The state of Israel today, cultivates the image of an innovation hub and an incubator of profitable ideas for venture capitalist investors and multinational corporations (Senor & Singer, 2009). In this lecture, based on a study of formal decisions, urban development plans, and a series of in-depth interviews, I will explore how national and municipal interest merge together to boost this image by comparing the urban development and renovation of the old port in the city of Tel-Aviv, and the new “Cyber-Park” at the city of Beer-Sheva (“Gav-Yam Negev”).
Based on a study of formal decisions and a series of in-depth interviews with leading figures in both private companies and public institutions, I will claim that the two sites could be perceived as evidence of the influence of classical Zionist narratives on nowadays national and municipal policy towards innovations and urban planning. Furthermore, I will explore the hypothesis that Israel as a state and as an imagined community, explicitly utilize “high-tech” MIT and “Silicon Valley” images and cultural visualization, packed in a "Zionist coat" and attached to current security and economic needs, for the advancement of its cyber high-tech policy in order to accommodate economical, security and legitimization needs.