The event where Israeli Googleers reveal how a product was born

Want to know how calls in the corridors of Google’s Tel Aviv and Haifa offices turn into products that reach millions of users around the world? Register for free for the Decode15 event of the company’s R&D center in Israel

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Sapphire Balls and Jeff Dean. They will also participate in Decode15 (Photo: Courtesy of Google)

For 15 years, the Google Research and Development Center in Israel has been a source of innovation and a global technology hub responsible for some of the company’s popular products, used by millions of people around the world: search, artificial intelligence. , waze, cloud, flood forecast and more.

In the event Decode 15 To be held this week (21.4) and open to all with prior registration, the tech giant’s engineers will present technologies and products originating in Israel and the stories behind them. In this way, participants will be able to hear about how to bring a project idea to a global influencer product launch.

“Sundar Pichai introduced my baby to the world”

“It seemed surreal to me, but yes, it was Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, who introduced the live relay, my baby, to the whole world on the I / O stage,” says Sapir Kadouri, senior software engineer at the business.

Less than a year earlier, Kadouri, who was working on a search project, pitched his Live Relay idea to Yossi Matias, executive director of the Google Center in Israel and vice president of search and research. “I came to a meeting with Yossi, full of purpose and some ideas, all thinking about how we can help people with disabilities to live better, fuller and more independent lives with the help of our technologies.”

Kadouri has been given the green light to start developing the idea with the support of the research team, with the instruction: “Make it happen.” “At that moment I realized that the reins were in my hands,” he says, “it was exciting but also a bit stressful. How do you sail on this boat?” I embarked on an inter-organizational journey and gained direct access to staff at Google offices. Thanks to the cooperation of all the relevant teams, in December I presented an initial version in TGIF to all the employees of the company ”.

One year after the initial meeting The product was introduced At the I / O conference and a few months later it was first released in English. “One morning after the launch, I got a LinkedIn post from Matthew Johnston, a deaf man from England,” Kadouri adds, “wrote: ‘I just got the first phone call of my life thanks to Google.’ All the hard work it suddenly took on meaning. I also heard from grandparents who spoke for the first time with their grandchildren and people with speech disabilities who may suddenly behave at work and school without simultaneous translators. “

Right: Roni Amira, Yossi Matias and David Kadosh who will participate in Decode15 (Photo: Courtesy of Google)

The idea that came up while I was running one morning

A random coffee corner meeting at Google’s Tel Aviv offices between Roni Amira, director of a software development group, and Yossi Matias led to the launch of Read them, A function that allows the reading of web content in 44 languages.

“Yossi told me about the idea he came up with during his morning runs and I was very connected to him,” says Roni. “We realized that once we allow people to listen to texts, a lot of problems will be solved and a lot of opportunities will be created. It allows us all to optimize our time and combine two actions together, such as running or driving and listening to the news. Equally important , the reading of texts contributes greatly to people who cannot read or to people with visual disabilities “.

After that call from the broker, Roni developed an initial prototype in her 20% time, which was compelling enough to form a team that developed the required technologies and rolled out the expertise across a number of products, from Google Lens to Google Assistant. and more. “Read It presented at CES is a feature available to anyone with a very high reading quality adapted for long texts, which performs simultaneous translation between dozens of languages, and these are significant advantages,” he concludes. “The feeling of satisfaction is tremendous. It is a great privilege to revolutionize the way we consume information and to help so many people around the world live better lives. “

Innovation in Israel

Decode15, Google’s event, which will take place on the 15th anniversary of the company’s research and development center in Israel, will expose participants to the advances and innovative technologies developed in it thanks to the encounter between talent, creativity and entrepreneurship. Among the speakers: Yossi Matias, Who will speak about innovation in Israel and have a conversation about the future of artificial intelligence with Jeff dean, Senior Vice President of Google’s Health and Research Organization; Dr. Karen de Salvo Who directs the health sector of the company; YUri Frank, Which very recently joined the ranks of Google in the launch of the silicone development activity for servers.

For more details and to register