“There were no missiles, no bombs. Only stabbings; my seniors had to go to bomb shelters!”
So half-lamented Wei Ming, a recent returnee from NOC Israel, on his journey’s relative lack of excitement, to the oft-given question to departees of this particular NOC destination (“Isn’t Israel dangerous?!).
The theme for the night’s event was Colleges’ Battle, where returnees from the different NOC colleges (Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, New York, Silicon Valley, Stockholm, and Israel) share their stories of discovery and adventure, of work and life.
We began with Wei Ming, who had three to share.
The first was the story of innovative Israel, where creative uses of military technology are applied in solutions to everyday lives as a result of its immediate need to innovate militarily (see why). One example was the Pillcam, a capsule endoscopy device that arose from Israeli missile-guiding technology.
The second story that Wei Ming shared was the sheer ambition and innovation of Israeli youths. Once, after having successfully found two teammates willing to join him in a hackathon via Facebook, he then met them offline to discover, to his shock, that his new teammates were only 13 and 15 years old! And that wasn’t the only surprise — they were fully capable of Android development! In fact, had Wei Ming gone for hackathons in Israel before meeting his new partners, he would not have been surprised — as he would soon discover, such events in Israel were practically scrawling with young’uns who were technically adept, blindingly ambitious, and utterly shameless (in a good way). (“There were teenagers asking me to join their startups!”).
But this spirit of entrepreneurship was not only confined to the young, as Wei Ming would share in his third and final story. One fine day, Wei Ming was strolling around the Google Campus in Tel Aviv (Israel’s financial capital) when he happened to make eye contact with a middle-aged man who was also, presumably, just strolling around the campus. Middle-aged man’s facial features immediately contorted as though he had seen a ghost, and walked over to Wei Ming. With nary an introduction (“I’ve got a business idea”), the two morning strollers were soon engrossed in a whirlwind of dialogue, debating ideas.
At the close of his sharing, a few questions were posed to Wei Ming: Are the startups in Israel mostly to do with healthcare? (Also cybersecurity! But mainly things related to tech really) How are Israelis generally like? (Big on family, big on work, very direct) Did you travel around Israel? (Egypt, Europe).
As the event was unexpectedly rich in story and detail, this particular post on the going-ons of our weekly Wicked Wednesday events will continue in parts that aim to encapsulate the stories that were shared by the rest of the night’s speakers. Stay tuned.
