NorthStar Women in Deep-Tech
NorthStar Women in Deep-Tech opens a path into technology roles in deep-tech companies for women in the North who hold advanced degrees. It pairs the knowledge and experience they already have with today’s AI tools, and supports them with a community of women, mentors, and hands-on experience inside the industry.
Who the program is for
Women who hold a master’s degree or higher in science, engineering, or a related professional field and have not yet worked in high-tech. Among them are researchers, advanced-degree graduates, and experienced engineers from traditional industry. The focus is on women from the Western Galilee and the North.
In deep-tech companies, creating value depends on a deep understanding of the field. So the program does not start from zero. It adds applied AI to knowledge that is already there. A woman who knows a laboratory, a production line, or clinical data from the inside becomes someone who can apply AI exactly where it is needed.
Community, mentors, and confidence
Training is only part of the program. Throughout, participants belong to a community of women making this career change together. They are supported by dedicated mentors, meet women who have already made this journey into the industry, and take part in talks and workshops on leadership, visibility, and professional confidence.
Technical skill opens the door. Community, mentorship, and confidence help women walk through it and keep going.
The path
Three cohorts, each with up to 25 participants. Every cohort begins with learning and ends inside the industry.
Applied AI training
About three months of hands-on learning, from the fundamentals of working with data to building solutions with current AI tools, with the emphasis on what can be put to work straight away.
A project with a company
At this stage each participant chooses a specialization close to her own background and works on a real challenge brought by a company, so new skills meet an industry need early on. The fields on offer will include digital health, materials, advanced manufacturing, and robotics. Training ends with a Demo Day in front of employers.
Mentored internship
The internship is the heart of the program. The participant carries her project forward inside a company, alongside its team and with a mentor, and gains hands-on experience in a technology company, the thing she was missing to enter the industry. The company, for its part, sees her at work, not on a résumé. That is how the two sides really come to know each other.
Placement and follow-up
The goal is a technology role, not a certificate. The program supports graduates as they look for a position and stays with them through their first months in it, so that entering the industry becomes the start of a career. After placement, graduates remain part of the program’s community of women, which keeps supporting them as they move forward.
Partners along the way
i4Galil leads the program with two partners. Elevation, with years of experience in technology training, delivers the training, based on the NorthStar applied AI curriculum. i4Valley, a technology incubator working in the Galilee and specializing in deep tech and physical AI, connects participants with companies, mentors, and real challenges from industry. The program will be based at the innovation hub in Nahariya.
The program was approved in September 2026 by the Israel Innovation Authority’s research committee, under its Human Capital Fund for High-Tech, and begins in early 2027.
Partnering in the program
Donors and foundations who support the program are partners in every part of it, from the training and mentoring to the community around it.