BY ELODIE ESPANET & SABINE CHAILLAS
Day 5
Hello ! שלום
Safe travel back to France after one intense week ! We are very proud to announce you the winners team of the Hackathon: Clémence and Lorraine, congrats בְּרָכָה !
Their project “CtrlFVideo” will be financed by the Mandel Foundation and other event sponsors to be part of their future path towards innovation!
The GYLP team hopes to give you more news very soon and wishes you the best!
Day 4
Shalom, shalom,
A bit late, because most of us spent the night at the hackathon, we are going to tell you #GYLP story.
Yesterday morning, we left the hotel very early in order to meet our new Israeli friends. Indeed at 10 am, began the first Hackathon of University of Negev, where Skema students were invited.
As a first day of school year, very excited, we met new friends to build a team. Learning network application, collaborative services application, lunch saving time application and so on…. We all thought about how to practically improve student life and the learning experience.
No time to lose, computers ready, brainstorming started, we all developed our ideas in teams before the lunch. As a real project, the team had to be well-organized and tasks needed to be monitored. When working with BGU students, after completing the requirement list, we split tasks between development, coding (BGU) and marketing, communication (Skema). Eventually at the end of the day, we would end up with functional applications or websites.
Fortunately, we had break times all day (& night !) long to gain strengths with falafels, sweeties and a lot of coffee! As well, Zumba in the middle of the night was a great mean to peace project excitation. If you have never experienced it, it’s high time to register to the next GYLP project !
Half of us are flying today. =( The others have two days left to enjoy Israeli marvels. =)
Toda raba, llehitraott békarovl Israel, we will miss you !
~ To be continued ~
Day 3
Day 3 Shalom! You couldn’t wait to hear from us, here we are! In the morning, we drove to the Nazareth industrial park, a beautifully designed complex of 14 thousand sqm overlooking the dramatic views of Mount Precipice, the city of Nazareth and the Jezreel Valley. There, we met Hani, the Software Development Manager of AMDOCS Technology, a dynamic company specialized in telecommunications CRM.
Here, it is interesting to see how diversity in the workplace can lead to productivity. Indeed, more than five different religions work together every day - Jewish, Christians, Muslims, Druzes and Circassians. As they share the same “holy days”, they can work 24/7. Moreover, there is a substantial advantage: there is no day without celebrating something.
On our way to Microsoft Nazareth, we were impressed by the view of the Basilica of the Annunciation. Later, we were warmly welcome by Microsoft Nazareth. Thank you for letting us experience the lunch break of a Microsoft employee playing in the living room!
Back to Tel-Aviv, we were introduced to a manager of Checkpoint. The leading specialists of cyber-security have developed hi-tech tools to detect hacking in systems. Did you know that hacking an iPhone on the iCloud only costs about $200?
Eventually we met the Institut Français for a talk about doing business in Israel. We also got the view from the association Maala, that rates companies in terms of corporate social responsibility. Thank you Jill and Ravit for the pizzas! ;)
We can’t wait for tomorrow first day of hackathon!
~ To be continued ~
Day 2
A good day is a day that starts with a good breakfast. We left our Leonardo Hotel in Beer Sheva around 9am with no push-up of anyone this time.
The Intel premises are in the middle of the desert. One of the employees who has been working there for more than 17 years showed and explained to us the concept of the “clean room”, a dedicated room used for the manufacturing of micro-processors. It’s a pity that we didn’t bring any processor with us!
After the IT industry, we discovered the petrochemical industry. On the eco industrial park, we felt as on the beach: sunshine and smell of the sea. Indeed, they used to recycle water from close areas. After we visited the Adama site. The park looks like a city with its own municipality.
Then, it was high time to discover the cradle of civilizations. We took a stroll in the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim neighborhoods with a nice guide. Dome of the Rock, Wailing wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre: everybody got satisfied!
Just a few minutes to buy some souvenirs: red luck bracelets, pictures from a rooftop,.. Fortunately, all souvenirs are kept in our eyes & hearts.
On our way to Tel-Aviv, we got ready to party with some typical foods: falafel, shawarma, and nice songs from Manon, Greg, Benjamin,… (almost ready for The Voice ;) ). Tel-Aviv habibi! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMQw29nfzpg
Can’t wait to meet the people from Microsoft tomorrow!
~ To be continued ~
Day 1
For our first Negev desert expedition, we started by an amazing breakfast and then we never stopped eating. Israelian breakfast is a blessing: fresh lemonade, vegetables and cheese among others! At 9h10 (a bit late!), we left the hotel… with a forfeit of push-ups by Mister Greg!
We were very well welcome before starting the presentations of Incubit, Dell-EMC, Wix, Center for Digital Innovation (CDI), and Dalet. Founders & top-managers shared their experience with us. We enjoyed our time. They told us that failure is not a big deal because as the founder of XTRMX told us: “it’s always better at the second time.” Don’t worry, trial and error are part of the game! ;)
In the afternoon, we took some fresh air and got tanned with a tour of Ben-Gurion University (BGU), named after the first Prime Minister in Israel. This is HUGE (20 000 students on campus!) and despite students have an original shoe style, a mix between UGGs and farmer boots, the university is recognized for being the third best scientific university in Israel.
We then gathered in an amphitheater to meet the Social Leadership MBA students of BGU whom program director is the famous Pierre KLETZ, former teacher at SKEMA. It was good fun and we can’t wait to see the result of the group photo!
Because definitely today was not a “weight watchers” day, we ended up with a feast with the MBA students and another meeting with the hackathon students.
We can’t wait for tomorrow’s adventures!
~ To be continued ~
