Beersheba evolves into Israeli tech powerhouse
With financial benefits, investment in infrastructure and a vibrant university, Israel's southern city of Beersheba is swiftly becoming a hub for both international and local high tech companies.
There has been enormous change in Beersheba, a southern Israeli city that was once best known for poverty and other socioeconomic problems.
Eight years ago, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked on the "human capital" of the south, saying, "For the first time there’s immigration to the Negev. This is changing its character. Beersheba will be the cyber capital of the eastern hemisphere.”
That forecast is now being realized, though the Israel Defense Forces’ cyber intelligence headquarters have not yet moved to the Negev. But the move to Beersheba is expected in 2028 and bulldozers started breaking ground in December.
Even without the new bases, Beersheba is already powered by IDF veterans and graduates of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (which has grown from 5,000 to 20,000 students in the past decade). The secondary school system is strong in tech as well and in 2021, 500 high school students studied technology and cybertechnology, more than any other concentration.
