Western Sydney Trade Mission: Delegation of Firsts
By Carly Adno, Australian Jewish News, 9 June 2022
WESTERN Sydney Airport CEO Simon Hickey and Greater Cities Commission CEO Elizabeth Mildwater will lead the first ever Western Sydney Delegation to Israel.
The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) NSW, in partnership with Business Western Sydney, will be running the delegation from July 8-14.
It will also be attended by Alister Henskens, NSW Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology, in addition to a number of health, business, university and community leaders with an interest in future opportunities for Western Sydney.
The program will include a schedule of meetings with outstanding Israeli business and health leaders, experts and entrepreneurs providing a deep dive into a number of key areas.
“We’ve been running delegations to Israel since 1989,” CEO of the AICC Michelle Blum told The AJN.
“At its peak in 2019 the chamber took over 40 delegations to Israel to look at innovation and technology and a range of different sectors. “Obviously over the last two years with COVID we’ve done no delegations, which has been sad for the purposes of our organisation because it is about building collaboration between the two countries for the benefit of both. We are very excited that we are beginning our program of delegations in July.
“It’s such a pivotal time in terms of the development and opportunities for the Western Sydney region.”
There is expected to be between 25-30 members in the delegation and there are a number of sectors that will be explored, including Israel’s healthcare innovation landscape; successful commercialisation and tech transfer models; the role of government and policy-settings; the contribution of industry and multinationals; and water and climate tech innovation to sup- port a green Western Sydney.
The AICC will be running its fifth Women Leaders delegation to Israel later in July, delving into some of the big issues that will frame the future. In particular these will include: decentralised finance and exchange of value; energy exchange and the transformation of the energy sector; innovative approaches to solving supply chain issues; the new cyber security landscape; and AI, data and privacy.