Technology and innovation management in Israel Isaure MAIZA Sandra EDERY GBEM_ 16/10/2007

Overview on the innovation in Israel Israel is a small country but has developed a high level of technology which enables the economy of the whole country to experience a high level of growth GNP reached $120 billion and its GDP equals the one of Spain Innovation is highly developed in the country thanks to a high number of researchers (140 engineers and researchers for inhabitants) There’s a high level of cooperation between universities and industry in the country The “chef scientist”, that is a part of the ministry of commerce and industry, helps a lot development of scholar projects by giving and by creating technological incubators.

High technology in Israel benefits the national growth The amount of M&A reached for the first time the amount of $ billion in 2006 The biggest merger was Microsoft buying the Israeli software manufacturer Mercury for $4.5 billion Israel is opening to the Global high tech industry and is now called the “new silicon valley”, its growth rate is now 4.8% Start ups are also doing well, especially the ones specialized in High technology products. 20 of them went public on the stock market last year for about $693 billion. Such a growth on the High tech field creates employment in the country. By the end of 2007 the unemployment rate should decrease to 8.1% of the population (8.5% today)

Israel comes second after Japan and Taiwan regarding the amount of patents registered in the USA. The country invests 4.7% of its GNP in research and development (Whereas Europe plans to reach 10% in 2010) The country is ranked by the IMD (World competitiveness Yearbook) 1.first country regarding the quality of the graduate education 2.second regarding the sustainable development, 3.Second regarding the implementation of new technologies 4.Second as regards to the protection of the environment. (source:

How Israel manages sustainable innovation and technology: Some examples => Research and development: 1.24 industrial incubators were created in the past few years. Most of them are dealing with development of Environmental technologies 2.Environmental technology researches come from academic institutes which are looking for international partners and cooperation. 3.Researchers are working on the EDIG’s Solar Hybrid Power Generator, and are trying to develop the solar energy to enable a cleaner growth.

Technologies created by Israel Most of the Windows NT and XP programmes have been developped by Microsoft Israel Microprocessors Pentium 4 and Centrino Voice Mail technology AOL Instant Messenger ICQ 4th world air technology (after the USA, Russia and China) The most important air fleet after the USA Israel has high tech companies and 500 bio tech companies

Israeli medecine technology Israel is specialized in genetics, neurology and ophthalmology Israeli medical and biotechnological firsts include state-of- the-art surgical lasers The most important resource in Israel is its human capital, including the flood of Russian-speaking scientists The Government is deeply involved in the medecine technology: the Magnet program of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade has a five-year budget of over 200 million $US to support carefully targeted generic technologies or pre-competitive concepts, such as electro-optics or biomedical diagnostics Source: site officiel du commerce et de l’industrie d’Israel

Source: Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 Technological InfrastructureProductive capacity Leading indicators of technological competitiveness in 2005

International Agreements The US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), set up (1974) to foster civilian research, is financed in equal proportion by the two countries. Its present endowment totals $100 million. Since its inception, BSF has awarded nearly 2,000 grants at an expenditure of over $90 million. The US-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) was established (1977) to promote and support agricultural R&D. the amount of this cooperation is $110 million. The US-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD). BIRD has approved over 200 projects in telecommunications, electronics, computer software/hardware and medical equipment. The fund averages $110 million. The Britain-Israel Technology Foundation (BRITECH) The Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) The EU Sixth Framework. Fund of 17,5 billion euros Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2007

“There is a greater concentration of talented high-tech manpower here in comparison to other countries almost to the extend of Silicon Valley”, Bill Gates about Israel. source: