Israel and FP5 - an analysis
On 8 May 1999 a new Association agreement between Israel and the European Community entered into force allowing Israeli industry and academics to become full participants in the European Commission's Fifth RTD Framework programme (FP5). This January, Tel-Aviv based organisation 'ISERD', which aims to encourage European and Israeli cooperation in FP5, opened its doors to CORDIS News to talk about the country's experience of FP5 so far and its hopes for further collaboration with the European RTD sector in the future. Israel pays the European Community around 140 million euro over four years to participate in the Fifth Framework programme, accounting for approximately 1.18 per cent of the total for FP5. This has been a good investment, according Marcel Shaton, General manager of ISERD, not only in terms of financial returns but also because FP5 has opened up opportunities for Israelis to find research partners in Europe and it has helped promote industrial and academic links internally. The country has had most success in FP5 so far in the Information Society Technologies (IST) accounting for 40 per cent of the funding received under FP5, Quality of Life with 16 per cent and the Growth programmes on 19 per cent. For ISERD the Fifth Framework programme's emphasis on industry is particularly valuable for forging links in the global marketplace. And FP5 has created an opportunity for Israeli companies to strike up strategic partnerships in Europe while its scientists have an opportunity to conduct research projects on a larger scale. In addition, the Framework programme provides the RTD community with an alternative source of funding. There are three main sources of funding for research and technological innovation within Israel. The Israeli Science Foundation, chaired by Professor Paul Singer, distributes around 50 per cent of national funds available for research to the universities. 'Israeli academic establishments had very good international ties even before we could participate in the Framework programme,' says Singer. 'To get a faculty position here you had to show you had spent a year abroad.' But Framework has helped develop more collaboration in Europe. One of Singer's colleagues, Shlomo Herkovic, of the Council for Higher Education planning and budgeting committee emphasises the importance of an Israeli-European link. 'Israel wanted to integrate into European research,' says 'Research is the one thing in which Israel is international. It was an important long term investment...We see European science as an area of growth and something Israel can't afford to stay out of.' Another 10 per cent of the funds available for research in Israel comes from Hagit Messer-Yaron, Chief scientist of the Ministry of Science, culture and sport. As a professor of electrical engineering the Chief scientist still spends one day a week working in an academic capacity at Tel Aviv university. 'My view of science is global,' she says. 'For Israel to preserve its high level in science it should be part of global international activities. A good example is CERN. The science there cannot be done without joining resources in money and manpower. FP5 gives a chance for Israeli scientists to [work] on a larger scale.' The remaining 40 per cent of funds for research and development is administered by Carmel Vernia, the Chief scientist of the Ministry of Industry. R&D is an important driver for industry in Israel, where the high-tech sector accounts for 50 per cent of all of Israel's industrial production and a similar percentage of its industrial exports, according to figures from ISERD. Israel is one of the world's biggest spenders on industrial R&D, allocating three per cent of GDP to R&D, says ISERD. It also has one of the highest start ups per capita rates in the world. 'In patents per capita, Israel ranks third in the world after the USA and Japan. [And for] engineers as a percentage of the national workforce, it ranks first with 135 per 10,000 employed - around double the figures for the USA and Japan.' The Israeli biotech industry benefited from an influx of highly educated Jews from the former Soviet Union in the early '90s, approximately 40,000 of whom were doctors. Now the country has a strategic advantage in the biotech sector, with some 35 per cent of academic scientists active in the life sciences. According to ISERD's figures, in 1998 an estimated 135 companies including 44 start ups operated in the biotechnological sector in 1998. 'We need to speak more about participation between Israel and the European industry,' Yehoshua Abramovich, Head of the economics division of Israel's Manufacturers Association told CORDIS News. 'We're in a strange situation because of the links with the USA. But classic industries started to realise for economic aspects it's better to connect to European high-tech, because it's close. Right now we don't have a lot of connection with our neighbours because of political aspects and economics. We recognised in the middle of the 1990s that we don't exploit the potential of Europe and Israel. So Israel likes the idea of framework. We saw it had lots of potential. 'Israelis need to learn how to work with the programme. But the fact that we recognise already a lot of success stories reflects a desire to participate. It's good for both sides, because we have common interests in technology and it's an opportunity for long term business investment.'