Kira Radinsky

Kira Radinsky (Hebrew: קירה רדינסקי; born July 28, 1986) is a Ukrainian-born Israeli computer scientist, inventor and entrepreneur, specializing in predictive data mining.^[1][2] and artificial intelligence, a high-tech manager, scientist, and a visiting professor at the Technion.^[3] She is a member of the Israel Securities Authority. Former Director of Data Science and Chief Scientist at eBay Israel.

Kira Radinsky
קירה רדינסקי
Born	(1986-07-28) July 28, 1986 (age 39) Ukraine
Nationality	Israeli
Occupation(s)	Computer scientist, inventor, entrepreneur
Known for	Predictive data mining, Co-founding SalesPredict and Diagnostic Robotics
Title	Chief Executive Officer of Diagnostic Robotics
Awards	Woman of the Year (2016 by Lady Globes magazine), Forbes 30 under 30 (2015), MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (2013)

Biography

Radinsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Her parents separated before she was born, and she immigrated to Israel when she was 4. She grew up in Nesher with her mother, aunt, and grandmother. Her mother, a mathematician by training, worked several jobs to support her family. Radinsky's father immigrated to Israel separately, became ultraorthodox, and has no contact with her.^[4]

Radinsky attended Yitzhak Rabin High School in Nesher. Between 2004 and 2007, she served in the Intelligence Unit 8200 as a programmer,^[5] and in 2006 she won the Israel Defense Prize as part of her unit's programming team.^[6]

Has a Black Belt in Karate.

Academic activity

Radinsky gained recognition after being selected by the MIT Technology Review to the "35 Innovators Under 35" list. Her work was described in the popular press as predicting the first in 130 years outbreak of cholera in Cuba, based on the pattern identified by mining of 150 years of data from various sources: in poor countries, floods within a year after a drought often follow by a cholera outbreak.^[1][7][8]

"I think the best way to predict the future is to create it. One of the things that we are doing right now is identifying the patterns, and when the patterns start, try to predict the next step. So, it can predict things that have a pattern. Random things? It’s a philosophical question. Do we even have random things? Or is it part of a pattern that we don’t have data for? So, if you believe there is no random thing and everything has a pattern, then AI can predict the future. We just need more data for that."

—Kira Radinsky, 2019.^[9]

While working on her Ph.D. she co-founded a company, SalesPredict, based on similar ideas, but with different algorithms (the intellectual property of her work belongs to Technion).^[7] It was acquired by eBay in 2016, where Kira Radinsky worked as chief scientist and the director of data science during 2016–2019.^[10]

Radinsky is a member of the World Economic Forum.^[11] In the year 2021, she was declared among its 'Young Global Leaders'^[12][13] to be part of the proactive multistakeholder community of the world’s next-generation leaders to inform and influence decision-making and mobilize transformation".^[14]

Since the end of 2021, Radinsky also is the Chief Executive Officer at Diagnostic Robotics, Tel Aviv, which she co-founded in 2019.^[15] She is also a visiting professor at Technion teaching the applications of predictive data mining in medicine.^[16] She has co-authored over 10 patents and more than 50 peer-reviewed articles.^[10]

Personal life

Radinsky lives in Zichron Yaacov, married to Sagi Davidovitz, a high-tech entrepreneur and CEO of SparkBeyond, which developed a search engine focused on discoveries and science. Mother of two.

Awards and recognition

• 2016 selected as the "Woman of the Year" by Lady Globes magazine.^[17]
• 2015 Included into the Forbes "30 under 30" young innovators and entrepreneurs list ^[18]
• 2013: Included into the MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" list^[1]