The Italian-Israeli mixed committee which oversees the implementation of the bilateral agreement for industrial, scientific and technological cooperation between the two Countries, met in a plenary session at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of Israeli ambassador, Ofer Sachs.
The Italian delegation was chaired by the Central Director for Innovation and Research of the Ministry, Fabrizio Nicoletti, while the Israeli delegation was led by Zachi Schnarch, Deputy CEO of the Israeli Innovation Authority, and by Alexander Bligh, Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry for Science and Technology.
During the meeting, eight joint scientific research projects were approved on telemedicine and technologies for the ecological monitoring of agricultural and natural terrestrial systems and five industrial research projects on issues related to health, agro-industry and ICT.
The parties renewed their commitment to finance the Rita Levi Montalcini award, which, every year, allows the winners to be hosted at the universities of their respective Countries. The committee also decided to launch a new tender for a joint laboratory dedicated to precision agriculture. The commitment to jointly support scientific seminars to be held both in Italy and in Israel was also reconfirmed.
The two delegations subsequently defined the themes of the next call for bids for joint scientific projects (for the year 2020): Target drug delivery – personalized medicine; Green chemistry and development of novel environment friendly polymers / materials.
The Italian delegation then reported on the progress of the Call for bids to support the mobility of young Italian startups in Israel, issued by the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv, which will allow, once the evaluation process is completed, to finance ten selected start-ups that will be hosted in Israeli business incubators.
