Let us continue with the overview of the progress achieved by Israel in the fields of science and technology.

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Considering the state of affairs in the year 1948 after Israel got its independence, it was natural for people to doubt even the chances of survival of this country. However, Israel not only survived but also is on an upward trajectory among various global rankings like ‘Standard of Living’, ‘Per Capita GDP’, ‘Global Innovation Index’, etc. The main reason behind this ascending path is the headway Israel has made in research and development in science and technology.

From its birth till today, Israel’s journey can be roughly divided into two parts. Overall, by the 1990s, several discoveries in various sectors were made globally with the use of science. However, during the time that followed, the use of science and also the fast-paced technological progress ensured rapid advancement of research and development in high technology. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989, the thousands of Jews who returned to Israel had a considerable number of highly educated professionals like researchers, engineers, etc. among them. It especially helped to apace the augmentation of research in Israel.

In Israel, the research in various fields that had begun much before its independence helped the country right from birth. However, the Israeli leadership recognized that though the research in any field is undoubtedly useful, different researches in a disconnected manner is not. Overall, the researches had to be connected with each other, as much as possible, for them to be increasingly used for a good cause. Thus, they began structuring all the researches to regulate and connect them.

Moreover, irrespective of the merit in any research, it cannot just remain at an experimental stage for too long. It is necessary that it comes to the use of the ordinary people for which ‘industry’ plays a key role. Taking the fact into consideration, Israel initiated fundamental policy changes.

For the connection between the research centres and industry to be unbroken, at several universities, the ‘university research and development foundations’ were created. These foundations ensure that university researchers are always aware of the happenings in their respective fields. Also, the foundations function to turn the innovative finds into marketable and viable products.

Besides, to make the applied-use of the research taking place at the universities, ‘science-based industrial parks’ were built in possible vicinity with them.

The ‘National Council for Research and Development’ (NCRD) was formed to coordinate between various research-based projects. The NCRD also regularly reviews the research taking place in Israel in science and technology. Further, to achieve the set national goals, the NCRD points out apt policy changes to be implemented in the research by identifying the strengths and the weaknesses in it.

In addition to these steps, the post of the ‘Chief Scientist’ was created at various government ministries and departments like agriculture, communications, defense, energy, health, industry, economy, etc. These officers are responsible for marrying research and innovation with capital and marketing so that research and industry become mutually beneficial to each other.

The NCRD has as its members, scientists, researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and the ‘chief scientists’ of various departments. Through NCRD, they advise and aid the government in policymaking and identifying various priorities.

The ‘chief scientists’ are also responsible for ensuring the growth of research in the private sector. Moreover, the chief scientists are also tasked to search for new concepts within their domains, select those which have merit, encourage research and development in them and organize capital from within and outside Israel to turn the meritorious ideas into viable products.

Like across the world, in Israel also, various university departments serve as the main hubs for research and development. In recognition of their importance, the Israeli government spends about $250-300 million annually on them. Furthermore, research and development in science and technology have taken roots significantly in the private sector to complement the universities. It provides employment opportunities to tens of thousands of Israelis.

In Israel, there are more than 1800 companies in various sectors which are into research and development. Numerous global MNCs have their R&D centres in Israel.

The important technological milestones of today like the development of cellphone by Motorola, Centrino platform by Intel, pen drive, Kindle platform by Amazon, ICQ chat, a significant part of Microsoft’s Windows operating system and numerous others inventions by the global, multinational companies have happened at their R&D centres in Israel.

The progress achieved by Israel in the fields of science and technology is sure to puzzle many as the country faced existential threat during its early days. The answer to the puzzle is hidden in the credo of the Israeli government policy which supports and augments high tech research and development. (To be continued…)