#3 Ben Soffer - Former MD at Technion Technology Transfer

Ben Soffer is a distinguished expert in technology transfer, hightech venture building and investing. Among others, he headed the technology transfer department of the renowned Technion university for 13 years, has co-founded and led the Technion DRIVE accelerator and was the Chairman of the Israel Technology Transfer Organization for many years. Through helping various spin-offs to get off the ground as well as through his roles in investment management, Ben understands how to build, scale and exit hightech startups. Beyond that, life sciences and healthcare are at the core of his expertise. Until recently, he was the Head of Strategic Industry Partnerships at King’s College London. Having worked not only on Israel, but also in the US and the UK, he gained a rich understanding of the international startup ecosystems.

Ben will share with us his perspective on why small nations, such as Israel, or Singapore excel at innovation, explain why the startup itself is the best vehicle for innovation as well as why a certain amount of paranoia is beneficial for entrepreneurship. We also discuss the difference of deal structures between life sciences and engineering-based ventures and how alignment of interest is done right. Ben also outlines his view on the future of healthcare, the new role of hospitals and what makes him stick to the hightech ventures ecosystem.