Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, lauded Israeli innovation as “No. 1 in the world,” in a live, virtual appearance at the Samson International Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv on Monday.

“I’m a huge admirer of the innovation coming out of Israel. I think it is objectively true that Israel punches high above its weight for population,” Musk said, when asked if he had a message for Israeli innovators.

“My hat is off to Israel for just how much incredible innovation … I’d say innovation per capita, Israel must be No. 1 by far in the world,” Musk added.

Musk had originally been scheduled to attend the conference, which was slated to take place in March, in person as the guest of honor; the conference was postponed due to the war with Iran.

The conference is hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Transport and Road Safety and convenes business leaders, innovators, policymakers and academics to discuss technologies in the field of smart mobility. Speakers this year included Transportation Minister Miri Regev; Mobileye CEO and President Amnon Shashua and Michael Granoff, the founder and managing director of Maniv Mobility.