In a session as part of the Eli Horowitz conference, Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg said that the outgoing government's achievements in the field of the environment were unprecedented, in light of the criminal neglect she said in the previous governments, and it is a shame that it will not be possible to continue the important programs
As part of the climate entrepreneurship promotion session in Israel at the Eli Horvitz Conference on Economy and Society organized by the Israel Democracy Institute, Minister Zanderg stated that "this coming Sunday, together with Energy Minister Karin Elharer and Innovation Minister Orit Parkash HaCohen, I will bring a precedent-setting government decision to promote innovation and the climate worth NIS 3 billion. This decision includes many of the barriers that the Israel Democracy Institute mapped in the report and formed the basis for the decision."
Zandberg thanked the Prime Minister for positioning the climate crisis: "When the Prime Minister was invited to a meeting with Biden, they sent the issues they wish to bring up in the meeting and for the first time environmental issues were included alongside the usual ones such as Iran and the Palestinian Authority. The topic of preparing for the climate crisis appeared." She expressed concern about not passing the climate law because of the elections, and hopes that after the elections a situation will be created in which it will be possible to continue to act against the climate crisis.
"Those who follow the environmental and climate issues in Israel know that these are issues that have been criminally neglected. Without detracting from the importance of cherry tomatoes, Israeli innovation in the fields of environment and climate has advanced a lot since then and is at the forefront of international action. Nine months have passed since the climate conference in Glasgow, and this government has done what they have never done since the founding of the country - dealing with climate change was set as a goal. We agreed with Minister Elharar to reset plates in 2050, albeit fashionably late after the countries of the world, but Israel aligned with the countries of the world and anchored it in the climate law in the state budget that was approved for the first time after 3 years. Without an effective climate law, we will not be able to face this enormous challenge, which has been recognized as a security and civil risk for the residents of the State of Israel."
Ecosystem acceleration
Following the work of the headquarters initiated by the Minister of Energy, Karin Elharer, the Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Orit Farkash HaCohen and the inter-ministerial team established by the government's decision, a historic government decision in the field of climate innovation will be approved by the government on Sunday. The decision is based on a detailed report led by an inter-ministerial team led by the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Galit Cohen, the Director General of the Ministry of Energy, Lior Shilat, and the Director General of the Innovation Authority, Dror Bin, the main points of which appear later in the announcement. The government's decision will include significant quantitative goals to encourage climate innovation.
The main goals of a resolution are: accelerating an innovation ecosystem in climate technologies (climate-tech) in Israel and mobilizing those technologies to help meet Israel's goals regarding the climate crisis. This, on the basis of relative advantages of Israeli technological innovation, and with the help of creating relative advantages in the business-regulatory environment in Israel.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Orit Parkash HaCohen: "The way to deal with climate challenges and to meet the goals set by the government is through the use of technology and harnessing Israeli innovation and high-tech. The focus of Israeli high-tech today is in areas such as communication services, fintech, and cyber and less in the areas of climate, agrotech and energy. The government's decision will strengthen these areas. The goals that I aimed for and that I will put forward on Sunday in the government's decision are ambitious and include, for example: to double within 5 years the number of start-up companies operating in the climate field in Israel of 10 Israeli venture capital funds that specialize in the climate field, by the year 2026 (compared to only one that operates today) and doubling the number of capital funds The risk of foreign countries specializing in climate from 20 today to 40 by 2026. I thank the Prime Minister, Leshrut, Zandberg and Elharer for the partnership.
The Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg: "The climate crisis is the most significant risk facing humanity. Alongside this, it also represents a tremendous opportunity for the current generation to produce the solutions to deal with it, also for the sake of future generations. As it is becoming clear to everyone, the transition to a low-carbon economy is an opportunity for the growth of innovative Israeli technology. Israel, as the start-up and innovation nation, can be a central anchor for the global response to climate challenges, and the government's decision and the actions we are promoting in the field are a significant pillar on the way to creating a prosperous, blue-white technology industry"
Karin Elharer, Minister of Energy: "We at the Ministry of Energy, together with our partners in the government, understand that the way to meet the challenging goals of the energy sector is through innovative technology. While it is estimated that approximately 45% of the technologies that will be implemented in 2050 have not yet been invented or are currently in the academic development phase, it is clear to us that the technology to meet the goals in 2030 is already here and only by cooperation between the offices of the various regulators and the creation of platforms that enable the adoption of innovation, will we stand at the destination. The Ministry of Energy, through the Chief Scientist Unit, has consistently increased investments in innovation in recent years and in 2021 supported projects, companies and research to the extent of over NIS 100 million, among other things in promoting energy storage facilities, green hydrogen, dual-use energy production and reducing the environmental impact of the energy infrastructures. We expect continued massive and integrated support from the entire government ministry and the Innovation Authority, in order to make Israel a technological powerhouse in the fields of energy and climate."
