Scientific Section

Since 1996, Israel has been the only non-European country fully associated to the EU's Research and Technological Development Framework Programmes. On his first official visit to the country in January 2007, Commissioner Janez Potocnik noted that the EU was now Israel's second biggest source of public research funding after the Israel Science Foundation.

Israel is currently participating in over 800 EU RTD Framework Programme projects in fields ranging from cutting edge research through nanotechnology and information and communication technology to energy and health. Surveys show that a large majority of Israeli researchers in both universities and industry describe their participation in the Framework programme as "very important" to their work.

Israeli companies are involved in several European Technology Platforms and Israel is a member of EUREKA, a pan-European, intergovernmental initiative that supports industrial, market-oriented research. 'We need that input from outside the EU,' Mr Potocnik commented.

The Commissioner pointed out that the EU had a lot to learn from Israel, where 4.7% of GDP is spent on civilian research, R&D expenditure per capita is higher than in the US and most EU countries, and 12 workers in every 1,000 in the business sector are researchers.

Scientific and Research & Development (R&D) co-operation can play key roles in many different respects as regards relations between Israel and Europe. Indeed, besides pooling Israeli and European expertise on research and technological development for mutual social and business benefits, scientific cooperation must be considered as a vital instrument to maintain a sustainable collaboration between people and organisations, promoting partnerships that can survive challenging political contexts.

Such collaboration must be encouraged and supported. This is one of the objectives of the Scientific Section of the Delegation.  Scientific and Technological co-operation between Israel and Europe has brought a number of new opportunities for Israeli enterprises and research organisations. While Europe appreciates the technological excellence and the entrepreneurial spirit of Israeli enterprises, Europe offers complementary expertise as well as a huge market potential in close proximity to Israel. All the necessary ingredients are present to build successful partnerships.

In collaboration with the Member States of the European Union, we look forward to contributing to the reinforcement of Israel-Europe scientific co-operation, through continued participation of Israel in the European Community Framework Programmes for RTD, but also by identifying and implementing suitable co-operation schemes likely to support shared interests between Israeli and European organizations.

Scientific Counsellor's Office

Mr. Robert KRENGEL
Head of Scientific Section

Ms. Stefane DOR
Assistant to the Scientific Counsellor

Ms. Alexandra MEIR
Policy Officer