CanNegev, the world’s first government-sponsored medical cannabis technology incubator, will open in the southern Israeli city of Yeruham.

It’s expected that a total of 30 startup companies with breakthrough technology in the medical cannabis field will be admitted into the incubator over a period of five years.

CanNegev will be operated for the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), an agency of the Economy and Industry Ministry, by a consortium made up of global investment platform OurCrowd; Perrigo, the world’s largest non-prescription drug company; and Israeli medical cannabis company BOL Pharma, an OurCrowd portfolio company.

The IIA and the consortium plan to invest approximately ₪150 million (about $43 million) in CanNegev companies.

The IIA also will open tech incubators to develop innovations for Industry 4.0 and for plastics, cleantech and agtech. Like CanNegev, these will be established in periphery regions in the north and south.

Shareholders in the I 4 Valley Industry 4.0 incubator in Carmiel include Wipro Givon, Kusto (Tambour), Keter Plastic, Trellidoor, Flying Cargo and Klil.

Shareholders in the InNegev incubator for cleantech, agtech, plastics and advanced industry in the northern Negev include Alpha Capital, Netafim Holdings Hatzerim, SodaStream, Revel, Netafim, Tami (Israel Chemicals), and Dolav Plastic Products, among others.

Aharon Aharon, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, said: “The incubators will bring significant added value to support technological entrepreneurship in the periphery, whether via entrepreneurs or research institutions, by granting access to their wide network of contacts and potential clients and by using their vast business and technological experience in bringing products to market.”

Altogether, the three new incubators — expected to open in several months — will promote the establishment of 130 startups during the program period, with a budget of up to ₪1 million (close to $30 million) per startup. They will support entrepreneurs from concept to market entry through the IIA’s various support programs.