It is 1995 and I am attending the International Small Business Congress in Tel Aviv. Sitting next to me at one of the sessions is a Russian with a PhD in electrical engineering. To my surprise he had his own company manufacturing small electrical motors. He spoke fluent English but was learning Hebrew.
He was one of 60 scientists that had left Russia because of persecution, and were now helping build Israel’s reputation as an innovation nation.
At another session I got into a conversation with the head of a US company doing its R&D in Israel. He said that the scientists, researchers and technical support available in Israel cannot be found anywhere in the US. He employed 30 people and his staff was like the United Nations. Every nationality imaginable. Brilliant people who had emigrated to Israel. 
One of the key sessions was about Israel as a nation under water stress with 60% of the nation being desert. But turning the desert into agriculture was a product of new sewage treatment technologies and drip irrigation.
Today Israel’s drip technology is exported to the world. And besides drips of water, these systems also deliver liquid fertilizer. The result has been the development of crops suitable to arid and semi-arid areas of the world.
I never experienced a nation so conscious about saving water and using water efficiently. They use desalinated water for about half of their drinking water, they prohibit home gardening, and they promote quick showers. And water is not cheap.
Every home in Israel today has to use what they call “dual flush” toilets. One button is for flushing fluids and uses three litres of water. The other button is for solids and uses 6 litres of water. Apparently in a year a dual flush toilet will save 3000 gallons of water per person.
A powerful Israel technology is taking water out of air economically. The condenser that condenses the water vapor in the air is made out of plastic. The photo shows a small application that can deliver 27 litres of water per day.
This technology has a global market, and if the power source is solar then it will be used in the remote undeveloped areas of the world, where climate change and drinking water is the crisis of the future. Its about air from water for homes and air from water for whole communities.
What is so exciting about Israel as a world leader in water technologies is that it can be used to create peace and stability in the Middle East, which is one of the most water-stressed areas of the world.
Jordan gets it water from Israel. And water technologies are part of the new trade and investment agreements between Israel, the UAE and Bhutan.
02-01 Israel
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Israel has one of the most entrepreneurial cultures anywhere. It is an innovation nation. It is also a nation that is water stressed so it is no surprise that it leads in water technologies like sewage treatment. drip irrigation, desalination, dual flush toilets and air to water. Its water engineering is also an instrument for peace in the Middle East.