Skills&Tech 2024
Afeka - The Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv, in cooperation with TheMarker, held its annual Skills&Tech conference. This event examined Israel's need to cultivate a highly skilled workforce to maintain its status as a global technology leader. A central focus was on addressing the widening gap between the competencies required in the rapidly evolving job market and the skills that were being developed at the time through Israel's education system, academic institutions, and lifelong learning initiatives.
The conference aims to create an annual platform for strategic discussions on integrating skills acquisition throughout the educational continuum, particularly concerning the current challenges Israel faces.
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Competency-based education is vital to Israel's resilience. Our pedagogy must evolve to impart skills, alongside developing effective assessment tools across the educational continuum
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Among the topics discussed:
- The necessity for a long-term national strategy to impart skills along the educational continuum, and how to implement it effectively.
- The impact of the ongoing war on skill requirements and objectives – what are the primary skills Israeli employees need in today's job market.
- The importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education in preparing for the future of work and how Israel is making quality STEM education to accessible to diverse populations.
- How artificial intelligence will affect the workforce, and whether Israel, the education system, and academia are adequately preparing for this impact.
- The roles of the education system, academia, lifelong training, and workplace courses in creating an employment profile that aligns with the evolving demands of the job market, and more.
During the conference, the Afeka-TheMarker 2024 Skills Index was unveiled, providing an in-depth analysis of the specific skill sets that were sought after by leading employers across various industries at that time.
The conference was attended by a diverse range of key stakeholders from the economy, high-tech industry, academia, education system, government, military and non-profit sectors.
This event provided an opportunity to engage in crucial discussions that shapes Israel's future workforce.
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Speakers
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Prof. Ami Moyal
President of Afeka – The Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv
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Andreas Schleicher
Director for Education and Skills, OECD
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Barak Regev
General Manager, Google Israel
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Dr. Ella Shachar
Senior Economist, Macroeconomics and Policy Department, Research Department, Bank of Israel
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Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk
Corporate Vice President at Microsoft Corporation, Managing Director of Israel R&D Center and CTO of Microsoft Security
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Dr. Aya Soffer
Vice President, AI Technologies and Director IBM Research, Israel. Photo credit: Or Kaplan
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Dr. Tzachi Glickman
Executive Vice President of R&D & Engineering
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Chagai Philipson
Human Resources Management, Mekorot
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Liat Ben david, PhD
CEO, Davidson Institute of Science Education, Weizmann Institute of Science | Education leadership |
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Daniel Schreiber
Co-Founder and CEO of Lemonade
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Prof. Ami Moyal
President of Afeka – The Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv
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Andreas Schleicher
Director for Education and Skills, OECD
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Barak Regev
General Manager, Google Israel
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Dr. Ella Shachar
Senior Economist, Macroeconomics and Policy Department, Research Department, Bank of Israel
Conference Program
- 08:30 Reception and Registration
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09:20
Sivan Klingbail
Editor in Chief, TheMarker
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09:30
Prof. Ami Moyal
President, Afeka – the Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv
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09:40
Andreas Schleicher
Director for Education and Skills, OECD
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09:55
Barak Regev, CEO of Google Israel, in conversation with TheMarker journalist Omri Zerachovitz
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10:10
Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, CEO of Microsoft Israel R&D in conversation with TheMarker journalist Ruti Levy
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10:25
Dr. Tzahi Glickman, Senior VP and Head of R&D and Engineering at Rafael, in conversation with Sami Peretz, Senior Analyst at TheMarker
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10:40
Brig. Gen. Yael Grossman, Commander of Lotem, the IDF’s digital and information unit, in conversation with TheMarker journalist Anat Georgy
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10:55
Israel’s Challenges in Maximizing Human Capital
Dr. Liat Ben-David, CEO of the Davidson Institute – the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science
Kheir Abdel Razek, Head of Demographic Program Development in High Tech, Israel Innovation Authority
Noam Dan, High Tech and Higher Education Coordinator, Budget Department, Ministry of Finance
Menachem Bombach, Head of the Netzach Educational Network
- 11:40 BREAK
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12:00
Daniel Schreiber, Co-founder and CEO of Lemonade, in conversation with TheMarker journalist Yarden Ben Gal Hirshhorn
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12:15
Imparting Skills – From Theory to Practice
Einat Zinger Dan, CEO of Business Roundtable Israel and Head of the Zira Forum
Alon Barnea, VP of Development and Strategic Alliances at Afeka – the Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv
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12:25
Chagai Philipson
VP of Human Recources, Mekorot
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12:35
Dr. Ella Shachar
Senior Economist, Macroeconomics and Policy Department, Research Division, Bank of Israel
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12:45
Dr. Aya Soffer
VP of AI Technologies and Director of the Israel Research Lab at IBM, in conversation with TheMarker journalist Ruti Levy
Presenting the 2024 annual skills index
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13:00
Yarden Ben Gal Hirshhorn
TheMarker journalist
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13:15
Man Vs. Machine: What Skills are Needed in an AI-based World?
Prof. Anat Perry, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Sharon Yalov-Handzel, Head of the Graduate Program in Intelligent Systems at Afeka – the Academic College of Engineering in Tel Aviv
Miriam Shtilman, Partner at Tal Ventures
Moderator: Yarden Ben Gal Hirshhorn
- 13:45 LUNCH
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Skills&Tech
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