Bio-Convergence, Food Tech, Renewable Energies, Space and Bluetech – These Are Israel’s R&D Priorities

Jerusalem, 7 September, 2022 (TPS) -- Bio-convergence, which merges engineering and medicine, food tech,  renewable energies and energy storage, civilian space industry, and Bluetech using the sea as a national resource – these are Israel’s top five research and development (R&D) priorities, as recommended by the National Council for Civilian Research and Development (NCCRD) to Israel’s Minister of Innovation and Science Orit Farkash Hacohen.

Over the course of its work, the committee was presented with 14 R&D areas, which were then ranked according to 10 criteria – including areas expected to be at the forefront of global innovation in the coming decade, areas in which Israel has a relative advantage or a strategic need, and topics that will contribute significantly to maintaining Israel’s scientific and research leadership.

The Committee has also recommended continuing government support for two areas previously identified as national priorities: Quantum Artificial Intelligence and data science.

The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology will promote national programs in the selected areas, addressing such aspects as infrastructure, regulation, and research investment.

The Ministry’s research grants fund, which distributes NIS 180 million a year, will place emphasis on the national priority areas, with national programs to be established in these areas.

Farkash Hacohen stated Wednesday that the priority R&D areas will “ensure Israel’s scientific and technological leadership in decades to come.”

Prof. Peretz Lavie, NCCRD Chairman, explained that “the five fields recommended by the committee are significant in terms of global competition and the continued advancement of Israel’s cutting-edge technologies, with a view to ensuring its economic future and maintaining its scientific excellence over the next five years.”

“Most are multidisciplinary areas that are expected to expand rapidly over the next five years and become key areas. The international survey conducted by the Committee showed that countries that invested in R&D enjoyed an excess return on investments; that R&D investments bolstered employment and quality of life and generated surplus growth in countries that had set national R&D priorities. Israel, which relies on its human resources and the knowledge in high-tech fields, is likely to lose its relative advantage in technological fields if it forgoes such investments,” he noted.