Union Cabinet approves MoU on India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund

The Union Cabinet, presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 30 August 2017 approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Israel.

The MoU is on India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F), which was concluded in July 2017.

Key highlights

• As per the terms and conditions of the MoU, India and Israel will make a contribution of four million US dollars each for the Fund annually for five years.

• The Innovation Fund will be governed by a joint board, which will consist of four members from each country.

• The MoU envisages promotion of bilateral Industrial R&D and Innovation cooperation in the fields of science and technology by extending support to joint projects for innovative or technology-driven new or improved products, services or processes.

• Such projects will lead to affordable technological innovations in focus areas of mutual interest such as water, agriculture, energy and digital technologies.

• Institutional support in building up consortia including private industry, enterprises and R&D institutions from India and Israel will be enabled through these collaborative projects.

• The activities supported by the Joint Fund would increase the techno-economic collaboration between the two nations by investing in jointly developed technology projects and collaborations based on technological innovation.

• It would leverage the complementary strengths of Israel and India to encourage Israel-Indian joint projects that capitalize on both the national and global marketplace.

• It would provide a comprehensive set of support tools to encourage joint projects that convert "know-how" into "show-how".

• It is expected that the collaboration will foster and strengthen the eco-system of innovation and techno-entrepreneurship in India and will contribute directly to the Start-up India programme.