Elron was founded in 1962 by Uzia Galil (Israel Prize recipient) as a result of his decisive commitment to bridge the gap between Israeli R&D and industry, and create “a knowledge-based industry” (later named hi-tech…). Uzia succeeded in raising initial funds of $160,000. By the end of the decade, Elron had 500 employees and 7 holdings in the fields of defense, computers, medtech & electronics, and was represented in over 80 cities in 6 continents.

In 1969, Elbit spun-off Elscint, which grew to become a world leader in the development of medical imaging technologies, forging a new technology: Computer Tomography (CT). In just over 10 years, the company achieved major breakthroughs, overshadowing the competition by reducing the scanning operation to seconds. It also entered the realm of ultrasound.

By the 1980s, Elron had devised a strategy of nursing in-house projects to be later spun-off (in time to be known as an “incubator”…). During these years, Elron established Oprotech, which pioneered automated optical inspection of printed circuit boards, and was actively involved in the early stages of the establishment of Zoran, a pioneer in the development of digital signal processing (DSP) technology.

Driven by its commitment to “building on the successes of the past while anticipating future trends”, in the early 1990s, Elron was one of the internet pioneers in Israel, expanding into information technologies and communications by the end of the decade. Landmark companies founded by Elron during these years include Partner Communication, Israel’s first GSM operator, and NetVision, Israel’s first – and later largest – ISP.

Through RDC, a joint subsidiary of Elron and Rafael (Israel’s 2nd largest defense company after Elbit Systems) which has exclusive rights to commercialize Rafael’s technologies in civilian markets, Elron has incubated and developed several technology leaders, most notably in the field of medical devices. Given Imaging redefined gastrointestinal disease diagnosis by developing the PillCam ingestible video capsule. Another RDC success is Medingo, which developed a miniature, lightweight insulin pump.