The Union Cabinet has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) which was inked between India and Israel in July – ‘India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F)’ – on August 30 in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As per the MoU, India and Israel will make contribution of $4 million each annually for a period of 5 years to set up a $40 million innovation fund for industrial research and technological innovation. The contributed fund will be governed by a joint Board which will consist of 4 members from each country.

The MoU is expected to promote bilateral Industrial R&D and Innovation cooperation in the fields of science and technology by extending support to joint projects for innovative or technology-driven new or improved products, services or processes.

“Such projects will lead to affordable technological innovations in focus areas of mutual interest such as water, agriculture, energy and digital technologies. Institutional support in building up consortia including private industry, enterprises and R&D institutions from India and Israel will be enabled through these collaborative projects,” said an official press release.

The activities supported by the Joint Fund would increase the techno-economic collaboration between the two nations by investing in jointly developed technology projects and collaborations based on technological innovation.

“It would leverage the complementary strengths of Israel and India to encourage Israel-Indian joint projects that capitalize on both the national and global marketplace,” the release added.

In a bid to convert “know-how” into “show-how”, the innovation fund would provide a comprehensive set of support tools to encourage joint projects of the two nations.

It is expected that I4F will foster and strengthen the eco-system of innovation and techno-entrepreneurship in India and will contribute directly to the Central government’s ambitious Startup India programme.

Cabinet approves MoU on "India-Israel 🇮🇳🇮🇱 Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund" https://t.co/zoFJWAI5ET pic.twitter.com/2gRDC8EWgc

— Commerce Minister (@CimGOI) August 30, 2017