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Netanyahu Touts Plans to Build a National Personalized Health System in Meeting with SAP CEO

The Israeli prime minister met with SAP CEO Bill McDermott in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum there

Sefi Krupsky 13:0226.01.18

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed a plan to build a national personalized health system in Israel during a Thursday meeting with Bill McDermott, CEO of multinational enterprise software company SAP SE. Mssers. Netanyahu and McDermott met in Davos, Switzerland during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum there.

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Mr. Netanyahu had offered Mr. McDermot to collaborate on the unnamed project, and Mr. McDermott accepted, as seen in video footage of the meeting, shared later that day by the Prime Minister’s Office.

SAP CEO Bill McDermott and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Photo: Amos Ben Gershom, GPO

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement saying that the new digital health project will be allocated a budget of $295 million (NIS 1 billion) over a five-year period, and that it would be submitted to the government for approval in the coming weeks.

In a post to his official Facebook page on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu discussed the meeting. “I revealed to the CEO of SAP, the largest software company in Europe and one of the largest in the world, a project that we are currently undertaking in the field of digital health,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “This is an initiative that I am promoting with the goal of creating another engine of growth for Israel. Israel is the world's pioneer in this field. I am happy to inform you that the revolution is on its way.”