The value of design in tech

Shenkar and Start-Up Nation Central

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about the report

Over the last few years researchers have recognized the critical role design plays in delivering business value to tech companies. Israel is world-renowned for being a leader in the fields of entrepreneurship and technological innovation, and Israeli startups are a critical driver of the country’s economic growth. For many years, however, Israeli startups grew on the basis of cutting-edge R&D, and most companies – even those that have successfully scaled – placed little emphasis on design. Shenkar and Start-Up Nation Central conducted the first study of its kind in Israel exploring the role of design in the Israeli high-tech ecosystem. More than 200 responses were received from senior level managers of high-tech companies, investors, and designers. This report aims to create a baseline understanding of the role of design in Israeli tech companies today, highlight how some companies are deeply integrating design into their business processes, and identify opportunities for how Israel can continue to build design capabilities and use them as a source for innovation and growth.

  • logo of Act Shenkar
  • logo of Jerusalem Where Tech Meets Design
  • logo of Start Up Nation Central
  • logo of Shenkar

Report Highlights

  • Figure 04:

    Design's contribution in addressing technological and business challenges

    graph data

    The report elaborates further on which challenges are best suited for design to play a role in addressing.

  • Figure 07:

    Average investors' view of design's importance on success factors (scale of 1 - 5)

    graph data

    Israeli investors regard design as a secondary factor versus other success factors such as quality of the team, product market fit and technological innovation. This contrasts with a years-long trend in the US where leading VCs have hired designers as “design partners” to support their portfolio companies.

  • Figure 04:

    Design's contribution in addressing technological and business challenges

    graph data

    The report elaborates further on which challenges are best suited for design to play a role in addressing.

  • Figure 07:

    Average investors' view of design's importance on success factors (scale of 1 - 5)

    graph data

    Israeli investors regard design as a secondary factor versus other success factors such as quality of the team, product market fit and technological innovation. This contrasts with a years-long trend in the US where leading VCs have hired designers as “design partners” to support their portfolio companies.

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  • I attribute most of my business success to design studies. Creative thinking teaches you to look for solutions to problems through unconventional thinking. A design mindset drives you to be skeptical and to challenge the status quo - and there's no better way than that when starting a new venture. My first recommendation to any entrepreneur is to partner up with a great designer.

    Shai Wininger | Co-Founder and CEO, Lemonade; Co-Founder, Fiverr

  • Even technology giants in Israel realize that after years of investing in technical capabilities, design is one of the fields that is important and directly responsible for success in the new era. They must invest in design, otherwise they will lose the market, no matter how powerful their engines are.

    Pazit Bar (Azubel) | Head of XDC – Experience Design Center, Amdocs

  • Challenges are collective, therefore design exists within the framework of multidisciplinary teamwork and so does the process of decision-making.

    ​​Alon Chitayat | Lead UX Designer for Growth, Waze/Google

  • Design demands an open mind for problem solving and that's one of the most important things over time: the ability to help organizations be flexible, deal with uncertainty and transformation, and to keep learning.

    Yosi Bercovich | Creative Director, Lightricks

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  • Start-up nation central

    Start-Up Nation Central is the address for corporations, governments, and investors to connect with the Israeli tech ecosystem. Start-Up Nation Central catalyzes growth opportunities by bringing Israeli tech innovation to global business and societal challenges. Established in 2013 and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, Start-Up Nation Central is a nonprofit organization funded by philanthropy.

    Start-up nation central

  • Shenkar - Engineering. Design. Art.

    Shenkar is one of the leading academic institutes in Israel, offering a unique interdisciplinary educational environment. The combination of engineering, design and art is the foundation of the institute's multidisciplinary approach, enabling the connection of technologies with contemporary art and design concepts together with Israel`s talents. Shenkar (est.1970) is a public higher education institute in Ramat-Gan, Israel.

    Shenkar - Engineering. Design. Art.

  • Tech Meets Design

    Led by Start-Up Nation Central, 'Tech Meets Design' bring together entrepreneurs from Jerusalem’s flourishing tech sector and its dynamic design community, to explore the nexus point between those two worlds. This series serves as a model for strengthening a city’s ecosystem by nurturing its design sector and fusing it with its tech sector.

    Tech Meets Design

  • ACT Shenkar

    ACT Shenkar supports the development of Shenkar members as influential entrepreneurs and innovation leaders, collaborating with leading academia and industry leaders across the fields of engineering, design & art, reinforcing the critical role of creativity in innovation

    ACT Shenkar

Team

Shenkar and Start-Up Nation Central teamed up to conduct this study to create the basis for an organized process of measurement and to give the design field a significant hold in the Israeli ecosystem and innovation framework in the coming years.

  • image of Tami Warshavski

    Tami Warshavski

    Research Initiation and Management

    Founder and Former Director of the Center for Innovation ACT, Shenkar

  • image of Dr. Yigal David

    Dr. Yigal David

    Engineering Faculty, Design Factory Shenkar

  • image of Uri Gabai

    Uri Gabai

    CEO Policy Institute, Start-Up Nation Central

  • image of Inbal Gottesman

    Inbal Gottesman

    Jerusalem Ecosystem Manager, Start-Up Nation Central

Steering Committee

This study could not have been executed without our esteemed Steering Committee:

  • Prof. Sheizaf Rafaeli

    President, Shenkar – Engineering. Design. Art.

  • Wendy Singer

    Executive Director, Start-Up Nation Central

  • Dr. Romi Mikulinsky

    Head of the Master of Design (Mdes) Program in Industrial Design, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem

  • Ben Benhorin

    Head of Digital Product Design, Visual Communication, Shenkar – Engineering. Design. Art.

  • Oded Barel-Sabag

    Head of Platform, fresh.fund

  • Eitan Sharif

    Adjunct Lecturer, Industrial Design Dept., Shenkar – Engineering. Design. Art.

  • Daniel Altman

    Chief Innovation Officer, ACT, Shenkar – Engineering. Design. Art.

View the full Report

To see more in-depth details of our findings, check out the full report here:

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