IDB and Start-Up Nation Central join efforts to Boost Israel-Latin America Tech Relations

Start-Up Nation Central (SNC) announces a new partnership with ConnectAmericas, a social network created by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with the support of Google, DHL, Sealand, Facebook and Mastercard. ConnectAmericas is an online business platform that helps small and medium-sized enterprises from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) internationalize their business by providing them with access to communities of clients, suppliers and investors in the region and around the world.

Over the past few months, Israeli technologies and startups have received global attention from foreign governments and authorities, health officials and investors, further positioning Israeli technology as a means to meet unprecedented global challenges – like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two partners successfully created profiles for more than 5,000 Israeli companies, with data derived from SNC’s innovation tracking platform – the Start-Up Nation Finder – on the ConnectAmericas platform. The accounts are verified by Start-Up Nation Central and 200 of them are managed directly by startup representatives. As part of the collaboration, SNC provides support services and manages the introductions and interactions between the LAC and Israeli companies signed through the partnership.

Furthermore, the IDB Group and SNC identified the areas of focus for solutions addressing the challenges in LAC in face of the pandemic: Health, Cybersecurity, Food Security, Critical Infrastructure and Social Services. Within this process, the Group’s innovation lab, IDB Lab, will provide the sandbox to pilot the selected solutions, in order to scale the successful ones through the Group’s operations. SNC is working with experts in each of these fields to understand the main challenges of the region and match them with the most relevant innovative Israeli solutions.

The partnerships will be announced during the Outsource2LAC Virtual Week 2020, which is being held through July 22. This online event allows LAC’s global services companies to explore new business opportunities through B2B and B2G virtual matchmaking meetings, and learn from industry experts about the latest developments and challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central: “The Israeli tech and innovation sector is receiving substantial attention from around the world in general, and especially during the global pandemic. Our partnership with IDB plays a major role in connecting the ecosystems, allowing us to identify Israeli partners to jointly develop and adapt solutions to the challenges faced by Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We are honored to collaborate with the IDB Group, one of the leading development banks in the world, which helps its constituent countries overcome today’s most pressing challenges.”

Ana María Rodríguez, Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge at IDB, said: “COVID-19 will accelerate the shift to digital and reshape the business landscape. Latin America and the Caribbean must be part of the digital future. The alignment of public and private strategies is, without doubt, a necessary condition for success. For this reason, we will continue to forge high-value partnerships at both regional and multilateral levels. Our sustained and fruitful work with Start-Up Nation Central is one great example of this.”