T HE
PROMISED
L A ND
B.C. IS BUILDING BUSINESS TIES WITH ISRAEL, WHOSE
EXPAT PRESENCE HERE KEEPS RISING. CAN THE MIDDLE
EASTERN COUNTRY'S VAUNTED CULTURE OF INNOVATION
HELP OUR ECONOMY GROW AND DIVERSIFY?
b y N G W E N G H O O N G
p o r t r a i t b y A D A M B L A S B E R G
S
40 BCBUSINESS APRIL 2019
TEAM PLAYER
Bill Barrable heads
the Rick Hansen
Institute, which is
working with Israeli
researchers to
create products for
patients with spinal
cord injuries
ince independence in 1948, Israel has trans-
formed parts of the harsh Negev Desert that occupies more than
half of the country into forests and farms to grow food crops and
even sh. But it would require a combination of Einsteinian imagi-
nation and risk-taking to turn today's parched economic landscape
between B.C. and Israel into fertile ground for innovation, invest-
ment and trade.
In 2017, Canada's bilateral trade with Israel was worth $1.7 bil-
lion, according to Statistics Canada—just 0.15 percent of the former's
$1.12-trillion global trade total. B.C.'s share of the Israel portion is so
microscopic that provincial government statistics don't mention it.
But numbers don't tell the full story. Beneath that trade desert,
o‰cials from both countries are working with businesspeople, aca-
demics, scientists and technologists to help build the foundation for
B.C.'s future economy.
"We don't look at the trade numbers as a matrix to measure the
success of our projects," says Bill Barrable,
CEO of the Rick Hansen
Institute (RHI),
the Vancouver-based spinal cord injury research and
care centre. As part of a groundbreaking alliance with Hebrew Uni-
versity of Jerusalem in 2017, the non-prot has begun focusing on
developing commercially viable products to help people with spinal
cord injuries (
SCI).
