Israel, India sign MoU to collaborate on tech innovation

The MoU was signed in Jerusalem by Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, and in Ahmedabad by Anupam Jalote, CEO of iCreate. Prof. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India was present at the event through videoconferencing, while Dr. Ron Malka, Israel’s Ambassador to India and Mr. Yaakov Finkelstein, Israel’s Consul General in Mumbai were physically present. Others who were virtually present were Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Singla, India’s Ambassador to Israel. Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vijay Rupani, sent his best wishes through a video message.

The flags of Israel and India

iCreate and Start-Up Nation Central will launch a unique online acceleration program for market penetration, in order to pilot Israeli technologies that match the requirements of Indian corporations. The program will begin by defining a set of challenges that will then be shortlisted to the most relevant solutions and technology providers. This will be followed by a matchmaking mechanism that will be developed by leveraging both countries' networks to support the process of adaptation and piloting these solutions in India.

The Israel-India growing partnership has developed into a strategic partnership in recent years, and since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two countries have collaborated on a number of joint ventures such as Operation Open Skies and integration of Israeli medical equipment and technologies in Indian hospitals.

Closing a circle opened by the nations' prime ministers

“Today we close a circle, a circle that opened in 2018 when PM Modi and PM Netanyahu inaugurated this important incubator, iCreate, and now, two years later, we are signing, on the very spot where they stood, an MoU on innovation between Israel’s Start-Up Nation Central and India’s iCreate,” Malka said. “This agreement is an important milestone in the growing innovation collaboration between Israel and India, and stands in line with the visions of the prime ministers.”

Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi. Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO

He went on to say that “Israel has the most startups per capita in the world, and India is the top innovation destination in Asia. Together, both countries continue to form partnerships and collaborations in technology and innovation to solve a range of global issues like COVID-19, renewable energy and more, implementing high-end technologies like AI, big data analysis, and more.”

According to Prof. Eugene Kandel, CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, “this MOU is an important step in realizing the potential of the India-Israel relations in the field of innovative technologies. I’m confident this partnership will pave the way for more Israeli startups to collaborate with Indian organizations and firms to develop and implement cutting-edge Israeli technologies that address India's most pressing needs, as well as the world's needs. We look forward to collaborating with iCreate, and to identifying Israeli partners to jointly develop solutions to the current challenges India is facing.”

iCreate was established in 2012 to create a startup ecosystem with leading industrialists, academicians as mentors. It has been working with Israeli universities and accelerators from the year of its foundation. The new campus of iCreate was inaugurated by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2018.

Start-Up Nation Central is an independent nonprofit organization that builds bridges to Israeli innovation. Start-Up Nation Central connects business, government, and NGO leaders from around the world to Israeli innovation that can help them answer their most pressing needs.

The organization allows free access to Finder, Start-Up Nation Central’s online discovery platform that maps more than 6,600 Israeli startups and tech companies, including in-depth insights into Israel’s innovation sector.

The partnership between the two entities was established with the encouragement and support of the Embassy of Israel to New Delhi and the Governments of India and Gujarat, in hopes of achieving the full adaptation of technologies and collaborative business models that will form the basis of long term, sustainable collaboration between the innovation and startup ecosystems of both nations.