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R&D Policy in Israel: An Overview and Reassessment

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  • Manuel Trajtenberg

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of R&D policy in Israel, and critically examine the policies currently in place as well as proposals to change them. We review in Part I the various programs of the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Israel, followed by a discussion of studies on the impact of OCS support, and an overview of the rise of the High-Tech sector in Israel with the aid patent data. Part II examines outstanding policy issues and suggestions for reform. It opens with a discussion of allocation schemes for the OCS Grants Program in view of a rigid budget constraint, and an assessment of possible departures from neutrality.' We then examine the payback system, the conditionality of production in Israel, the Magnet' program for the support of generic R&D, and related issues. Next we review the difficulties in setting a policy target for R&D spending, and lastly we ask whether government policy should perhaps be aimed also at the supply side (of the market for R&D personnel), rather than just keep subsidizing the demand side. Clearly, these policy issues are of relevance not just for Israel but for any economy contemplating active government involvement in R&D.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel Trajtenberg, 2000. "R&D Policy in Israel: An Overview and Reassessment," NBER Working Papers 7930, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7930
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    1. Manuel Trajtenberg, 2002. "Government Support for Commercial R&D: Lessons from the Israeli Experience," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 2, pages 79-134, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Zehavi, Amos & Breznitz, Dan, 2017. "Distribution sensitive innovation policies: Conceptualization and empirical examples," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 327-336.
    3. Annamaria Conti & Jerry Thursby & Marie Thursby, 2013. "Patents as Signals for Startup Financing," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 592-622, September.
    4. Breznitz, Dan, 2007. "Industrial R&D as a national policy: Horizontal technology policies and industry-state co-evolution in the growth of the Israeli software industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1465-1482, November.
    5. Roper, Stephen & Hewitt-Dundas, Nola & Love, James H., 2004. "An ex ante evaluation framework for the regional benefits of publicly supported R&D projects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 487-509, April.
    6. Stavins, Robert & Jaffe, Adam & Newell, Richard, 2000. "Technological Change and the Environment," Working Paper Series rwp00-002, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    7. Saul Lach, 2002. "Do R&D Subsidies Stimulate or Displace Private R&D? Evidence from Israel," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 369-390, December.
    8. Breznitz, Dan & Zehavi, Amos, 2010. "The limits of capital: Transcending the public financer-private producer split in industrial R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 301-312, March.
    9. Devrim Goktepe, 2003. "The Triple Helix as a model to analyze Israeli Magnet Program and lessons for late-developing countries like Turkey," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 58(2), pages 219-239, October.
    10. Ornit Raz & Peter A. Gloor, 2007. "Size Really Matters--New Insights for Start-ups' Survival," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(2), pages 169-177, February.
    11. Stephen Roper & Seamus Grimes, 2003. "Wireless Valley, Silicon Wadi and Digital Island - Helsinki, Tel Aviv and Dublin in the ICT Boom," ERSA conference papers ersa03p62, European Regional Science Association.
    12. Nola Hewitt-Dundas & Stephen Roper, 2009. "Output Additionality of Public Support for Innovation: Evidence for Irish Manufacturing Plants," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 107-122, September.
    13. Carpentier, Cécile & Suret, Jean-Marc, 2006. "Création et financement des entreprises technologiques : les leçons du modèle israélien," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 82(3), pages 419-438, septembre.
    14. Marey, P.S., 2002. "Crowding out in the Dutch labour market for R&D workers," ROA Report 6E, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    15. Asher Blass & Oved Yosha, 2003. "Financing R&D in mature companies: An empirical analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(5), pages 425-447.
    16. Jaffe, Adam B. & Newell, Richard G. & Stavins, Robert N., 2003. "Chapter 11 Technological change and the environment," Handbook of Environmental Economics, in: K. G. Mäler & J. R. Vincent (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 11, pages 461-516, Elsevier.
    17. AnnaLee Saxenian, 2006. "International Mobility of Engineers and the Rise of Entrepreneurship in the Periphery," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-142, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O38 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Government Policy
    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods

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