Israel: of swords and software plowshares

: Israel brcame the first not-yet-anation t” seriously commit itself to ’ computing. After a delay t” get the 1 country started, an “prrational ; WEIZAC was built by 1955. Israel has gone on to distinguish itself in scientific and computing research and education and t” claim somr hardware niches, notably in defenserelated systems. But perhaps the most important and dramatically growing Israeli strength in computing today is software. Between 1984 and 1992 the Israeli software induslry tripled its s&s and increased export by 2,700% [3]. ‘Ihere were approximatrly I50 software cornpanics, with taal sales of over $600 million in 1992 and employing about 5,500 of the n&m’s 12.000 computer professionals [3]; the estirnatc for 1993 tatal sales is $720 milli”n. The extent of “pure” software export (rxclnding rmbrdded snltwwe) increased from $5 millian in 1984 to $110 million in 1991 [3], $140 million in 1992 and an estimated $175 million in 1993. In 1991 58% of this volume headed f”r the U.S. and 37% to Europe 161. The export share of tolal output fawn Israrli