The Platform

Bringing entrepreneurship and innovation to areas in need

As urban populations grow, cities around the world are facing growing challenges. Cultivating local innovation and connecting innovators with city-makers can help find solutions to urban and social challenges which can also be applied globally. The challenges facing residents in Neve Shaanan include overcrowding, lack of personal safety, infrastructure deterioration, sanitation,employment, social inclusion, personal safety, and education. In an area that can house 7,000 people over 30,000 are currently living, causing overcrowding and tensions.

The Platform is an entrepreneurship center in Neve Shaanan that offers training courses for local residents on building a business, financial literacy, and technology, as well as practical workshops to provide tools for developing entrepreneurship. Empowering people with these skills can help to address many aspects of the challenges of social inclusion, employment and welfare.

The Platform also hosts an international accelerator at the forefront of urban innovation which brings top innovators and start-ups together with the Municipality to develop solutions to the urban and social challenges.In one of these sessions, the accelerator works with startups in the fields of education, community, and welfare. These startups are connected directly to leading managers in the Municipality so that they gain access to municipal information and develop pilots together with the city. The meeting point of these different entrepreneurs and residents is in the shared working space in the Platform where synergies and collaborations are developed.