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Research and innovation
News article2 December 2020Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

Horizon 2020 Joint EU-Israel Committee

The last Horizon 2020 Joint EU-Israel Committee meeting was held on 1 December 2020 virtually. It had more than 50 participants across the various sessions to mark not only the successful R&I cooperation between the EU and Israel under Horizon 2020, but also to celebrate almost 25 years of cooperation to advance science for the benefit of our societies. The Committee was co-chaired by Signe RATSO, Deputy Director General at DG R&I, and Prof Yaffa ZILBERSHATZ, Chairwoman Head of Planning & Budgeting Committee of the Israel Council for Higher Education.

We heard about areas of success including the ERC, the EIC and the contribution of Israeli scientists to making EU R&I a global brand, as well as acknowledging the EU as world test-bed for Innovation and progress. Equally, the EU represents an important market of choice for Israel in a progressive paradigm shift from the US to Europe as a destination for scale up and business connections.

It was an “extremely reach discussion highlighting many areas of excellent collaboration between the EU and Israel, but also areas of improvement to enhance cooperation”, concluded by Signe Ratso. Interestingly, new incentives are planned by Israel to encourage collaborative projects and contribute to increase the synergies between the EU and Israel innovation ecosystems. As concluded by Ilan Fluss, Head of Economic Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, “R&I cooperation is a jewel in the crown of EU-Israel relations, if not the most important cooperation not only for scientific purposes but also for regional cooperation and social prosperity”.

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International cooperation with Israel

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Publication date
2 December 2020
Author
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation