Mideast trade mission puts spotlight on Utah companies doing business in Israel

A recent governor-led trade mission to Israel featured three companies as examples of doing business with that nation.

GlobalSim, Intermountain Healthcare and Peel Therapeutics shared their international business experiences with the Utah delegation on the trip, which also included stops in Jordan. Nineteen companies and organizations participated.

“The purpose of this trade mission is to facilitate connections between Utah companies and Israel,” said Derek B. Miller, president and chief executive officer of World Trade Center Utah. “Expanding globally makes Utah companies more successful and grows Utah’s economy. GlobalSim, Intermountain Healthcare and Peel Therapeutics are examples to other Utah companies of how beneficial global connections can be.”

The delegation, led by Gov. Gary Herbert, visited the Ashdod Port in Israel, where GlobalSim’s premium simulator is used to train crane operators how to lift containers from a ship and move them to a truck or stack them on the ground. The crane operators move crates containing millions of dollars in products daily, so utilizing a simulator to train the operators helps mitigates risk and increases output. 

 Almost half of GlobalSim’s business is outside the United States. The simulators are used in more than a dozen countries on five continents. The Ashdod Port, Israel’s largest sea port, has been in operation since 1965 and is a major gateway for getting goods into and out of the country.

“The trade mission has been helpful in connecting GlobalSim with new potential opportunities in both Jordan and Israel,” said Jonathan McCurdy, GlobalSim’s president. “It also provided an opportunity to network with other Utah-based businesses. Sometimes you have to travel halfway around the world to get to know your neighbors.”

Intermountain’s also participated in a trade mission to Israel in 2013.

“During the 2013 trade mission, two of my colleagues and I gained an appreciation for the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit existent in Israel and established a number of invaluable relationships,” said Bert Zimmerli, Intermountain’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

“These relationships have been nurtured and have resulted in several established business relationships that we expect will ultimately result in improved healthcare for patients served by Intermountain Healthcare. Specifically, these relationships are with Zebra Medical and TriVentures. I fully expect that additional relationships established on this trip will bear similar results, including creating good new jobs in Utah.”

Peel Therapeutics is a Utah-Israeli biotech startup that is developing a cancer-fighting drug utilizing research into the natural cancer-fighting protein found in elephants. Dr. Joshua Schiffman from the University of Utah combined technologies with Dr. Avi Schroeder from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to co-found their startup to produce a drug that may play an important role in treating and preventing cancer in the future. “Peel” is the Hebrew word for elephant.

Since signing a free trade agreement in 1985, U.S.-Israel trade has grown eight-fold and nearly all trade tariffs have been removed. Some of Utah’s top exports to Israel include computer and electronic products, machinery and transportation equipment.

The trade mission to Israel was supported by World Trade Center Utah, the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Zions Bank, U.S. Commercial Service and the U.S. Small Business Administration.