Massachusetts and Israel continue to reap substantial benefits from Governor Deval Patrick’s recent trade mission to Israel.
This week, alongside representatives from Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist, Governor Patrick announced the “Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership.” The new partnership involves a commitment of $2 million from Israel and Massachusetts in matching funds to Massachusetts firms that engage in cooperative industrial research and development projects with Israeli counterparts in the fields of life sciences, green energy and high technology.
Governor Patrick hailed the new partnership as a “significant commitment to the long-term success of our economy…expanding opportunity and job growth both in Massachusetts and in Israel.”
The new partnership will accelerate development, promote business-to-business cooperation, and provide state support to firms conducting collaborative research and development. Both Massachusetts and Israel already enjoy world-class status when it comes to innovation in life sciences, green technology, and high tech. The new MIIP fund is likely to result in even more life-saving and earth-greening new technologies.
In addition, momentum keeps building for direct flights between Boston and Tel Aviv. With support from the Governor, Massport is distributing a survey to businesses and other organizations that fly between the two cities, to document travel patterns and preferences, as part of making the case for direct flights.
Massachusetts and Israel already have a fruitful partnership. More than 100 Israeli-founded companies have offices here, employing more than 6,000 people. In 2009, these companies generated $2.4 billion in direct revenue for the Commonwealth. Furthermore, Massachusetts exported almost a quarter of a billion dollars of goods to Israel last year alone.
The MIIP agreement signed Wednesday in Washington will lead to even greater job and revenue growth for Massachusetts. Read additional coverage here.
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