Berghof Analytics + Environmental Engineering and six other companies participated in a four-day delegation trip to Israel in May 2017. Managing director Bernd Kapp and Andreas Sonntag, Head of the business unit Environmental Engineering, represented Berghof at the event. SBS travel consultants organized the trip in cooperation with the German-Israeli Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as part of the new markets program for SMEs. The goal is to support German companies in entering new markets in Israel.
In this case, the focus was on German companies specialized in the disposal and recycling of contaminated soil. The German delegation comprised representatives in consulting and expert services, full-service suppliers and plant construction companies.
The need for new housing is steadily increasing in Israel. The population has expanded continually over the past 15 years and is now about 8.5 million on an area about the size of the German state of Hessen. To meet the demand for housing, a former military base is being reclaimed to create new building surface area. The ground in such areas is often very contaminated and the ground water partially polluted.
The Israeli government wants to work with international companies because its national companies often lack needed capacity and it wants to bundle existing know-how. Its ambitious goal is to create habitable surface area for about 100,000 housing units in the next five to six years.
The four-day event was a tight program for participating companies. It provided many opportunities for networking with Israeli engineering offices and other interesting prospective contacts. The agenda included a visit to the Israeli Environment Ministry and a meeting with the disposal company Environmental Services Company (ESC) that has a federal contract for ground soil reclamation in Israel. The Israelis were particularly interested in Berghof’s Thermoflow Meter in the specialty area of measuring technology.
Bernd Kapp said, referring to the event, “Delegation trips of this type of constellation are very interesting for Berghof.” This event was a first for Berghof Analytics + Environmental Engineering. “You basically get an entry ticket to international markets and benefit from a very well prepared and pre-selected network.”
The next few weeks will show whether or not further meetings with the new contacts will ensue and whether a cooperation in Israel will actually come about.