Doubling the number of applied studies, the number of registered patents (PCT), and the number of studies that matured into the establishment of the start-up company or were licensed to an existing company in 2026 compared to the data of 2021.
Encouraging industrial R&D and establishing new start-up companies - doubling the number of new start-up companies established each year from 55 in 2021 to 110 in 2026.
1. Experimentation and implementation of climate technologies in Israel Doubling the number of pilot projects carried out on state infrastructure per year (with regulatory or financial support) from 35 in 2021 to 70 in 2026.
2. The number of implementations of technologies for which pilots were conducted with the support of the state will be 35 by the year 2026.
Increasing and diversifying funding sources for ventures -
1. Increasing the number of significant fundraisings per year (over $10 million) from 20 in 2021 to 50 in 2026.
2. Subject to the results of the aforementioned examination, the establishment of 10 Israeli venture capital funds specializing in climate technologies by 2026 (compared to 1 today).
3. Doubling the number of foreign venture capital funds active in Israel that specialize in climate technologies (will make at least one deal per year on average) from 20 in 2021 to 40 in 2026.
4. Doubling the number of active corporate funds (at least one transaction per year) from 25 in 2021 to 50 in 2026.
Increasing the approval rate in the fields of climate technologies in the Horizon Europe R&D program from 10% in 2021 to 30% in 2026.
The main points of the report
In the concluding report, the team presents the significant economic opportunity that exists in the growth of the climate-tech ecosystem in Israel. An opportunity based on the urgent global need to harness technological capabilities in order to achieve emission reduction goals and prepare for the consequences of climate change, and on the insight that the Israeli climate-tech arena is not exhausting its inherent potential due to various challenges that characterize the field. Among other things, there is a market failure manifested in the fact that the private capital market avoids climate-tech investments or underinvests in these technologies, because of too high a risk and too long a return, and this despite the fact that an investment in the field is expected to yield a significant return for the economy.
The team based its recommendations on international market reviews, an examination of the inventive activity in Israel compared to the OECD countries, mapping and classification of Israeli climate-tech companies in collaboration with the PLANETech innovation community, identification of Israel's technological strengths compared to other developed countries, analysis of investment volumes in the field and identification of barriers and challenges, among other things, through a survey conducted by the Innovation Authority.
The team emphasizes the importance of joint and coordinated government action in order to promote innovation in climate technologies. The recommendations deal with aspects of international collaborations, funding for R&D and increasing industry awareness of the climate issue, and they refer to all stages of the economic value chain, starting with the stimulation of groundbreaking research in academia and encouraging its transfer to industry, through the germination of new start-up companies and climate-tech ventures in large companies to testing and implementation Climate technologies in Israel.
Among the recommendations in the document, it is possible to mention the need to encourage basic and applied academic research and establish joint R&D infrastructures for academia and industry; to encourage climate entrepreneurship through support for start-up companies, the launch of national challenge events under the auspices of the Prime Minister and joint ideation events for the government-academia-industry; increase government support budgets for climate technologies and examine ways to encourage the presence in Israel of specialized investment entities; Increase the activity of the government ministries and harness them to carry out pilots and demonstrations in Israel (among other things, using national infrastructures) and promote multi-sectoral and interministerial piloting activity, and guide the regulators in the government ministries to use existing regulatory frameworks (and, if necessary, examine the creation of new regulatory frameworks), on In order to enable a defined experimental environment in which regulation facilitates under conditions that will ensure control and protection of the public interests that the regulation is intended to protect.
Staff recommendations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGmPy5HvsbE
Creating knowledge and promoting groundbreaking academic research
• Encouraging basic academic research by defining the fields of climate as core fields in the upcoming multi-year program of the Ministry of Education and Culture and continuing to provide grants to researchers in the fields of climate by government ministries.
• Incentivize groundbreaking applied academic research by providing grants to researchers and creating connections between academia and industry.
• Examining the need to establish joint R&D infrastructures for academia and industry and activities to establish them.
• Identification of relevant knowledge that exists in academia outside of Israel and activities to bring it to fruition in the local industry.
