Prime Minister Announces National Cyber Hub
Prime Minister Announces National Cyber Hub
January 28, 2014
Israel Hayom — Together with Prof. Rivka Carmi, president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the mayor of Beer-Sheva, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the establishment of an international cybercenter in the Negev city. The center will be called “CyberSpark.”
The cyberhub the government is developing “reflects our commitment to continue to develop Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday in Tel Aviv. He was opening the first international CyberTech Conference in Israel.
The prime minister said he had described Israel at the Davos World Economic Forum last week as the “Innovation Nation.”
“I didn’t have to persuade people, because they were persuaded,” Netanyahu said. “We have to maximize the hope, minimize the danger. We have to maximize the blessing, minimize the curse. And I think Israel can help do both…We have created a special organization…to see how we can share with others.”
Netanyahu said that turning Beer-Sheva into a cyberhub was an effective realization of the vision that Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, had for the Negev Desert.
“We are doing this with Ben-Gurion University, which has outstanding students, and we are bringing an IDF base down south. There is a train connection from Tel Aviv right up to the university gates…There is huge development in the south, and housing prices are significantly lower than in the Dan region. Whoever has common sense should head there,” he said.
The cyberpark will include a high school geared toward science and technology, and a cyber studies center. Staff have already been recruited. Employees from cyber companies based abroad will be among those working there.
More than 500 people from companies around the globe attended the exhibition and conference, organized by the magazine IsraelDefense under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office’s cyber department and sponsored by Ben-Gurion University. The conference was attended by top business leaders from global tech giants such as IBM, Cisco and EMC, along with government officials from the U.S., South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and other nations.
Read more about CyberSpark here >>
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