The Eilat-Ilot Group was selected as the franchisee of the Technological Center for Renewable Energies

The Chief Scientist at the TMT Ministry, Dr. Eli Ofer: The Eilat-Ilot Group was selected as the franchisee of the Technological Center for Renewable Energies. * The government budget that will be allocated to the technological center is 57 million NIS for 5 years * The winning group is obliged to invest at least the same amount of investment in the center - the total budget of the center will be at least 114 million NIS. * Minister of Natural Resources Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer: "The technological center is part of the government's strategic activity to strengthen the Negev and the Arabah, while taking advantage of the unique conditions that exist in these areas that enable advanced R&D in the fields of renewable energies"

At the end of a competitive process in which two groups competed, the professional committee for the Technological Center for Renewable Energies, headed by the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of the TMT, Dr. Eli Ofer, chose the proposal of the group "Technological Center for Renewable Energy in Arava Ltd" as the winning proposal to receive the franchise for the establishment of the technological center for renewable energies and its activation. Representatives of the Ministry of National Infrastructures also participated in the professional committee that chose the franchisee; Ministry of Finance; Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee; Director of the BIRD ENERGY fund for Israel-USA bilateral cooperation on renewable energies and public representatives.

The technological center will be located in the "Ilot" region and is expected to contribute significantly to the economic and technological development and enable the utilization of the geographical advantages that this region has to offer. The winning group consists of the companies "Ormat", "Elbit Systems", "Rafael", the investment fund "Pro-Seed", the "Bitoh Direct" group, "Consensus Business Group", the Renewable Energy Administration of Eilat-Ilot, Ben Gurion University , "Arava" Institute, Shubulat Attorney's Office, Modula and Negev Sheli.

The winning group faced the group "National Renewable Energy Center Ltd", which proposed to establish the center in the city of Sderot. This group consists of "Bern Group", "Pace Global" company (USA), "Ridge Global" company (USA), Bar Ilan University, Notra Dam University (USA), entrepreneur Shay Billis, " Delkaoil", the Economic Society of Sderot, Myran Ausch, Ami Rodich, Juelich Institute (Germany) and Lahmayer (Germany).

Dr. Ofer said today that according to the government's decision, the government budget that will be allocated to the technology center is 57 million NIS for 5 years, and the winning group is obligated to invest at least the same amount of investment in the center, so that the total budget of the center will be at least 114 million NIS. Dr. Ofer stated that 3 tracks will be activated at the technological center: the "initial track" to encourage collaborations between academia and industry; The "advanced track" for supporting technological initiatives and bringing them to the stage of proving technological feasibility and raising further investments from private investment bodies and strategic investors; and an "experimental area route" that will allow experiments to prove the feasibility of technologies from the fields of renewable energies.

In general, the technological center will encourage technological entrepreneurship in the fields of renewable energies, by creating an assistance system that will allow technological entrepreneurs at the beginning of their journey to develop the project, from the research and development phase to the phase of proving the feasibility in experimental areas and with cooperation between academic institutions, research institutes and industry.

According to the Minister of Transport and Communications, Binyamin (Fouad) Ben-Eliezer, "the technological center is part of the government's strategic activity to strengthen the Negev and the Arabah, while taking advantage of the unique conditions that exist in these areas that enable advanced R&D in the fields of renewable energies. Also, the Ministry of Science and Technology sees great importance in creating new tools to increase the scope and improve the quality of research and development in Israel."

The Chief Scientist at the TMT Office, Dr. Eli Ofer, further stated that "the establishment of the technological center is an important step in the activities of the Office of the Chief Scientist for the positioning of Israel as a world leader in the development of technologies for global needs in the fields of renewable energies, water and environmental quality." Dr. Ofer added that "within this framework, another call is expected to be issued in the coming months for the operation of a technological center for the development of water technologies, which will be built in Sde Boker. The water technology center was allocated a government budget of NIS 35 million for 5 years."

The Office of the Chief Scientist stated that additional support programs are being implemented to promote the development of "green" technologies in Israel. Among these are the technological incubators program and the swing program, which help technological entrepreneurs at the beginning of their journey, the magnet program that supports and encourages the transfer of knowledge from the academy to industrial and commercial applications, and the R&D fund, which participates in the risk that companies take on when entering into technological development and new products.