Second meeting of the EU-Israel Joint Research and Innovation Committee under Horizon Europe

The second meeting of the EU-Israel Horizon Europe Joint Research and Innovation Committee took place in Brussels on 12 June 2023, under the co-chairmanship of Ms. Ruta Zarnauskaite, Head of Unit of the Horizon Europe Association Unit, European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, and Mr. Shlomi Kofman, Director General, Israel-Europe R&D Directorate (ISERD), and Vice President for International Collaborations, Israel Innovation Authority.

As stated in the opening remarks by Ms. Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation European Commission, Israel is one of the strongest participating state in the Programme, with excellent performance of its entities during the first two years of Horizon Europe’s implementation. Both sides also emphasised the significance of this longstanding cooperation, which builds on fundamental R&I values, such as academic freedom, gender equality, diversity, research ethics, open science and evidence-based policy-making. In the course of the meeting, the EU Chair stressed the various opportunities that the new biannual Work Programme will offer to intensify Israeli and European researchers and innovators’ participation in collaborative projects, for example within the EU thematic Missions and Partnerships. She further recalled the European Research Area Policy Agenda and the European Innovation Agenda’s key priorities and objectives, and invited Israel to play an active role in the ERA Forum and Innovation Valleys’ creation.

The Israeli co-chair stressed that Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe makes a significant contribution to scientific and technological research, as well as to the economy, it promotes Israeli industry and at the same time opens up opportunities for Israeli companies in European markets. He expressed hope that the Israeli participation’s Horizon Europe follow a positive and growing trend, and in this regard, noted the need for full openness and collaboration from the EU.

They further discussed the principle of reciprocity, the recent statistics of Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe, the principle of reciprocity, the formulation of the Eilat’s Action Plan for the Mission 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 and the submission of the city’s application to the Taiex prorgramme, the European Innovation council, the excellent performance of Israel under European Research Council, the ongoing Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), and the lessons learns from the scientific cooperation with the Joint Research Centre.

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International cooperation with Israel