Eureka Network To Meet In Northern Israel This Week

European leaders of research and development and high-level representatives from the EUREKA Network, Europe’s leading platform for R&D-performing entrepreneurs and industries, are gathering in northern Israel this week to take part in the third meeting of Israel’s Chairmanship year.

Representatives from 40 member countries of EUREKA will address representatives of the European Commission to demonstrate how EUREKA is to become the preferred support organization for European cross-border cooperation in industrial R&D.

The Mayor of the city of Haifa, Mr. Yona Yahav, and the Mayor of the city of Nazareth, Mr. Rames Jarrisi, will address the conference participants, the third in a year-long (July 2010 – June 2011) chairmanship that puts Israel at the reins of the EUREKA Network and will provide European industries with unprecedented exposure to Israeli innovation, technology, its wealth of knowledge and its entrepreneurship. The participants include industry leaders, scientists, European Commission representatives, and EUREKA’s High Level Group Representatives and National Project Coordinators from 40 countries – the leading decision makers and project generators of EUREKA.

The conference is also hosting several Jewish and Arab entrepreneurs from the Galilee region, including: Nasri Said, CEO of NGT (Next-Generation Technology); Tariq Awad, CEO of Awad Gas; Assaf Barnea, CEO of Kinrot Ventures; Klara Oren, CEO of Green Technological Incubator; Inas Said, CEO of Galil Software; and Bader Mansour, CEO of Nazdaq.

One of the focuses of the meeting is the efficiency and impact of the EUREKA program on participant companies.

Kalman Gaier, owner of Applied Economics, which conducts financial and business research, will present the findings of his survey on this issue at the conference. Ms. Anne Laperrouze, a representative of the European Commission appointed to examine the efficiency of the Eurostars program, will also present her findings during the conference. EUREKA’s Eurostars is the first European funding and support program to be specifically dedicated to SMEs.

Additional speakers at the conference include John McDougall, President of Canada’s National Research Council, and Yoav Stern, Director of the Business and Economics Department at the Peres Center for Peace.

Dr. Eli Opper, Chairman of the Israeli Chairmanship of EUREKA and former Chief Scientist of Israel, said that “The Israeli Chairmanship of EUREKA encourages international cooperation in the field of R&D in the business sector, Jewish and Arab united. During the chairmanship year, we chose to expose to the 40 EUREKA member countries, and indeed even from outside Europe in Canada, to the variety of labor forces in local Israeli R&D.”

Israel Shamay, Chairman of EUREKA’s National Coordinators, said “the Haifa-Nazareth gathering is very significant in realizing the vision of EUREKA to continue working as the most preferred industrial R&D platform in Europe, in light of the program’s achievements in the 25 years since its founding. There is no doubt that the program is the most useful and beneficial of its kind to European industry. During the Haifa-Nazareth gathering EUREKA will approve 89 cooperative projects, in all industrial fields.”