Now, a new generation of pioneers want to revive this vision, transforming remote regions into attractive areas where as many as half a million people could settle.

The future of Israel. That's what the modern metropolis of Tel Aviv has always stood for, with its glittering skyscrapers, start-ups and appealing lifestyle. Every day, hundreds of thousands of commuters crowd into the city, which is bursting at the seams. Real estate prices are skyrocketing, and Tel Aviv's attractiveness is threatening to be its undoing. 

Israel's founder, David Ben-Gurion, always believed that Israel's future lay in the south, in the Negev and Arava deserts. But for people to leave the crowded metropolises and put down roots there, "you have to offer them real quality of life, jobs, social amenities, everything you need for a functioning economic cycle," says Eric Narrow of the Jewish National Fund. 

He’s one of the new pioneers who want to revive the vision of the state's founder. The goal? Make the remote regions of southern and northern Israel so attractive that at least half a million people will settle there within the next 25 years, thus decongesting the metropolitan areas around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

The journey into the future begins in the Arava Desert. Here, in the middle of nowhere, farmers are transforming themselves into biotechnology entrepreneurs. Yossi Ben, for example, has worked with an international team of researchers in the area surrounding his picturesque antelope farm to develop a special calcium carbonate that could one day help cure serious diseases. Investors have already contributed 25 million euros to his business idea.

In nearby Tsukim, Udi Segev is living out a lifelong dream: The lawyer and his family left noisy and expensive Tel Aviv, and bought a villa on the breathtaking slope of a desert crater. "This place is hot as hell, but beautiful as paradise," he says. "If I had to choose one place in the whole world to live, this is it." Thanks to the Internet, he can work from home, here.

Thirty-year-old Polly Gupailo shows us the nightlife in the desert city of Beer Sheva. The new face of what was once a poor working-class town, Polly is determined to stay here and help shape Israel's future in the Negev Desert.

Not far from Polly's office stands a symbol of change: A bridge that seemingly connects everything. On one side, Ben Gurion University; on the other, a new high-tech business park with a sizable international cybertech scene, and adjacent residential areas. It’s all accessible by train. 
But urban planners know that they need to bring all segments of society along for the ride.

That includes the Bedouins in the Negev Desert. Many live in poverty, in traditional clan structures. That's why a business incubator has been set up in the Bedouin town of Rahat. There, 19-year-old Aisha Abu Jaber is breaking with the stereotypes. The electrical engineering student has developed an app that can be used for payment at all gas stations in the country: "There was resistance at first," she says. "People found it strange that a Bedouin woman wanted to enter the world of entrepreneurs. Today they are more accepting."

This documentary follows Israel’s new pioneers as they tackle challenges and take the country into the future.

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