Index Study Reveals United States-Israel Relationship in Innovation-Related Activities Among the Strongest of Nine Compared Countries
U.S.-Israel Innovation Index provides a framework for evaluating bi-national scientific, technology, and business relationships across government, academia, and industry
TEL AVIV, Israel – December 15, 2011 – The United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), a Washington-based non-profit organization chaired by Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, that facilitates mutually beneficial business collaboration between the U.S. and Israel for the advancement of science and technology, today announced the findings of its first-annual U.S.-Israel Innovation Index [http://www.usistf.org/] at the offices of MATIMOP, The Israel Industry Center for R&D, Bet Hatasiyanim in Tel Aviv. The Index, which measures and tracks Israel’s relationship to the U.S. in innovation-related activities, is intended to serve as a tool for developing sustainable policies and strategies that strengthen the U.S.-Israeli relationship in innovation-related activities.
“It is evident that Israel’s future development—economic, social, and political—and the United States’ geopolitical prominence, are closely tied to the strength of the U.S.-Israeli relationship,” said Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist, Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. “The Index’s findings cast the necessary light on the importance of developing proven and effective international cooperation practices. This is a valuable tool that helps policy decision-makers, industry leaders and academia measure scientific and technological innovation, economic development and knowledge exchange.”
The U.S.-Israel Innovation Index is a benchmarking tool designed to provide a statistical foundation to understand the collaborative relationship between government, industry, and the people of the United States and Israel in the fields of science and technology. The Index measures and compares the U.S.-Israel science and technology relationship against a set of other innovation-inclined countries, which, like Israel, possess important trade relationships with the U.S. The countries selected as comparators for the Index include: Israel, Chile, Finland, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
Key finding of the U.S.-Israel Innovation Index include:
The relative strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship in both the Human Capital and Private Sector categories is the strongest of any of the countries included in the Index.
Israel’s innovation-related relationship with the U.S. is consistently strong in most areas assessed by the Index.
Results demonstrate that Israel’s relationship to the U.S. in innovation-related activities is stronger than that between the U.S. and any of the other compared countries.
The level of U.S.-Israeli cooperation has been quite consistent over recent years.
Based on the results of the analysis, the U.S.-Israel Innovation Index concludes:
The United States and Israel have strong and consistent linkages in areas related to innovative activities.
Socio-cultural relationships and strategic political ties have positive impact on supporting the two countries’ innovation-related linkages.
“The U.S.-Israel relationship is strongly supported by science and technology cooperation that links a broad set of governmental, commercial, academic, and human capital assets of both countries,” Ann Liebschutz, executive director at U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF). “As such, the Index was created to identify the strengths and weaknesses exhibited in those relationships, and to ultimately improve bi-national, innovation-related activities.”
The U.S-Israel Innovation Index used quantitative metrics, which were normalized to ensure an appropriate comparison among nations that have vastly different sizes, population, and economic output. Indicators (or “metrics”) used to compose the Index were selected in four categories, covering activities and linkages in Government, Private Sector &Industry, Human Capital, and Research & Development. The structure of the Index valued each category equally, and within each category, each indicator carried the same weight.
“Now, more than ever, technology companies and venture capitalists worldwide need an objective tool to help identify investor-friendly markets and resources,” said David Cohen, the general manager for SVB Israel Advisors Ltd. “The Innovation Index is a guide by which to track, measure, and analyze the trend of multinational investing in Israeli startups. It is a critical tool that helps companies identify appropriate R&D partners in foreign markets.”
Many prominent advisors served on the U.S-Israel Innovation Index Advisory Board including, Prof. Ruth Arnon, Prof. Miriam Erez, Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, and Mr. Jonathan Heimer.
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About USISTF
The United States-Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF) is a Washington-based non-profit organization established in 1995, that promotes mutually beneficial business collaboration between the US and Israel in the advancement of science and technology. The organization’s mission is to strengthen the US and Israel economic relationship in the global marketplace through the integration of science and technology and also to serve as a model for future international collaborative efforts.
