Israel’s National Council for Civilian Research and Development (NCCRD) has recommended that Israel’s top five research and development priorities should be bioconvergence (merging engineering and medicine); food tech; renewable energy and energy storage; civilian space industry and blue tech (using the sea as a national resource).
The committee also recommended continuing government support for two areas previously identified as national priorities, which have already received initial funding: quantum AI and data science.
These five fields “are significant in terms of global competition and the continued advancement of Israel’s cutting-edge technologies, with a view to ensuring its economic future and maintaining its scientific excellence over the next five years,” said NCCRD Chairman Prof. Peretz Lavie.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Orit Farkash Hacohen said she plans to adopt the committee’s recommendations when deciding how to distribute 180 million shekels in research grants each year. In addition, national programs will be established in these fields.
“The priority R&D areas will ensure Israel’s scientific and technological leadership in decades to come,” she said.