MARCH 20199existing solutions, proof-of-concept stage inventions, and conceptual designs for each of these problem statements, with the result being the Grand-Prize winners initiating pilots of their technologies in India and additional winners presenting their solutions to government and business representatives in the respective fields of the Challenge. The India-Israel combination again proved itself full of opportunity for both sides, both in terms of the specific participants in these events and in terms of the benefits that can be provided to various segments of Indian society.The Value of Challenge EventsAre Challenges/Hackathons an effective way to create innovation and bring it to the benefit of companies and societies? In the case of India-Israel the answer is definitely "yes". The Vizag Million Dollar Challenge and the SOCH India-Israel 2-Nation Challenge both brought together innovators, government representatives, investors, and businesses to connect and explore productive relationships among them. With succinct presentations, plenty of networking opportunities, and a highly focused timeframe a highly diverse group of players were able to come together and flow among them in a very efficient way. The topic areas were selected to lead to the highest level of interest and ensure that the innovations revolved around clearly-defined problem statements.And Some India-Israel IssuesThe Indian practice of Ayurveda describes five elements that combine into three dosha-energies. When these energies are in balance there is health and growth, and when they are out of balance there is illness until the energies are returned to balance.In the same way the India-Israel relationship has a combination of energies that are often in balance and so the relationship is healthy. There are things that bring the energies out of balance which affects the players in the relationship, not necessarily in a healthy way.It was easy for the various participants to get out-of-balance based on differing expectations and different understandings of the process and the activities. We found it best to plan, prepare, and perform the activities related to these events in relatively short steps with clearly-defined execution points and deadlines. This helped to maintain the health of the relationship, but even so energies did get out of balance at certain points and, as is needed in Ayurveda, the right remedies were required to re-attain proper energy balance. Another "balancer" was having clear communications lines with one person holding overall responsibility on both the Indian and Israeli sides. As we all know - too many cooks spoil the Sambar or the Cholent as the case may be. David Talmor
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