AN INDEPENDENT SCOTLAND WOULD NEED TO IMITATE ISRAEL TO BECOME A START-UP NATION, a technological innovative country - Meanwhile the Church of Scotland furiously delegitimizes Israel and Judaism

 By Jessica Griggs, New Scientist

 

On 18 September, the people of Scotland will vote on whether their country should become independent of the UK. This article is part of our "Four futures for an independent Scotland" special report, looking at the choices a newly independent Scotland could make

 

Edinburgh, Scotland's bustling and aspiring capital, has dubbed itself the Athens of the North. If Scotland gets independence, the new government should instead consider looking across the Mediterranean Sea, to Israel, for some high-tech inspiration.

 

Israel's nickname is the Start-Up Nation, thanks to a 2009 book of the same name that explored how a small country with 7 million people became a global player in the tech scene. Today, Israel is thought to boast the highest number of start-up companies per person in the world.

So could Scotland follow Israel's example?

Scotland has fewer people – about 5.3 million – but it already has the start of a healthy tech scene. In 2006, Edinburgh had just three incubators – offices where start-ups can rent desk space, network and hold workshops. Now there are 17. Glasgow is not far behind. "It's a pretty vibrant environment," says Danny Helson of Informatics Ventures, an Edinburgh-based programme that fosters innovation and entrepreneurship across Scotland.

 

Read more

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25639-scotland-ape-israel-to-build-a-startup-nation.html?full=true#.U4v2icoU-M8

 

 

RELATED

 

They admire Israel's economic achievements,

but they hate Israel and the Jews

 

Gerald Steinberg, head of the leading watchdog group 'NGO Monitor,' has accused international governments of funding anti-Semitic NGOs in an interview at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem.

 

Recently, the Church of Scotland came under wide scrutiny from Jewish groups over its report entitled “The Inheritance of Abraham,” for the report’s questioning of Israel’s legitimacy and the biblical Jewish connection to the land of Israel. 

 

“They own a major hotel in Tiberias, they run a hospice in Jerusalem—this is an organisation which is accepted in Israel as legitimate,” Steinberg said. “And yet they are classical anti-Semites in this document.”

Read more
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3704/leading_ngo_watchdog_identifies_anti_semitic_funding_sources_and_points_finger_at_church_of_Scotland

NGO Monitor

http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=1313cards

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