The Covid-19 pandemic in concert with global warming and the increased pace of our ecosystem degradation should be recognized as a watershed moment that will urge us to rebuild a new food security system to secure food availability around the world. MIT, as a hub for innovation and entrepreneurship, and it’s alumni have been developing new ways to overcome these global challenges.
AgTech is an emerging agriculture technology sector that has the potential to become the most important industry of the future in reshaping global agriculture by dramatically increase agriculture yield, save water and reduce the environmental and social costs of current agriculture production practices. The Israei AgTech sector with more than 700 active startups is using cutting edge technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, smart irrigation, and the Internet of Things (IoT) to help farmers worldwide to achieve higher yield while saving the environment. In Israel, as in the world, MIT alumni are on the forefront of this mission.
MISTI MIT-Israel and NEIBC are inviting you to meet three Israeli executives, MIT grads, that are leading the way in the AgTech industry in a fascinating webinar
During the event you will have the opportunity to participate directly in Q&A.
The event is free and open to the public. You are welcome to invite others.
Please RSVP by clicking here
Panelists:
Nitzan Haklai
VP of Business Development @ CIBO
https://www.cibotechnologies.com/
Nitzan Haklai is the VP of Business Development at CIBO, a leading science-based technology company in the soil-based carbon market.
Nitzan is an experienced product executive and business strategist in the agriculture space, where she brings her expertise in identifying growth opportunities, building partnerships, and creating innovative solutions. Prior to joining CIBO, Nitzan worked at Gro Intelligence, a VC-backed agriculture data platform, and Bayer AG. Earlier in her career, she led the Global Open Innovation Initiative at ADAMA, one of the world’s leading agrochemical companies.
Nitzan holds an MBA degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a law degree (LLB) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Dan Grotsky
Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer @ Groundwork BioAg
Dan Grotsky combines experience with vision to produce impact. He is a serial entrepreneur and sales and marketing professional, with a passion for sustainable development. His work experience ranges from software and communication systems to agtech and climatech, in five countries and four languages.
Dan is Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Groundwork BioAg, a bioagriculture venture that produces highly-effective mycorrhizal inoculants and sells them in major agricultural markets worldwide. He has co-founded and managed four additional ventures, of which one was acquired, and he has personally raised over $25M venture funding. As an angel investor and director, Dan has held interests in eighteen ventures, five of which produced successful exits thus far.
As a business development executive in several technology companies, Dan has forged and managed dozens of strategic partnerships, including five Fortune 100 customers, valued in millions of dollars each.
Dan holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, an MS, EECS, from MIT, and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Tel-Aviv University. He graduated as a Fellow in the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program at MIT, and as a Fellow at the Heschel Sustainability Center. Dan is a Sergeant Major (ret.), alumnus of the Israeli military intelligence "Talpiot" program (unit 8200).
Dan is an active mentor and volunteer in several educational, political and business organizations, promoting Israeli entrepreneurship, sustainability and democracy.
Dror Sharon
Entrepreneur in Residence @ Intel Corporation
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.html
Dror Sharon is Entrepreneur in Residence @ Intel Corporation.
Prior to Intel Dror was the CEO and co-founder at Consumer Physics Inc, makers of SCiO - the world's first handheld smartphone-operated and cloud-connected Near Infra-Red Spectrometer (NIR) that is used to analyze food, crops, pharmaceuticals, and the human body.
Previously Dror worked at leading VC-backed start-ups, early-stage VC investor, and as consultant at McKinsey & Co.
He received his undergrad degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management
Moderator:
Adi Vagman
Investor & Entrepreneur in AgTech, FoodTech and ClimateTech,
Adi is an experienced investor, consultant, and executive with over 10 years of experience in the AgTech and the food industry.
Previously, Adi was former VP of business development and marketing in Coffee Joe where she played a key role in the company's turnaround to be the largest coffee chain in Israel. Adi is an active angel investor and acts as a director at Tropic Bioscience, Brevel, Groudwork and Hyper Robotics.
Adi holds an MBA and BA from IDC and graduated from the “Zell Program”, a unique entrepreneurship program for outstanding students.
About:
MIT - Israel Program
https://misti.mit.edu/mit-israel
The MIT-Israel program fosters transformative collaborations between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the State of Israel through fully funded internships for MIT students at Israeli companies and universities; STEM and entrepreneurship teaching opportunities for MIT students at Israeli high schools; seed funds to connect MIT faculty and researchers to their counterparts in Israel; and various Israel-focused, classroom-based opportunities.