EcoMotion 2021 Emerges in Hybrid Form

Last month, EcoMotion 2021 once again took place in Israel – this time as a hybrid event. As with previous years, it bought together the world’s leading companies pioneering in the Smart Mobility field. Originally designed to help create opportunities to connect and learn, there were hundreds of startups, investors, industry leaders, policy makers and more attending both virtually and exhibiting live on their platform.

This year’s hybrid event was a non-profit joint venture of the Israel Innovation Institute, the Smart Mobility​ Initiative (Prime Minister's Office), the Ministry of Economy, and the Israeli Automotive & High-tech industries. Sponsored by around 80 partners, it was headed up by Diamond sponsors VDA and Netivei Israel. 

Virtual attendees had the opportunity to network and knowledge share with the world’s leading companies in the smart mobility sector, listen to talks of experts in the field, watch live demos, and explore new global markets. For the first time, EcoMotion week hosted 2 exhibitions - one for startups divided into the 5 sectors and the other for community organizations like industry, investors, government & municipalities, academy and innovation enablers.

HARMAN was first represented by Senior Director of Product & Business Development for OTA and Cybersecurity, Hadas Topor Cohen. She took part in a virtual panel session titled ‘Bringing Connectivity to the Next Level’ and was joined by Automotive Specialists Dr. Dominique Feckmann from TE Connectivity and Gideon Kedem from Valens.

The speakers on the virtual panel discussion addressed 5G and the role it serves in V2X, electric vehicles and the future of infotainment and connectivity. The new Experiences Per Mile (EPM) space was also addressed and a discussion took place on how it will help accelerate the movement of the car to a “third living space.” Hadas addressed how 5G will become critical to realizing the future. With enhanced connectivity and our eventual autonomous landscape, it will be possible to unlock the ability to focus on the experience within the vehicle.

The HARMAN speaking engagements continued Thursday May 20th when Michal Geva, GM & VP, OTA & Cybersecurity who hosted one of the week’s exclusive workshops. Taking part in these workshops were a small exclusive group of mobility professionals. Designed for open conversation, their focus was to define real challenges and opportunities around a specific topic. The title for Michel’s workshop was ‘From Proof of Concept (POC) to a Multi-Million Dollar Deal.’ Joined by Iris Pappo from Shibolet & Co, both speakers approached the subject conversation from both a business and a legal standpoint.

• The POC - ‘A springboard to a commercial deal’
• Negotiating a commercial deal
• The Triangle (OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2)​

Michel’s key highlights included sharing her vast experience at HARMAN working in the automotive space, working with various ecosystem partners and understanding the marketplace. She also stressed the importance of thinking ahead and that winning a POC is not always the end goal.

For HARMAN who took a Bronze partner role this year – its Israel site office in Hod Hasharon is of particular importance to the Israel market and the work it does with local OEMs. In 2019, HARMAN was a Gold Partner at the EcoMotion LIVE event and had a major company presence with a Maserati demo with HARMAN products and services included. To support the EcoMotion week, they also held a local Tech Day event at their office location.

The importance of OTA software in this day in age links strongly to HARMAN. OTA continues to gain traction and is in the field with over 50 million vehicles. We are in a leading position and working alongside companies on the Top 10 OEM list.​