Israel Innovation Authority
Funds innovation across Israel through research grants and royalty-linked pathways for technology commercialization.
The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) is Israel's national innovation funder. Established in 2016 as the successor to the Office of the Chief Scientist, IIA operates under the Ministry of Economy and Industry. Annual budget is approximately ILS 2.5 billion across all programmes.
IIA's defining funding model is royalty-back: companies receive conditional grants and repay via royalty payments on sales only if the project commercialises. If commercialisation fails, no repayment is required. This makes IIA grants effectively non-dilutive for early-stage Israeli companies, with risk-sharing across the public sector.
IIA's flagship is the R&D Fund (20-50% of approved R&D budget, plus regional bonuses up to +25% in the Gaza Strip area and preferential rates up to 75% for minority, Ultra-Orthodox, or women-led startups). Other major tracks include the Ideation (Tnufa) program for early-stage entrepreneurs (NIS 200,000 over 12 months), the Magnet consortium R&D program, sectoral tracks (Climate Tech, Smart Transport, etc.), and bilateral international R&D collaborations with the US (BIRD), Singapore (SIIRD), India (I4F), and Korea (KORIL).
IIA also licenses technology incubators that operate under its umbrella to support pre-Tnufa stage startups.