Germination of new ventures -
• Encouraging the germination of new start-up companies as well as development projects in existing companies of climate-tech solutions, among other things by using the dedicated tools that exist in the Innovation Authority and in cooperation with government ministries for the purpose of germinating companies (incubators, innovation laboratories, accelerators, innovation centers, etc.). as well as in the operations of the offices in their areas of expertise.
• Promoting climate entrepreneurship by launching national challenge events, under the auspices of the Prime Minister, in which industry, academia and the entrepreneurial community are asked to propose solutions to the leading climate challenges of the Israeli government, and this in light of the importance of the public and governmental call for Israeli entrepreneurs to respond to the solution of global and national challenges in the fields of climate, and the potential of answering this To be an incentive for entrepreneurship and the germination of start-up companies that have an impact on climate challenges.
• Encouraging entrepreneurship and joint ideation processes by holding joint government-academia-industry events, possibly through the Ministry of Economy's communities dealing with climate.
R&D funding
• Examining the government incentive in the areas of financing start-up companies and growth companies in the fields of climate, throughout the germination stages, the early financing stages and the gable stages in the Israeli market (both for demonstration and initial implementation and as a target market for implementation). Among other things, it is necessary to examine the failures of the private market, the ways to encourage the presence of investment entities specializing in climate technologies in Israel and the accessibility of financing mechanisms based on equity and/or debt to finance ventures in Israeli climate-tech companies.
• Increasing government support for climate-tech companies in the existing mechanisms by increasing the budgeting of the support programs as well as by increasing the scope of grants and their amount
Promotion of international collaborations
• Creating a bi-national or multinational support mechanism to encourage investment in research, development, testing and demonstration of technologies to combat the climate crisis, including cooperation through bi-national research and development funds, pooling of budgetary sources and diverting existing budgetary sources within the existing funds.
• Operating the array of embassies and economic annexes in accordance with a joint work plan to promote Israeli companies, to open doors and create collaborations to promote Israeli innovation in the Green Deal program which is part of the European framework program.
• Establishment of an international center for climate change (Desert Tech) as part of the innovation district program in Beer Sheva. The center will be a meeting point for policy, industry and research on desert and climate change, and will promote the development of technological solutions, policy tools and capacity building in the variety of challenges related to adapting to life in the desert. Among other things, the center will deal in the fields of water, energy, food, infrastructure, health and climate. the support programs as well as by increasing the scope of the grants and their amount.
Experimentation and implementation of climate technologies in Israel -
• Increasing the activity of other government ministries and harnessing them to carry out pilots and demonstrations in Israel of Israeli technologies in the field of climate-tech at the appropriate stages of technological maturity, among other things, on national infrastructures and public or private demonstration sites. The pilots will be supported by the pilot fund at the Innovation Authority, in addition to the continuation of existing pilot activity in the government offices. In addition, the promotion of demonstration projects from two realities - defining targeted and timed efforts that include a critical mass of multi-sector and interagency running activity (industry + running site + government officials + regulator).
To guide the regulators in the government ministries to use existing regulatory frameworks (for example legislation, standards, and/or concessions in individual permits) and, if necessary, an examination of the creation of new regulatory frameworks, which will allow:
• A defined experimental environment with a facilitating regulation that will allow advanced pilot experiments with Israeli technology, for limited periods that will be defined and under conditions that will ensure monitoring and control in order to maintain the public interests that the regulation is designed to protect;
• Carrying out regulatory experiments of the activation of policy tools and economic incentives, in a way that will ensure monitoring and control in order to maintain the public interests that the regulation is intended to protect.
Regulating the modes and methods of implementation of engagements of public bodies with technology companies for the purpose of transferring information and assistance for technology development; performing simulations, experiments and demonstrations (pilots); And continue to purchase the innovative product. If necessary, to also include a proposal for the regulation of regulations or legislative changes, which are required in order to allow government ministries and public bodies to continue contracting with technology companies that have performed experiments or demonstrations in infrastructures or public bodies, and to allow clear criteria for prioritizing procurement that includes technologically advanced components, which is required for the purpose of adaptation to climate change or rapid technological changes.
Increasing the demand in the local industry for low-carbon technologies, among other things, by means of capital grants for the implementation of new and efficient low-carbon technologies, consulting and technological support and other incentives.
Increasing awareness in the industry about the climate issue: implementing compliance with standards on ESG issues as part of the inspection process carried out in the various government ministries for the support requests submitted to them, conducting enrichment workshops for high-tech companies and entrepreneurs and connecting them to the climate field, conducting dedicated training for human capital required in companies for the purpose of creating and assimilating organizational knowledge in the climate field.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
