India-Israel collaborate to strengthen sectors of agri, health & environment

The growing India-Israel relationship took a step further as six Israeli startups with innovative technologies in the fields of healthcare, agriculture and water management interacted with various Indian businesses.

The innovation week 23-27 July was jointly started over a year ago by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu along with Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) and Invest India and represents a peak in the relationship between the two countries.

Designed with the purpose of helping Israeli companies leverage their technologies, develop, adapt and commercialize their innovation in the Indian sub-continent, the India-Israel Innovation Bridge is managed by the Israel Innovation Authority, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt. of India and Invest India.

Selected under "Israel-India Bridge to Innovation" program, the six Israeli companies included Amaizz (a company that has developed a portable drying device enabling dry storage of agricultural produce); Biofeed (a company that has developed a device to combat fruit flies); Zebra Medical (a company developing medical imaging technologies); MobileODT (a company that has developed devices to diagnose cervical cancer) amongst others.

"India and Israel are quickly becoming important partners to each other. There are many similarities that make both the countries compatible rather than competitors." She also added, India is working with Israel in many areas from setting up of dozens of centers of excellence across India in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing defence equipment, to cleaning of the Yamuna and Ganga with the help of Israeli technologies; Israel is fast becoming India's technological partner," said co-founder and Managing Partner of the Israeli office of A&G Partners and the Chairperson of the Israel-India Chamber of Commerce, Anat Bernstein-Reich.

The two countries share an important partnership and have mutual necessity which has in turn made Israel an important partner for India's technological needs. Over the past few years, the relationship between the two countries has been seeing an upward movement and has been witness to various visits by the prime ministers and presidents of both the countries.

The partnership has also seen the signing of an agreement to start an innovation fund under which the two countries will contribute USD 4 million each annually for a period of five years.

The startup ecosystem has boosted in both the nations who have now realized the potential in collaboration for growth beyond diplomatic relations. To facilitate the bilateral collaborations between corporations, startups, tech hubs and other key innovation ecosystem players, delegates from both the countries have been visiting each other to form several new partnerships.

With a growth in diplomatic ties, India has emerged as one of the largest trading partners for Israel and continues to lead the baton of its startup ecosystem across the world with strategic tie-ups.