When an idea becomes reality: The summer ’23 round of Afeka PreEx is completed

In September 2023, the Afeka PreEx entrepreneurship program completed its journey of innovation and entrepreneurship with a festive demo showcase: an evening of presenting the projects to investors, family, and friends.

Afeka’s PreEx program is a unique contemporary program for Afeka students, alumni, and faculty, aimed at promoting technology-based business entrepreneurship.

The program focused on the question: “What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?” –with all the key steps this involves, from choosing a good idea to choosing partners and customers, building a business plan, and securing financing.

The program was built by the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Ofek – Skill Development Centers, headed by Adv. Keren Ben-Haim. As is the standard practice in the world’s top universities, the program was based on the Lean Startup methodology. It included lectures, guidance from seasoned entrepreneurial mentors, and an opening of doors for potential partners.

The program accepted teams with applicable technological ideas in a variety of fields, and included 10 weekly encounters. The entrepreneurs learned how to formulate a good idea, analyze the global market, validate the idea, build a marketing strategy, and find the right design partner – and learned about patents and intellectual property, and about preparing for the investor presentation stage.

The program’s goal is to connect a technological product to the field in general and to startup-building in particular.

The program was produced by Revital Kremer, a seasoned entrepreneur, marketing VP, and consultant to startups and VCs, who herself also presented some of the program’s contents.

The program’s guest speakers included:

  • Ronen Hen – Serial entrepreneur and VP of technologies at Eden Ventures, advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology
  • Erez Gavish – Serial entrepreneur and manager of Israel’s entrepreneurship ecosystem community
  • Tal Atzmon – Serial entrepreneur, senior product leader, and startup mentor
  • Eyal Bar-Zvi – Partner at the Herzog, Fox & Neeman law firm, and investing partner at Plus Ventures
  • Revital Kremer – Strategy, marketing, and entrepreneurship expert

The novice entrepreneurs were guided throughout the program by mentors from the Rotary Afeka Avivtek club, all senior industry professionals who contributed their extensive knowledge and experience, their networking abilities, and a great desire to help.

As mentioned above, the program culminated with a festive demo showcase, in which eight innovative technology startups created during the program made presentations to investors, family, and friends – including a validated idea, a viable product, and strong market analysis and management. The three veteran investors – Liora Ettinger, Shiri Fisher, and Eli Michaeli – evaluated the presentations and provided useful, constructive comments on the projects.

The following technological projects were presented:

 

Entrepreneurs

Project

1.       

Alon Muskat – Electrical engineering alumnus

Rail ProKit – An AI-based system for managing mass transit (railway) projects

2.       

Igal Beilin – Mechanical and systems engineering alumnus

My Defy – An app for locating, navigating, and operating defibrillators in public spaces

3.       

Ofek Mishal – Mechanical engineering student

LeakFinder Technologies – A smart system for real-time water leak monitoring and alerts

4.       

Ilana Khalatian – Intelligent systems student, with her sister Suzanne, a nutritionist

Onio – A personalized, AI-based nutrition app for changing dietary habits

5.       

Karin Novoselski – Medical engineering student

Patiently – An app for translating diagnostic codes in medical reports to everyday language

6.       

Yoav Bar Or – Mechanical engineering student

VegiBot – An agricultural robot for growing vegetables in agrivoltaic fields

7.       

Dr. Iris Forma – Industrial engineering and management lecturer

OptimumShade – A system for optimal planning of shading in urban spaces

8.       

Lavi Ringvirtz – Software engineering student

Sticky Events – A system for creating graphic stickers for the mobile phone at events

Yael Danai-Menuhin, director of Afeka’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: “I’m proud of each and every program participant, and have had the joy and privilege of guiding them on this journey together with Revital. I’m certain that we’ll soon hear about their success with new tech startups that will benefit us all. The program will be held next summer as well, and I invite students, alumni, and faculty to register for the next round.”