Forbes and Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) Announce Winners of Hackathon To Promote Co-Existence

Four winning teams focused on innovation around food, mobility, smart cities as well as bridging regions

More than 150 of the most influential young entrepreneurs from around the world, as well as Israeli and Palestinian innovators participated in hackathon, capping off Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA with a service day in Jerusalem  

JERUSALEM (April 7, 2016) –  Forbes, in partnership with JVP, announced four winners of a hackathon designed to promote Co-Existence, held today at the JVP Media Quarter.  The winning teams included:   Smart Mobility – “Bridging Innovation Through Mobility: Air – The Sky Is Not The Limit;” Bridging Food Through Innovation “Food Compass;”  Creating Smart Cities Through Innovation “CityOS;” and Bridging Regions Through Innovation “DataBOX.”

With a mission of creating viable products or ideas that help change the world and promote Co-Existence, more than 150 top young entrepreneurs culled from the global ranks of the Forbes 30 Under 30 lists, as well as young Israeli and Palestinian innovators, came together for the last day – Service Day – of the five-day long Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Participants of the hackathon were divided into ten teams, under different themes ranging from music, mobility, health, food and sport to smart cities and shared economies.  Leading local entrepreneurs and mentors coached each team.  The winners will receive mentoring from JVP and may have the opportunity to present their ideas at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston, October 16-19.

“More than 150 amazing young entrepreneurs – Israelis and Palestinians and citizens of more than 20 countries — spent a day coming up with new ideas that will use technology to bridge divides,” said Randall Lane, editor of Forbes Magazine. “We’re thrilled that the winning teams may have the opportunity to come to Boston to pitch their ideas at the global Under 30 Summit in October.”

Judges for the hackathon included Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes magazine; Saul Singer, Co-Author, Start-Up Nation; Paul Steinberg, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Motorola Solutions; Professor Yuval Elovici, Director of Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, Ben-Gurion University; Zvi Ginosaur, the Chairman of the Board of Alyn Hospital in Jerusalem; and Fiona Darmon, COO and Partner, Jerusalem Venture Partners.

“We are excited to team up with the Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA for this exciting hackathon,” said Gadi Tirosh, Managing Partner, JVP. “It was a great opportunity to host game-changers from around the world together with top Israeli as well as Palestinian entrepreneurs to create big ideas bridging people and cultures. At JVP, we are always seeking new themes that can make a global impact. Today’s event may have just come up with that very thing.”

As part of Service Day, in addition to participating in a hackathon, Forbes 30 Under 30 honorees visited and mentored students at local junior high and high schools across East and West Jerusalem in Arab and Jewish areas, as well as institutions focused on the arts, music and culture.   

The Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA brought together more than 600 of the greatest young entrepreneurs and game changers from America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as culled from Forbes’ 30 Under 30 lists, for five days and nights of fostering world-changing ideas and collaboration.  Under the theme “Co-Investment, Co-Creation and Co-Existence,” innovators, inventors, mentors and investors focused on entrepreneurship and long-term, market-driven solutions to global problems, proving that growth is possible even in challenging times.

For more details on the Forbes Under 30 Summit EMEA, please visit http://www.forbesconferences.com/event/2016-forbes-under-30-summit-israel/.  On Twitter, follow #Under30Summit.

About Forbes Media

Forbes Media is a global media, branding and technology company with a focus on news and information about business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and affluent lifestyles. The company publishes Forbes, Forbes Asia and Forbes Europe magazines as well as Forbes.com. The Forbes brand today reaches 94 million people worldwide with its business message each month through its magazines and 37 licensed local editions around the globe, websites, TV, conferences, research, social and mobile platforms. Forbes Media’s brand extensions include conferences, real estate, education, financial services and technology license agreements.

About Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP)

Jerusalem Venture Partners (“JVP”) is an internationally renowned venture capital fund based in Israel. Established in 1993 by Member of Knesset, Dr. Erel Margalit, JVP has raised to date over $1 billion and has been ranked as one of the top-ten consistently performing VC firms in the world. JVP has built over 120 companies, leveraging a broad network of partners and market expertise to help companies to become global market leaders. JVP has enjoyed 29 notable exists – 12 IPOs and 17 M&As – the most recent being NASDAQ-listed CyberArk (NASDAQ: CYBR) and Altair Semiconductors recently sold to Sony Corporation. JVP’s investment focus includes cyber security, big data, enterprise software, storage, mobile, media and IoT. JVP invests in all stages, from seed to late stage transaction and is renowned for its hands-on approach and strong ties to a host of industry leading companies.

 

Media Contacts:

 

JVP, Pnina Ben Ami, Senior Director of Marketing, JVP, pnina@jvpvc.com   

 

GKPR (for Israel media), Matthew Krieger, matthew@gkpr.com,+972-544-676-950

 

Forbes Media, Laura Daunis, ldaunis@forbes.com, +1-212-367-4874

 

Hawthorn (for European media) – Rose Schreiber, rose.schreiber@hawthornlondon.com  

+44(0) 20-3745-4960

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