The Chaim Herzog Prize for the year 2019/2020 for a unique contribution to the State of Israel, is awarded in the presence of the President of the State of Israel, Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin; the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Itzhak (Buji) Herzog; the President of the Hebrew University, Prof. Asher Cohen, and the “Yad Chaim Herzog” Association to the businessman, technologies innovator and well-known Israeli investor Dr. Yossi Vardi, in appreciation for his great contribution in the area of coexistence and unity of the nation.  The Prize is awarded by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem jointly with the Yad Chaim Herzog Association every two years, on the anniversary of the death of the sixth President of the State of Israel, Chaim Herzog, z”l.  This year the Ceremony will be held in the President’s Home in a limited forum due to the outbreak of the corona virus in Israel.

The President of the State of Israel, Reuven (Rubi) Rivlin said in the Ceremony: the Israeli spirit is not tied only to commercial entrepreneurship, but also to responsibility for all, social involvement.  So also Yossi Vardi, whose contribution to Israeli innovation, during his days of public service is invaluable.  Congratulations on the receipt of the Herzog Prize.

The President of the Hebrew University, Prof. Asher Cohen, noted that Dr. Yossi Vardi worked for many years tirelessly for the promotion of technology and internet in Israel, to promote Israel from every possible global platform in these fields, and therefore he is deserving of every praise.  His breakthrough innovation changed the face of Israeli hi-tech and in every one of his positions he combined a social and educational viewpoint.  I was pleased to hear that he was chosen to receive the Herzog Prize for 2019/2020.

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Itzhak (Buji) Herzog: “The State of Israel was built and continues to be built thanks to people like Dr. Yossi Vardi.  From among the founding fathers of the Israeli hi-tech which turned Israel into a global high-tech power, an entrepreneur and investor who contributed to the economic building of the State of Israel and a man of vision and deed who educated generations for innovation and daring.  The tractate of my Father’s life, Chaim Herzog, the sixth President of the State of Israel, encompassed many fields of activity, including a significant chapter on the establishment of sophisticated industries who became the basis for the vision of Yossi Vardi and we are very proud of the decision of the Prize Committee and the Hebrew University to honor Yossi Vardi for his life’s work.”

Dr. Yossi Vardi, who is termed in the media as “the guru of the Israeli internet” and “the father of Israeli hi-tech exits”, invested and assisted in establishment and success of over 85 companies in the fields of software, energy, internet, mobile phones, electro-optics, and more.  Among the companies that he was involved in their establishment one can find the most advanced technologies, Delek Alon, Granit Hacarmel, Internal Laser Technologies and Ormit.  Furthermore, he was involved in many companies that sold to the technological giants including the answers.com company which was sold to ACVF, the Gteko Company that was sold to Microsoft, the Tivella company that was sold to Cisco, the Gifts Project Company that was sold to eBay, the FoxyTunes company that was sold to Yahoo.  Yossi also advised the head of AOL and the Director General of Amazon.

At the beginning of his career Dr. Vardi held a series of senior positions in the government service and included is his appointment in 1993 by the then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, z”l, to serve as economic cooperation adviser with the Arab counties Jordan, Egypt and Syria.  He even established the by-national fund for research and development with the United States, served as Israeli Chairman of the commercial dialogue with the European Common Market, he was a member of the global economic forum in Davos, and served as joint chair of conferences on matters of technology, entrepreneurship and creativity in Israel and abroad.  In the course of his public life, Dr. Vardi served as a member of the Hebrew University’s Board of Governors, the Open University and the Weizmann Institute, in addition to his position as Chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation.  Today he serves on the Board of Governors of the Technion.