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TEL AVIV, Israel (May 9, 2018) – Governor Eric J. Holcomb and the Indiana agbiosciences delegation joined officials of the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) today to discuss opportunities to propel innovation through private sector partnerships between Indiana and Israeli businesses.
Through a memorandum of understanding signed today between the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and the IIA, Indiana and Israel will identify 21st century challenges in agbiosciences, life sciences, technology and cybersecurity and connect respective companies to work collaboratively on developing innovative solutions. The two states plan to begin work within the agbiosciences sector and anticipate issuing a call for proposals from Indiana and Israeli companies within the next couple of months.
“Hoosiers are proud of the rich friendship we’ve developed with the State of Israel, and the MOU we’ve signed today takes this partnership to the next level,” Gov. Holcomb said. “Indiana and Israel are tech and agbiosciences powerhouses, and there are abundant opportunities for academic exchanges, mutual investment and cross collaboration between our two states.”
Israel is home to the second-highest level of entrepreneurial activity outside of Silicon Valley with more than 6,500 innovative companies and one startup per every 1,600 people. The country spends approximately 4.25 percent of its annual GDP on research and development and ranks No. 3 in the World Economic Forum’s innovative ranking, providing an established ecosystem and launchpad for partnerships with Indiana’s growing agbiosciences, life sciences, technology and cybersecurity industries.
In Tel Aviv, the delegation also attended the Agritech Israel summit, where the governor provided welcoming remarks, sharing Indiana’s story as a pro-growth business climate that is committed to encouraging innovation across diverse sectors.
The governor, Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger, Indiana Department of Agriculture Director Bruce Kettler and the delegation also met with a number of innovative companies and organizations to discuss opportunities to partner, including OurCrowd, an equity crowdfunding platform built for investors to provide venture capital funding for early-stage startups; Start-Up Nation Central, a non-profit that curates the largest discovery platform of Israeli innovators and entrepreneurs; and Copia-Agro, which invests in agricultural and food technologies developed by Israel’s research institutes.
More information on the state’s relationship with Israel is available here.
