Michigan Israel Business Accelerator

MIBA is an economic-development organization that connects Israeli innovation with Michigan industries. Its teams in Michigan and Israel facilitate curated connections through delegations, referrals, and events, with collaborations encompassing business expansions, import and export opportunities, grants and pilot programs, investments, and partnerships.[2]

The organization focuses on areas of shared economic strength, including mobility, defense, advanced manufacturing, food and agritech, sustainability technology, and health technology.[1] Its programs are intended to help Israeli companies enter or expand in Michigan while giving Michigan companies access to Israeli markets, technologies, and prospective business partners.[2][4]

MIBA was established in 2017 as a nonprofit organization focused on facilitating trade and innovation partnerships between the U.S. state of Michigan and Israel.[1] Its stated purpose is to serve as Michigan's lead for international trade between the two economies, creating economic opportunities and driving job creation through collaboration.[5]

The organization's history also includes an earlier initiative, the Michigan-Israel Business Bridge (MIBB), a nonprofit founded in 2007 to facilitate business and investment opportunities between Michigan and Israel for their mutual economic benefit.[6] MIBA's impact report states that the MIBB was created in 2007 and that, when MIBA was established in 2017, the Bridge agreed to sunset and transfer its assets to the new entity.[5]

The MIBB's early activities illustrated the bilateral economic rationale carried into MIBA's work: in the Bridge's first year of operation, it arranged a meeting between 16 Israeli auto-related companies and ten Michigan-based auto companies, an early signal of how Israeli technology companies might establish North American business centers in Michigan.[6]

MIBA describes curated business-to-business and business-to-government matchmaking as the heart of its work.[4] For Michigan companies seeking to access Israeli markets or technologies, the organization conducts an Israel market-sector analysis, identifies potential partners, and makes curated introductions to prospective customers.[4] On the Israeli side, MIBA works to attract startups and established companies to Michigan by connecting them with corporate enablers, professional resources, networking opportunities, and conferences.[1]

The complementarity between the two economies underpins the organization's strategy. MIBA CEO Scott Hiipakka described the logic directly: "Michigan is known for the ability to build things, its manufacturing prowess, and Israel is known for digitization and chutzpah — audacity. There is a big win in bringing these two leaders together."[7] This framing positions Michigan's industrial and manufacturing base alongside Israeli expertise in software, sensors, and digital systems as a naturally productive pairing.

MIBA hosts quarterly, sector-focused webinars to showcase Israeli innovation in Michigan and promotes companies through newsletters and other materials.[1] It has hosted delegations from Israel, arranging structured business meetings and business-to-business networking, and has brought more than 150 Michigan delegates to Israel since 2018 on trips that combine business meetings with exposure to Israeli culture, history, geopolitics, and the broader innovation ecosystem.[4]

The areas of Israeli-Michigan collaboration that MIBA facilitates span mobility, defense, advanced manufacturing, food and agritech, sustainability technology, and health technology.[1] The organization's Michigan partnerships include the FARM Incubator, the Industry 4.0 Accelerator, and a Health Tech Collaboration.[1]

Mobility has been a particularly prominent sector. MIBA helped connect Israeli mobility startup SafeMode to Michigan's ecosystem; in 2020 SafeMode was selected by PlanetM — the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's mobility initiative — to pilot its driver-centric platform in Lansing with Volvo Group and Transdev, supported by a reported $100,000 grant.[8] Earlier Israeli automotive-cybersecurity companies had also established Michigan presences: TowerSec, acquired by Harman in 2016, was based in Ann Arbor, and Karamba Security operated a Detroit office.[9]

In 2019, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's economic delegation to Israel — her first trade mission outside the United States — was hosted by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit in coordination with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and MIBA.[10] That same year, PlanetM partnered with MIBA and the Israel Innovation Authority to launch the Israel Michigan Autonomous Technologies Collaboration (IMATC).[10]

