ISRAEL TAKES EUREKA CHAIR - WORLD'S LARGEST R&D INITIATIVE

Israel became the first non-European state to head the EUREKA Network, the leading industrial R&D initiative in Europe and the largest of its kind in the world with investments of 1.5 billion euros every year. Israel's Office of the Chief Scientist head Eli Opper will serve as the organization's chairman.

In recent years, Israel became one of the five most active members in Eureka boasting the same number of projects as much bigger [EU] countries. Out of nearly 300 new projects initiated by Eureka in 2008, 40 involved Israeli companies. As the head of the pan-European, inter-governmental initiative, Israel has planned five conferences, starting in Tel Aviv in October and culminating in Jerusalem in June 2011. Eureka was set up in 1985 as a legal framework allowing European companies to collaborate and receive government funding.