The Israel Advanced Technology Industries opened MIXiii Health-Tech.IL 2026 in Jerusalem on Monday, bringing roughly 1,800 participants and representatives from more than 40 countries to the International Convention Center, organizers said. The annual conference, led by IATI CEO and President Karin Mayer Rubinstein, is one of Israel's central gatherings for the life sciences, biomedical and health-tech sectors — a reminder that even as the region remains locked in conflict, Israel's innovation economy continues to attract global capital and scientific collaboration.
Doctors, ambassadors, investors, fund representatives, startup executives, senior development professionals and engineers from Israel and abroad attended the event, which organizers described as the largest biomedical industry conference in the Middle East. The opening event was held in the presence of Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion; Mark Sabag, executive vice president, International Markets Commercial at Teva; Orit Efrati, chairwoman of Shenkar's Board of Governors; India's Ambassador to Israel Jitender Pal Singh; and Yossi Ofek, CEO of Teva Israel. The conference was produced by Stier Group.
Investment and Innovation Amid Conflict
This year's conference is being held under the banner of investment, with more than 60 investors and 30 venture capital funds from around the world participating, according to organizers. The agenda includes emergency medicine, a field that has taken on added importance due to recent wars and battlefield experience; tech-bio; healthcare venture building; home care and remote monitoring; emerging technologies from Israeli academia; and innovation in ophthalmology.
Mayer Rubinstein said the Israeli high-tech sector, including the biomed industry, is operating today in a complex and challenging environment. She said that alongside the security reality, geopolitical uncertainty and economic challenges, it's also dealing with significant global changes, led by the rapid development of artificial intelligence. Despite those challenges, she said, Israeli high-tech remains a central growth engine for the country's economy, continues to attract investors and international companies, and has repeatedly proven its resilience and ability to adapt.
Bridging Research and Commerce
One of the conference's main additions this year is the first IATI TTOs Pitch Session, which brings technology transfer organizations from leading Israeli research institutions, universities and hospitals to the stage. During the session, commercialization companies are presenting new life sciences and healthcare technologies to investors and venture capital representatives in an effort to strengthen the connection between Israeli research, the investment community and industry. Mayer Rubinstein said the conference was designed to help turn Israeli innovation into partnerships, investment, and commercial activity.
MIXiii Health-Tech.IL is a concrete expression of this strength, she said. Over two days in Jerusalem, hundreds of senior figures from the life sciences and digital health industries are meeting with investors, pharma companies, health systems, researchers, and decision-makers from Israel and around the world.
In a separate event hosted by the Jerusalem Development Authority, five biomed startups presented their developments after being selected from roughly 300 biomedical companies operating in Jerusalem, organizers said. Among the participating companies was EMRIS Pharma, which develops treatments aimed at preventing skin toxicities caused by targeted cancer therapies. The companies presented their technologies to executives from leading biomed companies and investment funds from Israel and abroad.
For IATI, Mayer Rubinstein said, the conference is part of a broader year-round effort to strengthen Israel's position in the global innovation arena. Throughout the year, she said, the organization works to connect Israeli companies with investors and strategic partners, promote policy that supports industry growth, and expand international cooperation. Especially during this period, she said, it's important to continue telling the story of Israeli innovation to the world, strengthen investor confidence, and ensure that high-tech in general and life sciences in particular continue to serve as major growth engines for the Israeli economy in the years ahead.
Why This Matters:
Israel's health-tech sector represents one dimension of the country's economic strength — a strength built in part on state investment, military R&D spinoffs, and access to global capital that remains unavailable to Palestinians living under occupation in the West Bank and blockade in Gaza. The conference's focus on emergency medicine, shaped by recent battlefield experience, reflects how Israel's security challenges have become embedded in its commercial innovation. While Israeli startups pitch cancer treatments and remote monitoring systems to international investors in Jerusalem, Palestinian entrepreneurs face restricted movement, limited access to venture capital, and an economy constrained by decades of occupation. The contrast isn't incidental. It's structural. Israel's integration into the global innovation economy and the Palestinian economy's isolation are two sides of the same political reality — one that technology alone won't resolve.