Watch: Nir Barkat on Innovating Innovating

Nir Barkat started his career in the hi-tech industry by founding a software company called BRM in 1988, which specialized in antivirus software. Later, the company became an incubator venture firm that invested in several companies such as Check Point and Backweb. He later helped found the social investment company IVN, Israel Venture Network. Barkat has said that he has brought the skills he harnessed in his work in high-tech to his role as Mayor: “Now I see myself as a public entrepreneur, so it’s very methodological. We use data and information, and we scale successful pilot studies, using the same approach that I took with technology in the business world to change things in the city.”