A ceremony was held by the companies Synergy7 and InNegev in memory of Sergeant Major (res.) Adam Bismut, founder and CEO of the Sightbit startup, who fell in the Gaza Strip. former science and technology minister Izhar Shay, who lost his son Yaron on the first day of the war also attended.
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The companies unveiled their technological commemoration project, Next October. The goal is to recruit 1,500 startup companies (500 have been recruited so far), each of which will commemorate a fallen soldier or victim of the War.
"This is a national initiative to commemorate nearly 1,500 casualties of the October 7 massacre, including about 500 IDF soldiers," Shai said. "We thought about this project during the seven days of mourning for our son, Yaron. There is such a beautiful custom in Judaism to plant a tree in memory of the fallen or deceased, so we thought to establish startup companies for each of the fallen and from there we expanded to all the victims of this difficult war," he said.
"The project is called 'Next October,' which implies optimism. Next October must be better, and the one after that even better, and so on. So, we are introducing a bit of optimism, a hint of Israeli resilience, and entrepreneurship for a project with the goal to connect about 1,500 innovative Israeli startup companies to the 1,500 fallen victims," Shai said.
"Along the way, these 1,500 startups mean 1,500 places that would create job opportunities, generate income for the State of Israel, generate taxes, and all sorts of other good things that happen in the hi-tech industry, and that is also a correct national response. They came to destroy, to kill, to terrorize, to rape, to plunder; we create innovation, we create a better world instead of ruin," Shai concluded.
Shai Bismut, the wife of Adam Bismut, who was also an entrepreneur before his death, commented on the event and the exciting project: "I think, both from the national and the personal perspective following the terrible destruction and losses we have experienced since October 7, one can see true growth stemming from this crisis that is still ongoing in the Next October project."
What can you tell us about Adam the entrepreneur?
"Adam founded Sightbit, that's the name of his startup, which actually developed some unique patent involving visuals in water environments. It's harder to identify hazards in water, which are more complex, in large bodies of water like the sea, rivers. The goal is actually to identify expected hazards before they occur. In essence, if a person swims too slowly and appears exhausted, then the system alerts of certain currents in the sea, all sorts of dangers."
"The system is operational today, they have international connections with eight different countries. Adam founded and established the company, and unfortunately, he will no longer be able to enjoy its development."
We understand that Adam was also a social entrepreneur, involved in many social activities
"Adam actually came from the field of education. He was really active in these worlds, whether in establishing a youth club on behalf of the Scouts, before his academic studies and later participating in the Desert Stars program for leadership in Bedouin society in the Negev. For him, people were the most important thing. It was natural when he made the transition to the business world. Even then, the idea was related to people, to saving people, and as I said, to life," she said.
Izhar, as a venture capitalist, is Adam someone you can relate to as an entrepreneur?
"Absolutely, and I miss him even though I never met him. And that's exactly the point of these connections in Next October. Ultimately, when I talk to an audience about the initiative, I tell them a little about our Yaron, how much of a leader he was and how he loved music and sports, and I say this is one story out of 1,500 stories of 1,500 people we lost, each of them was a world unto itself just like we hear here about Adam," he said.
"They are victims of the greatest disaster we have experienced in the history of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the greatest disaster of the State of Israel, and they fell here because they were Israeli citizens who lived their lives here and were part of our struggle for existence. Each and every one of them deserves to be remembered as they were, and we will build a strong economy here and show the world that we will not surrender to anything," he added.