The Australian government’s initiative to encourage start-ups with better creative “innovation landing pad” has taken pace with Israel’s Tel Aviv becoming the first spot.

Last week, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Innovation Minister Christopher Pyne announced the emphasis on the "ideas boom" strategy with a planned investment of around $1.1 billion. Israel is a destination that provides a creative platform for business start-ups to raise billions in capital. It is a country with a population of eight million people but still ranks third highest when it comes to its companies listed on NASDAQ stock exchange in New York.

The decision taken by the federal government has provided Tel Aviv an equal position shared by Silicon Valley. “We in Australia have watched Israel’s economy rise from an economy primarily based on agriculture and traditional manufacturing sector to a technologically advanced nation,” Pyne addressed a lunch party full of CEOs of some promising entrepreneurs in Israel at Tel Aviv this week.

“It has been nothing short of meteoric. I’m here because our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said ‘Israel is where you have to go.’” Pyne added that Australia has many things to learn from the small country, which would definitely help Australian start-ups to gain valuable tech-savvy knowledge and establish advanced business houses.

The innovation landing pad announcement was made under the Global Innovation Strategy worth $36 million initiated by the Australian government. “The government’s landing pads will be a physical space for Australians looking to undertake entrepreneurial activity in that location with advice, facilities and contacts, putting them in the best position to succeed,” the statement says.

“Australia is one of the only leading innovation countries without established landing pads in key economies around the world.”

Even before holding the PM’s position in September, Turnbull told Jewish Journal in August that he wasn’t aware of any nation having better relations with Israel. Hence, he would like to promote the Australia-Israel relationship, mostly relating to science and technology.

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