Last week’s post about how Israeli commerce impacts on the UK economy turned out to be a mild understatement. Last week, 400 Israeli and British entrepreneurs participated in a conference in London, known as “Mind The Tech”, as the logo played on the theme of the London Underground.

The “noise” and out put of the meet-up was phenomenal, and it is worth recording some of the salient points.

• The British ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey,noted how 60 Israeli companies in the UK have reported increased activity in the past two months.
• Liam Maxwell, the UK’s National Technology Advisor, stated openly that Israel has not only brought its know-how to the island. This change has had a direct and positive impact on creating new jobs.
• Of the 2,200 companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange, 29 are Israeli, a relatively high proportion for such a small country.
• As the UK is creating its own version of the ‘start up’ nation, it has never hidden its desire to copy the Israeli model.
• The conservative forces of the UK’s banking system are gradually coming to realise that they have to turn to Israeli Fintech leaders to protect themselves from threats and to keep ahead of competitors. Ironically perhaps, it is Brexit that has put those issues in front of everybody’s closed eyes.

In many ways, Brexit is forcing the UK to think like an island again, as if the past five decades have been a blip.

This trend draws a parallel to Israel, which has comparatively little trade with its own neighbours. High-tech has more than saved the economy of the Holy Land. It has allowed for the creation of commerce, simply by going around many of the obvious borders, tariffs and other obstacles….significantly downsizing that island syndrome. So far in 2016, a year of yet more international instability, investment in Israeli high-tech is 35% higher than last year.

And that is why the UK is so determined to work with Israel more than ever, for thae mutual benefit of all peoples from both nations.