Government encouraging international collaborations
As Israelis continue to research and develop alternative fuel technologies at home, the entrepreneurs working in this emerging field have an increasing opportunity to make a global impact, according to the country’s top official in the sector.
“Slowly, we started to take the companies that we have and introduce them to multinational [firms],” Eyal Rosner, director of the Alternative Fuels Administration in the Prime Minister’s Office, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Since the approval of the government’s Fuel Choices Initiative program in January 2013, the number of companies active in the alternative fuels sector in Israel has jumped fivefold to about 300, while associated research groups have risen fourfold to about 190, new data from the Alternative Fuels Administration show. Rosner recently presented these figures to the government as part of a comprehensive review of the progress made by the program, which received a NIS 1.5 billion budget for 10 years.
Critical to the ongoing progress in the sector is encouraging cooperation among Israeli companies and academics with those in the “main countries” advancing the field around the globe, Rosner explained. Some of the countries that Israel is focusing on include the United States, many European nations, China, India, Japan, and Canada – each of which has different specializations, he said.
Industry representatives from these countries have been coming to Israel frequently to both look for new technologies being advanced locally, as well as to explore opportunities to open or expand their operations on the ground here, Rosner added. For example, the Ford motor company recently decided to open a full office for research in Israel, while Porsche will also be launching a research center, he said.
Meanwhile, many delegations from all over the world will be coming to Tel Aviv in early November for the third annual Fuel Choices Summit.