academic research, leading security agencies, academic institutions specializing in cyber tracks, and other national government agencies,” says the city’s upbeat mayor, Ruvik Danilovich.
This enriching combination will create an “ecosystem” on one campus sharing technological infrastructures that will nurture momentous collaborations, and create a synergy between research, development and education. Together, this ambitious initiative will project global leadership in the cyber arena. “We have arrived at a historic milestone,” continues Danilowitz, “which will bring about a socio-economic and educational metamorphosis that will transform Beersheva from an urban metropolis into a productive international center of innovation, curiosity and creative thinking.” David Ben-Gurion who passed away in 1973, must be smiling from his celestial perch!
City on the Move. Beersheba mayor, Ruvik Danilovich (centre), at the launch of a new hi-tech venture.
Capital’ising on Human Potential
“Beersheva is turning into an international capital of cyber,” asserts Danilowitz. “We are amid an historic process that establishes our city as a technological-scientific center, integrating pioneering academics, human capital, international companies in fields of high-tech industry and the Israel Defense Forces’ elite ICT and intelligence units, who have their physical infrastructures in the city’s Advanced Technologies Park.” International companies in scientific-technological fields have rapidly recognized the unique opportunity that the city of Beersheva is creating today, realizing its immense commercial potential.
Shaping Up. A building in the Hi-Tech Park.
Israel’s Silicon Valley
Affirming the trend, there was a buzz in the foreign media when in January 2015, Brandeis International Business School and T3 Consulting Group ranked Beersheva the first out of seven global cities forecasted to emerge as important high-tech centers. The following month, a second building was inaugurated in the Advanced Technologies Park, the compound designed to serve the many cyber startups and multinationals expected to set up headquarters or R&D operations in the city. It will eventually number fifteen buildings. Then in March that year, the behemoth worldwide online payments company, PayPal announced it was buying the Israeli startup CyActive, a specialist in predictive malware detection. It is said that there are two groups of organisations – those that have been hacked and those that are going to be hacked or who have been hacked but don’t know about it yet! This is what PayPal, using CyActive’s expertise, will address while at the same time kick-starting a larger security hub in the country as the operation will remain rooted in Beersheva. CyActive was backed by the venture capital fund JVP, the German electronics giant Siemens, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and CyberArk Software, an Israeli company that has gone public on Nasdaq. Following an agreement signed among the finance and defense ministries and the Israel Land Authority to transfer army bases from central Israel to the south, will give another major boost to Beersheva as a world “cyber capital”. Smart demobilized soldiers of the future may well decide to move from army bases in the desert to base themselves at Beersheva’s tech park where they will start up their own companies – in “The Startup Nation” mould – propelling their careers as well as the destiny of Beersheva.
Pulsating Partnerships
With such a flurry of events back in 2015, it is little wonder that the initiative is radiating such optimism. In a country known for chronic delays in projects requiring cooperation between two or more government agencies, it’s quite astonishing to see how rapid the cyber center joint initiative has moved. “We are taking a growth engine with government investment and creating a global industry in the south,” expressed Prime Minister Netanyahu. “I said that we would be among the five leading countries in the world in cyber – and we are already in the top three. Aside from positioning Israel as a cyber power, we are pushing it so that Beersheva becomes the cyber capital of the eastern hemisphere. This will have major positive implications for the entire Negev.”
Companies already operating in the park include a host of foreign and local firms such as Ness Technologies, Deutsche Telecom, RAD, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems and EMC, as well as a cyber incubator run by JVP, the venture capital firm.
Building a Future. Beersheba has come a long way since Abraham was here and gave it its name.
Great Expectations
Around the hype of the Cyber Park is a rapidly expanding urban sprawl waiting to discover how it will be impacted by the park and by the assimilation of its enterprising and energized employees into the city’s social, cultural, and intellectual fabric. Mayor Danilovich believes that the high-tech companies will set off a chain reaction of related development. “This will encourage children to engage in technology throughout their studies. We want newly arriving high-tech people to remain here in Beersheva. The intent is to turn the city into a center for quality employment with high wages and a strong education system.” When it comes to the love of science, youngsters need to catch the bug early.
Israel’s 2011 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, Professor Dan Shechtman has said, speaking from personal experience: “We need to cultivate the passion for science at an early age.” This belief was clearly behind two relatively new educational parks in Beersheba – the ‘Carasso Science Park’ and ‘Lunada’. The Carasso Science Park is the largest science park in Israel, featuring an interactive museum, scientific garden with games, and hands-on activities for all ages. The park offers ten interactive exhibitions in various fields of Science including: Genetics, Communication, Microelectronics and Nuclear Energy. An initiative of the Beersheva municipality, Lunada is an interactive science museum geared for children between the ages 4 – 12 and which introduces them to the wonders of science through fun experiences. No doubt in the years ahead, many young visitors to these experiential museums, will be contributing to the scientific destiny of the State of Israel and beyond. Ben Gurion is smiling from above!
Planning Tomorrow. An artist’s map of Beer-Sheva’s completed Technological Park.
