Israeli researchers and companies have secured grants totaling more than 1.1 billion euros from the European Union's Horizon Europe program, the Israeli Innovation Authority reported. The achievement was celebrated Wednesday at a ceremony held at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Jaffa.
The event, organized by ISERD – the Israeli Horizon Directorate at the Innovation Authority and the European Union Delegation to Israel, honored 605 academic researchers and representatives from over 400 Israeli companies that received grants between 2021 and 2024. European Union Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev attended the ceremony and presented awards to the recipients.
During his speech, Tzantchev highlighted the strategic importance of scientific and technological cooperation between Israel and the European Union: "Israel is one of the leading countries in the list of recipients of European Research Council grants and the European Union's Accelerator program, an achievement that testifies to the high level of Israeli research and innovation," he said. "The scientific and technological cooperation between the European Union and Israel continues to be one of the strongest and most fruitful areas in our relations."
Data presented at the event demonstrated Israeli excellence across multiple sectors. In academia, 605 researchers received grants totaling approximately 592 million euros, while in industry, 386 companies secured about 228 million euros in funding. Small and medium enterprises showed particular success, with 40 companies receiving grants worth 95 million euros, alongside an additional 242 million euros awarded to Israeli companies participating in the European Union's accelerator program.
Dr. Alon Stopler, Chairman of the Innovation Authority, emphasized at the ceremony that "Israel's extensive participation in the Horizon Europe program is evidence of Israel's status as a global innovation center, crossing borders and creating global impact." Dror Bin, CEO of the Innovation Authority, added: "Israel continues to lead in innovation, and the impressive scope of wins in prestigious grants reflects its position as a leading strategic partner in Europe and the world."
Among the highlighted projects at the ceremony were IBM Israel's participation in the TEADEL project focused on data lakes, Mellanox Technologies' work developing distributed artificial intelligence networks, and EKON's partnership in a project to improve civil preparedness for natural disasters. Additionally, Genetika+ was recognized for winning in the EIC Accelerator program for its innovative tools addressing depression.
The Horizon Europe program has a total budget of 95.5 billion euros for the period of 2021-2027 and represents the European Union's largest framework for research and innovation. Israel's participation enables its researchers and companies to integrate into European research infrastructures and collaborate on addressing technological, environmental, and social challenges.
