Almost 500 new companies took advantage of it. The backbone of Israeli high-tech is the startup sector. In other words, the country' s leading export sector is extremely dependent on infusion from abroad, especially from American firms that invest in high-tech. For startups and post-startups, acquisition by foreign firms is a major goal. On the one hand, high tech is the sole Israeli industrial sector that is really growing.
Software is big.
On the other hand, the locomotive does not seem to be pulling the train. Since the new technology requires a high level of education, it does not create jobs for those who've been laid off, and the unemployment rate remains high. Rather than trickle down, most of the wealth either returns to Wall Street or stays in the pockets of a group too tiny to move the economy forward. The turn to high-tech also brings new international vulnerability. Little American venture capital leaves the US, but much of this little goes to Israel.