Also in 2019, the startupMICHIGAN.com platform — a free web resource featuring more than 300 Michigan startups, hubs, and funders — was created by Start-Up Nation Central and backed by MIBA.[11] The platform accompanied a memorandum of understanding between Michigan and Start-Up Nation Central to connect their innovation ecosystems and identify Israeli companies that could expand operations to Michigan.[11]

Agritech has emerged as a growing focus. In December 2024, MIBA hosted five Israeli agricultural-technology companies at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids, presenting at the expo's Innovation Row before an audience of more than 5,000 attendees, roughly 60 percent of whom were fruit and vegetable farmers.[12] The five companies — Agam Greenhouse Energy Systems, CropX, NESS Fertigation, Robotic Perception, and TierraSpec — showcased technologies including greenhouse climate management, soil-and-climate data applications, pest-reduction systems, and soil health mapping.[12] NESS Fertigation CEO Gai Boger described results from a Ministry of Agriculture test: "In our last test that we did with the Ministry of Agriculture in Israel, we have achieved an increase of yield by 60% in cucumbers while reducing fertilizer use by 20%."[12]

In the electric-vehicle infrastructure space, MIBA connected with Israeli wireless-charging company Electreon in 2020.[5] Subsequent collaboration involving MIBA, the Michigan Department of Transportation, and the State of Michigan led to a five-year agreement framework for scaling. Electreon, MDOT, and the City of Detroit completed installation in December 2023 of what MIBA's impact report describes as the nation's first public EV-charging roadway, located at Detroit's Michigan Central innovation district.[5]

In 2023, MIBA launched The Elevator in Detroit's Globe Building on East Fort Street in the city's Greektown area — described at launch as the first U.S. landing zone dedicated exclusively to Israeli startups.[1][13] The facility provides free co-working space, a U.S. mailing address, and connections to Michigan organizations, aimed at helping younger Israeli companies evaluate and enter the American market.[1]

Charter members at launch included GuardKnox, Fullpath, and SkillReal, with membership offered at no cost.[13] By the end of 2023, six Israeli technology companies had partnered with The Elevator and 361 individuals had taken part in its co-working space and events.[5] Fullpath, one of the charter members, used the space for its Michigan-based employees to meet in person, subsequently designated Detroit as one of its worldwide hubs, and added another team member in the Detroit area.[5]

As reported in 2023, MIBA had facilitated more than 2,000 connections between Israeli companies and Michigan partners and supported 51 collaborations bringing Israeli technologies and economic activity to the state — encompassing company expansions, pilot programs, and accelerator partnerships.[1] MIBA's "Who We Are" page reports over 4,500 Israeli and Michigan companies connected to date, along with more than $45 million in economic activity for Michigan, though the page cites both 90+ and 95+ as the number of collaborations facilitated.[2]

For 2023 specifically, MIBA's impact report records 1,218 Israeli and Michigan companies connected, 37 leaders facilitated to Israel, 15 Israeli companies hosted in Michigan, and 86 Michigan leaders welcomed to experience Israeli innovation, with approximately $7 million in economic activity generated for Michigan that year.[5]

Several figures associated with MIBA should be read with awareness of their sourcing. MIBA's own published materials contain minor internal inconsistencies: the organization's current website gives both 90+ and 95+ as the number of collaborations facilitated, and the 2023 impact report describes that year's economic activity as both $7.2 million and "over $7 million" in different sections.[2][5]

The available sources distinguish the Michigan-Israel Business Bridge from MIBA rather than giving conflicting founding dates. The Jewish Virtual Library identifies the MIBB as a nonprofit founded in 2007, while MIBA's impact report says MIBA was established in 2017 and that the Bridge agreed to sunset and transfer its assets to the new entity.[5][6] The report does not provide further legal or organizational detail about the transfer.

Broader cumulative figures — including the $45 million in total economic activity and claims about more than 100 Israeli companies landing in Michigan — have been stated publicly by MIBA's CEO and board chair, but without accompanying methodology or supporting breakdowns in the sources reviewed.[3]