Yossi Vardi, an Israeli entrepreneur, thinks the technology industry should do more to address social problems“If you print this, I will kill you.” Yossi Vardi, a veteran Israeli entrepreneur and venture investor, says it politely, but this is clearly not one of his many jokes. Nor is he trying to protect the top-secret business model of one of the dozens of start-ups he is advising or has financed. He simply hates to appear boastful about a social project to which he donates time and money. “This is more important than any of my start-ups,” he explains. “Making it public would devalue what I’m doing here.” To prevent loss of life — and to protect a deserving project — the secret will not be revealed. But the anecdote is telling. Mr Vardi has long been Israel’s most famous technologist. He is known for having helped build the country’s high-tech industry, and for selling ICQ, an instant-messaging service, to America Online in 1998 for more than $400m. Now his aim is to become the industry’s conscience. His message: only a happy few are benefiting from Israel’s amazing high-tech boom. “We have become two countries: a high-tech one with few children and very high incomes, and a poor one with lots of kids,” he says.
http://economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10425170