Israel Innovation Authority Bilateral R&D Incentive Program

Israel Innovation Authority Bilateral R&D Incentive Program

Funds Israeli technology companies developing or upgrading products with a foreign partner through the Israel Innovation Authority's bilateral R&D grant.

The Bilateral R&D Incentive Program – R&D Fund is run by the Israel Innovation Authority, Israel's government agency for technology funding. It is a grant. The Authority pays its money in parallel with funding that a foreign body — a state, country, province, or city — gives to the foreign partner under a bilateral agreement, so each side funds its own company on the same joint project.

The grant is set as a share of an approved annual budget. That approved budget is at least NIS 500,000 and at most NIS 1.5 million a year, and the project runs over five years. The grant covers between 50% and 60% of the approved budget in each of the first three years, then 30% in the fourth year and 40% in the fifth year, so the cash you receive each year is that percentage of the budget the Authority approves, not the budget figure itself.

The program is for Israeli technology companies from any sector that want to develop or significantly upgrade a technology product together with an international partner. The company applies directly, so it must be a for-profit business; there is no requirement to go through a research institution.

The program is open all year, and the Authority publishes calls for proposals from time to time. This English page does not give a single deadline date, an online application link, or the detailed rules; it sends Israeli companies to the Authority's Hebrew site for the requirements and the application process. Plan for the joint project to be approved on both the Israeli and the foreign side before work counts.

Two practical points to watch: the headline NIS 500,000 to NIS 1.5 million figures are the approved budget, while the grant is the smaller percentage above, and the foreign partner must secure its own matching funding from its own government body for the bilateral structure to work.