Italy - Israel: call for industrial research and innovation projects now open

The “Industrial Call for Proposals” is currently open, an initiative promoted as part of the activities envisaged by the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Industrial, Scientific and Technological Research and Development signed on 13 June 2000 between Italy and Israel.

The call will fund industrial research and innovation projects between Italy and Israel aimed at the development of an innovative product, process or service. In particular, the areas identified by the call are as follows:

medicine, biotechnology, public health and hospital organisation;
agriculture and food science;
IT applications in education and scientific research;
environment, water treatment;
new energy sources, alternatives to oil and exploitation of natural resources;
production process innovations;
information technology, data communications, software, cyber security;
space and earth observation;
any other sector of mutual interest.

The maximum duration of the projects is 24 months. The call is open to industrial entities (companies) and non-industrial entities (universities, research centres, etc.). In the case of a company, the call specifies that it must conduct research and development activities and carry out the project either independently or in association with other companies or public and private bodies. If the company does not directly conduct research and development activities, it must be assisted by a non-industrial entity (university, research centre, technology park) capable of conducting the proposed research as an associate.

One of the most important conditions set by the call is that the distribution of the project and its budget must be reasonably balanced between the Italian and Israeli partners. Furthermore, the call requires that the collaborative activities to be carried out jointly represent a significant part of the overall work; in addition, there is a requirement that activities relating to feasibility and/or prototyping and verification tests be conducted jointly by the Italian and Israeli applicants in Italy or, alternatively, involve technological research and development activities conducted jointly by the Italian and Israeli applicants in Israel.

Projects that pass the selection phase will receive a grant covering a maximum of 50% of the documented research and development costs deemed eligible during the evaluation phase.

The deadline for the call is set for 17:00 on Wednesday 25 November 2020.

The full text of the call can be downloaded at the bottom of this news item.