The Israel Innovation Authority To Facilitate Collaboration Between Industry And Research Institutions

The Israel innovation authority (the “IIA”), a government agency which awards grants to Israeli companies (the “Grants”) for the encouragement of research and development in industry with the aim of creating local infrastructure and employment, has recently made known that it is poised to shift its long standing policy towards collaborations between recipients of the Grants (“Grantees”) and research institutions (“Institutions”), by allowing the retention by research institutions of ownership in the results of sponsored research carried out with the use of the Grants.

The IIA was established on January 1, 2016 pursuant to a major amendment in The Law for the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development 5744-1984 (the “R&D Law”). The IIA is the successor of what was known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade.