The Israel Conference in Los Angeles
FACTS OF US-ISRAEL BUSINESS

Over $20B of Investment Capital will be Represented

Wednesday June 3, 2009, 8:00 am EDT

The Israel Conference 2009

LOS ANGELES --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- More than 400 international business executives have registered to attend The Israel Conference this Thursday, June 4, 2009 in Los Angeles to listen to experts and discuss key business opportunities between Israel and California in areas of clean tech, medical tech, high tech, entertainment media tech.  The all day conference begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Luxe Hotel in Los Angeles www.TheIsraelConference.org

“When you look at facts, it’s no surprise that so many people want to attend this conference,” noted Sharona Justman, managing director of STEP Strategy Advisors, an acquisitions advisory and strategic planning firm with offices in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv. “Financially significant deals are getting done between businesses here and in Israel and strong new companies are being created. Here are just a few facts:”

• Israel holds the number one position on the NASDAQ second only to US corporations.
• Israeli companies employ thousands of people in California. A number of these are Fortune 500 companies today with corporate offices in California such as Check Point, SanDisk, and Amdocs.
• Israel has the largest number of scientists in the world per capita at 145/10,000 compared to the US with 85/10,000.
• In 2008, over $2 billion in capital was invested over 480 Israeli high-tech companies, an increase of 18% over prior year with 50% coming from funds outside of Israel, mostly from the US.
• Over the past 3 years, Israeli firms raised $2.3 billion in IPOs on exchanges around the world while over $18 billion was spent on acquisitions of Israeli high tech companies.
• Israeli VCs invested more than $95 million into 48 non-Israeli companies in 2008 with 33% going to companies in communications and 20% going to Life Sciences companies.
• Intel employs over 30,000 Israeli engineers at their R&D campuses in Israel.
• Microsoft, HP, Cisco, and IBM all have significant research centers in Israel.
• The commercial cell phone, the Pentium MMX Chip technology, Voice Mail technology, and Internet Firewall safety systems were developed in Israel.
• Israel has over 20 technology incubators such as Kinrot Ventures for water technologies and invests $1 billion per year in incubators that encourage technology development.
• The Centrino microchip, the PillCam, and Instant Messaging were created in Israel and the innovators will be speaking at The Israel Conference.

The Israel Conference covers this and more with the actual deal makers and technology leaders who will engage in active discussion on how their companies and investments are faring and what the future holds.

The Israel Conference sponsors include Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Morrison & Foerster, Silicon Valley Bank, Mitchell Silverberg & Knupp, New Century Capital Partners, Zag.com, Bank Leumi, Blumberg Capital, TheMarker, Business Wire, Israel Venture Capital Research Center, Southern California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Olmstead Williams Communications, Daly-Swartz Public Relations, and iHollywoodForum.

The Organizing Team includes Sharona Justman of STEP Strategy Advisors, Glenn Yago of Milken Institute, Isabel Maxwell of Israel Venture Network, Eran Wagner of cVidya Networks, David Ben-Ami of MacroCure, Chris Rice of Check Point, Dan Yukelson of Premiere Radio Networks, and Yair Landau of Mass Animation.

For further information, contact The Israel Conference™ at 310.445.5388 or email Paula@TheIsraelConference.org or visit www.TheIsraelConference.org.

###
Contact:
Olmstead Williams Communications for The Israel Conference
Tracy Williams, 310-479-7055
Tracy@OlmsteadWilliams.com