Summary of Conference on R&D International Cooperation

On Sunday, 30 October 2011, the Jerusalem Institute held a conference on Research and Development (R&D) International Cooperation. The conference is a continuation of a policy research conducted at the Institute’s Innovation Policy Center. The research was carried out with the support of the Planning, Research and Economics Administration at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and the Europe Network Enterprise (EEN).

 

The goal of the policy research was to examine the added value of programs of R&D international cooperation, promoted by the Israeli government through two categories: “Parallel support” channels and “direct support” channels. The first category includes bilateral and multilateral agreements that are administrated by MATIMOP, the Israeli Industry Center for R&D and are supported by the Chief Scientist Office at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. The second category includes the four bilateral foundations with the US, Canada, Singapore and Korea. The policy research was inaugurated in 2010 by the establishment of a steering committee that included representatives from the Chief Scientist Office, MATIMOP, the Planning, Research and Economics Administration at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, the National Economic Council and academic researchers. The study’s findings and recommendations are currently being integrated into the Chief Scientist’s report on international R&D activities. The goal of the conference was to present the research’s findings and its recommendations and to encourage a discussion concerning Israeli policies towards R&D international collaborations.

 

The conference started with Dr. Dan Kaufmann and Yael Marom presenting the findings of the policy research and the recommendations of the research team. These recommendations are intended to assist policymakers in adapting existing R&D programs to the unique nature of R&D cooperation in general, and particularly R&D international cooperation while taking into account the complexities of this field.

 

Following the presentation of the Institutes’ study, the existing policy tools were presented through the perspective of the relevant policymakers. Firstly, Gil Erez from the Chief Scientist Office presented the importance of R&D international cooperation as a strategic component of the Israel’s R&D policy. 

 

Michel Hivert, CEO of the MATIMOP, presented the rationale of EUREKA network and the bilateral agreements of Israel and foreign countries.  A discussion followed regarding cooperation between the Chief Scientist and the Israeli Industry Center for R&D. 

 

Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, director of the BIRD foundation, presented the advantages and the disadvantages of executing projects through bilateral funds. Dr. Yudilevich emphasized the complexity of the projects and the risks ingrained in them while emphasizing the great advantages that lie in joint R&D activities through bilateral funds.

 

Click here to view Dr. Yudilevich’s presentation in English.

 

The second session of the conference was dedicated to the discussion of the possible contribution of R&D international cooperation to the Israeli industry and The State. Sagi Dagan, from the National Economic Council at the PMO, presented the topic of R&D international cooperation as a method to promote defined national Israeli priorities. He presented the governmental plan for the implementation of “The Oil-free Initiative” in the field of transportation and the use of R&D cooperation for promoting the initiative’s objectives.

 

Asaf Avidan from the Wisair company and Karin Golding from the Kilolambda company discussed the advantages of R&D international cooperation to their firms. They argued that even if certain projects don’t translate into innovative products, they have a prominent positive influence on networking and building technological capacities. 

 

Download presentations by Wisair in Hebrew and Kilolambda in English.