PLANET Connects
PLANET Connects is the flagship event of PLANETech Week 2026, bringing together global investors, industry leaders, startups, and ecosystem decision-makers for a focused morning of ideas, technology, and business opportunities.
Here is the finalized PLANET Connects 2026 agenda, with all updated session times, titles, speakers, and affiliations. I'll use this version as the reference for future speaker communications and event materials.
Main Event Agenda
Opening Remarks & Keynote
09:00 | Doors Open & Registration
09:30 | PLANETech - Rotem Trivizki, CEO
09:35 | Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Yael Ravia-Zadok, Ambassador, Deputy Director General, Head of Economic Division
09:45 | Israel Innovation Authority - Kerem Nevo, VP Growth Division
10:00 | Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality - Adi Tzabari, Vice President of Planning
10:10 | NetZero Tech Ventures - Shmuel Kedmi, CEO
10:20 | Keynote: Resilience- Elliott Parker, CEO, Alloy Partners
Panels & Conversations
10:30–11:15 | Diplomacy and Building Climate Tech Ecosystems as a Bridge to Israel
Raphael Morav, Ambassador for Economic Climate Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel (Panel Leader)
Tamar Zandberg, Former Minister of Environmental Protection, Israel; Director, National Institute for Climate and Environmental Policy, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Manoj (MJ) Jain, Chairman, Flat Globe Capital
Jeff Hart, Executive Chairman, Climate Solutions Prize
Eran Sandhaus, Managing Partner, J-Impact VC
11:20–11:35 | From Lab to Scale: CVC vs. VC for Climate Deep Tech
Anton Fiterman, VP Venture Investments and R&D, Ormat
Natalia Eisele, Partner, UnaTerra VC
11:35–11:50 | Beyond the Lab: Turning Radical Science into Global Companies
Yael Weisz Zilberman, VP, NetZero Tech Ventures
William (Bill) Liao, Venture Partner, SOSV
11:50–12:05 | The Trust Triangle: Carriers, Speedboats, and the Partner Between Them
Shai Nov, Cybersecurity Manager, Siemens Energy
Ron Tiberg-Shachar, Co-Founder & CEO, SaiFlow
12:05–12:20 | Building Climate Resilience: How Corporations Turn Innovation into Action
Galit Cohen, Israel Director, Jewish Climate Trust
Kathleen O'Brien, Senior VP of Innovation, Siemens Energy
12:20–12:35 | A Material Startup’s Journey to an Automotive OEM: A Case Study by Konnect and Voltcore
Hemdat Sagi, Managing Director, Konnect, Volkswagen Group Innovation
Vladimir Batkhin, Founder & CTO, Voltcore
12:35–13:05 | From Innovation to Scale: Advancing Desertification and Climate Resilience Solutions
Lior Yafe, Head of International Organizations, Israel Innovation Authority
Nigel Savage, CEO, Jewish Climate Trust
Shimon Rachmilevitch, Head of the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Carmit Oron, CEO, SaliCrop
Dan Grotsky, Chief Growth Officer, Groundwork BioAg
Expo & Networking
09:00–14:00 | Startup Expo
09:00–14:00 | B2B Meetings & Networking