Google co-founder lauds Israeli innovation in tech, environment

Google co-founder Sergey Brin on Thursday lauded Israeli innovations in technology and environmental efforts, saying Israel "takes our climate challenges very seriously."

Brin, visiting as a delegate to President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference, told Haaretz that these challenges have "great geopolitical ramifications on this country, in addition to environmental ones."

He noted that Israel's leading efforts in the field of sustainable energy, saying: "Obviously in Israel they need to innovate with water and things like that. I was really intrigued to see drip irrigation. I just realized that came out of Israel."

Brin gave particular attention to Israel's work in environmentally friendly transportation.

A prototype of the world's first fully electric car was demonstrated for the first time on Sunday in Tel Aviv, by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi.

Developers hope the car will revolutionize transportation in the country and serve as a pilot for the rest of the world. If all goes as planned, Israel will be the first country to have electric cars on its highways in large numbers in the next few years.

Brin also spoke about new projects ongoing at Google, including the "huge range of efforts" being made on mobile technology and the patience needed in the field.

"I think it takes a while to develop the technology, to develop, to educate advertisers about it," he said. "We have to bootstrap everything. our search based targeted ads took a number of years and people are expecting overnight that you work a miracle. It is a combination of technology, advertising networks, and user expectations. All those things have to come together and that takes time," he said.

During his visit, Brin toured Jewish sites, including the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Article courtesy of Haaretz
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