New Tech Sector Growing in West Bank
Thanks to early support from Cisco, IT companies begin to blossom.
Photo courtesy Felix Abraham
There's evidence of a growing Palestinian technology sector, particularly in Ramallah.
A second "Silicon Wadi" seems to be taking root in the West Bank.
Kickstarted four years ago by a $10 million investment by Cisco Systems, a burgeoning tech sector has grown to make up 5% of the Palestinian economy, reports the New York Times.
The tech sector has an advantage here, the Times notes: "It is much less affected by impediments to movement, like the barriers, checkpoints and permit requirements that Israel imposes on the territory in the name of security."
It also has a built-in talent pool: While about 2,000 Palestinians a year graduate from university with technical subjects, fewer than a third find local IT jobs, the paper reports.
Currently, the sector is dominated by outsourcing services, the Times reports--Cisco followed up its initial investment with outsourcing contracts for Palestinian engineers--but entrepreneurs there want to be less like more India and more like Israel.
Tareq Maayah, CEO of Exalt Technologies, told the paper that the goal is “innovation, creativity, being ahead of the curve--rather than relying on a huge quantity of basic skills.”
