Mind The Tech
Today: Snap, NSO to Take Part in Calcalist’s Mind the Tech Conference in Tel Aviv
Data, artificial intelligence, and the rising stars of tech and innovation will meet on the same stage at Calcalist’s Mind the Tech Conference
Calcalist's innovation and technology conference series Mind the Tech is returning to Tel Aviv on November 25. This year, the conference will focus on the intersection of data, artificial intelligence, and people, out of an understanding that through this intersection the new technological revolution will arise. The conference will showcase the leading trends, companies, and speakers in these fields, and provide an opportunity to be inspired by the rich and exciting world we are facing and the burning challenges that are emerging from these changes.
Register for the conference here.
Some of the conference speakers include:
Jeremi Gorman, the chief business officer of Snapchat developer Snap Inc. Earlier this year, Snap unveiled its latest edition of Spectacles, its sunglasses with two built-in cameras.
Gal Chechik, the head of Nvidia Corp.’s research center in Tel Aviv. Nvidia opened a research and development center in Israel in 2017 and in March this year, it acquired Israeli chipmaker Mellanox Technologies Ltd. for $6.9 billion.
Irad Ben-Gal (left) Aya Soffer, and Gal Chechik IBM’s vice president of artificial intelligence technology Aya Soffer. Working out of IBM’s research and development center in Israel’s northern port city Haifa, Soffer has been with the company for more than 20 years and has headed teams developing technologies for text and video search, natural language processing, artificial emotional expressions, augmented reality, and computer vision. Soffer has also taken part in the development of Watson, IBM’s artificial intelligence-based question-answering computer system. Prior to joining IBM, Soffer was a research associate at NASA.
Irad Ben-Gal, head of the industrial engineering and management program at Tel Aviv University. Ben-Gal currently heads Digital Living 2030, the university's joint program with Stanford University titled which brings together faculty and students from both institutions to spearhead the development of infrastructures, processes, methods, and algorithms that will be implemented by hardware and software components to support the processing of vast amounts of data.
Israeli surveillance company NSO Group’s President Shiri Dolev. Over the past two years, NSO has repeatedly fended off accusations that its technologies were being misused, claiming it only sells its product to governments and law enforcement agencies and that its spyware has saved tens of thousands of lives. In December 2018, an associate of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi sued the company, claiming it played a role in Khashoggi’s murder.
Oren Kaniel, co-founder and CEO of marketing analytics company AppsFlyer Ltd. Last month, Calcalist reported that the company was raising a $200 million series D round led by growth equity firm General Atlantic.
Zeev Farbman, CEO of Jerusalem-based content creation app developer Lightricks Ltd. In July, the company announced it has completed a $135 million series C funding round at a $1 billion valuation. The company’s best-known product is selfie-editing app Facetune. Lightrick’s apps have been downloaded over 180 million times and have nearly 3 million paying subscribers, according to company statements.
Yossi Naar (left), Zeev Farbman, and Oren Kaniel Shay Basson, the head of Israel’s Bank Leumi’s technology division.
Harel Locker, Chairman of Israeli government-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI).
Brothers Aviv and Matteo Shapira, two of the founders of augmented reality company Replay Technologies Inc., acquired by Intel in 2016 for $175 million.
Yossi Wolf, founder and CEO of robot company Temi Global Ltd. Temi develops a voice-activated robotic personal assistant on wheels, capable of following its masters from room to room while carrying small objects, playing music, making video and voice calls, and controlling smart-home devices.
Shiri Dolev (left), Lior Suchard and Yossi Wolf, and Jeremi Gorman 
Gigi Levy-Weiss (left), Michael Eisenberg, and Daniel Cohen 
Omri Palmon (left), Harel Locker, and Shay Basson Nimrod Kozlovski, partner at Israel-based law firm Herzog, Fox, Neeman and lecturer at Tel Aviv University.
Elad Aharonson, general manager of Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems Ltd.’s intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance division.
Elad Aharonson (left), Yael Fainaro, and Isaac Benbenisti
Sagi Dagan, head of the growth division at Israeli government investment arm, the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA).
Eynat Guez, CEO of payroll management startup Papaya Global Ltd. Earlier this month the company announced it had raised a $45 million funding round.
Udi Levy (left) Einat Guez, and Sagi Dagan Udi Levy, co-founder and CEO of web intelligence startup Cobwebs Technologies Ltd.
Rita Singh, a research professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s school of computer science’s Language Technologies Institute and a lecturer at The World Economic Forum.
Asi Schmeltzer (left), Rita Singh, and Eyal Dror Eyal Dror, CEO of food and beverage manufacturer Strauss Group Israel.
Danny Goldstein, CEO of Israel’s national post service, Israel Postal Co.
Eran Zarahovitsh (left) Roni Michael, and Danny Goldstein Roni Michael, who is the head of IT Advisory at KPMG Israel, Haggi Hochberger, head of digital innovation at Israel’s Bank Leumi, and Ido Ron, head of digital transformation at KPMG.
Asi Schmeltzer, chairman of Shlomo Group Holdings.
Ido Ron (left), Elite Caspi, and Harel Taybe Harel Taybe, CEO of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey and Tel Aviv-based company Kryon Systems Ltd. Kryon develops and markets virtual agents, or bots, used to automate organizational processes such as outpayments and insurance claim processing. Microsoft and insurance company Allianz and are among Kryon’s clients.
Haggi Hochberger (left) and Aviv and Matteo Shapira The conference will conclude with a set by stand up comedian Eran Zarahovitsh.
