Civilian-Security Applications in Hi-Tech and the Security Industry—and the Implications of the October 7 Attack

In the framework of the special podcast in honor of the INSS 17th Annual International Conference, the podcast host Yaron Shneider meets with Yaron Ashkenazi, the founder and co-director of the Israeli–Canadian venture capital group Awz Ventures, which invests in promising companies in the fields of quantum, photonics, biosecurity, cyber, physical security, intelligence, and more. What led Yaron Ashkenazi, a veteran of the security establishment, to an extended mission abroad and later to join the worlds of knowledge, entrepreneurship, and the establishment of projects for developing civilian-security applications? What is the added value in creating such technological developments? What does the cooperation with the Directorate of Defense Research and Development and Israel’s security industries include? And how are these applications relevant to solving problems that arose in the October 7 attack and the war in Gaza, in both the civilian and security spheres?