Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Israel’s Chief Scientist Avi Hasson, the U.S. Israel Science and Technology Foundation (USISTF), and three Massachusetts economic development agencies are now accepting applications for projects under the “Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership” (MIIP).
Today there are nearly 100 companies with Israeli founders or Israeli-licensed technologies in Massachusetts. Local firms exported over $180 million worth of goods to Israel in 2009 where 377 hospitals and 37,000 practicing physicians are located.
The partnership is a formal collaboration between Israel and the commonwealth to encourage and support innovation and entrepreneurship between Massachusetts and Israel’s life sciences, clean energy, and technology sectors. Massachusetts is the first U.S. state to establish such a program with the State of Israel.
The partnership is designed to establish Israel as a hub of hi-tech industry and to help companies in both Massachusetts and Israeli accelerate development cycles and promote mutually beneficial business-to-business cooperation and opportunities in the marketplace.
The three Massachusetts economic development agencies participating, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center are committing nearly $1 million in collective funding for companies in Massachusetts engaged in cooperative industrial research and development projects with an identified Israeli partner company. The Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist will provide up to $1 million in matching dollars for corresponding Israeli partner companies.
Specific types of life sciences projects are eligible for the funding. The joint R&D projects must be in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical diagnostics, or bioinformatics. The projects must aim to develop a new or significantly improved product or process for commercialization in global markets but also be beneficial to Massachusetts in terms of additional jobs and income.
Massachusetts applicants must be registered to do business in the state, have established a partnership with an Israeli company to pursue an R&D project, but the two companies must not have had a prior R&D partnership. Applications are not accepted from companies that have 500 or more employees worldwide.
Applications are due February 6, 2012. For more information, go to www.masslifesciences.com or email Angus McQuilken at amcquilken@masslifesciences.com or Bridget Scrimenti at scrimenti@masstech.org.
