In Israel’s Negev desert, far from the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv, the town of Yeruham hopes to cultivate an international reputation as the country’s medical cannabis technology powerhouse.
Dozens of start-ups are working on medical cannabis in Israel, where new legislation is expected to lead to further market growth in the fast-expanding sector.
Some believe that cannabis could help Yeruham tackle unemployment among its 12,000 residents, with initial efforts being led by a firm called CanNegev, an incubator that is fostering four start-ups and is Israel’s first medical cannabis technology incubator.
“We have decided to make medical cannabis the heart of our activity in Yeruham, one of the most peripheral towns in Israel — a forgotten city,” CanNegev founder Zvi Bet Or said.
He discovered a receptive audience in Tal Ohana, elected in 2018 to be Yeruham’s first female mayor.
“My dream is to make Yeruham the capital of medical cannabis in Israel,” Ohana said.
“It’s not every day that a new market is born” in the country, the 37-year-old added. “I told myself I have to do everything to be at the avant-garde of science and technology in this field.”
CanNegev’s modern building, facing the desert sands, stands out almost like a mirage, a symbol of the hoped-for future in the town whose stuccoed blocks of social housing were built in the 1950s for newly arrived immigrants.
However, Yeruham is part of an economic priority zone that offers concessions to firms willing to set up there.
Ohana said the cannabis tech sector could transform the image of her town and bring down its persistently high unemployment, which is about 8 percent.
“My goal is to create quality jobs” and to offer high incomes to attract a new population of workers, she said.
About 100 start-ups are working on cannabis, Israel Innovation Authority chief technology officer Dana Gourevich said, adding that one-quarter of those companies were founded in a single year, 2019.
“The medical cannabis ecosystem has received US$60 million in investments in recent years,” Gourevich said.
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