Science and technology in Israel

thumb|353x353px|[[Koffler accelerator|Koffler particle accelerator, Weizmann institute ]]

Science and technology in Israel is one of the country's most developed sectors. In 2019, Israel was ranked the world's seventh most innovative country by the Bloomberg Innovation Index.

Israel counts 140 scientists and technicians per 10,000 employees, one of the highest ratios in the world. In comparison, there are 85 per 10,000 in the United States and 83 per 10,000 in Japan. In 2012, Israel counted 8,337 full-time equivalent researchers per million inhabitants. This compares with 3,984 in the US, 6,533 in the Republic of South Korea and 5,195 in Japan. Since 2000, Israel has been a member of EUREKA, the pan-European research and development funding and coordination organization, and held the rotating chairmanship of the organization for 2010–2011. In 2010, American journalist David Kaufman wrote that the high-tech area of Yokneam, Israel, has the "world's largest concentration of aesthetics-technology companies". Google chairman Eric Schmidt complimented the country during a visit there, saying that “Israel has the most important high-tech center in the world after the US.” Israel was ranked 14th in the Global Innovation Index in 2025, down from 10th in 2019. The Tel Aviv region was ranked the fourth global tech ecosystem in the world.

History

Jewish settlement in Israel was motivated by both ideology and flight from persecution. Return to the homeland was an important aspect of Jewish immigration and was perceived by many as a return to the soil. To establish the rural villages that formed the core of Zionist ideology and produce self-supporting Jewish farmers, agronomic experiments were conducted. The foundations of agricultural research in Israel were laid by the teachers and graduates of the Mikveh Yisrael School, the country's first agricultural school, established by the Alliance Israelite Universelle in 1870. On a field trip to Mount Hermon in 1906, the agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn discovered Triticum dicoccoides, or emmer wheat, believed to be the "mother of all wheat." In 1909, he founded an agricultural research station in Atlit where he built up an extensive library and collected geological and botanical samples. The Agricultural Station, founded in Rehovot in 1921, engaged in soil research and other aspects of farming in the country's difficult climatic conditions. This station, which became the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), is now Israel's major institution of agricultural research and development.

thumb|left|[[Albert Einstein at the Technion in 1923]]

In 1912, the first cornerstone of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology was laid at a festive ceremony in Haifa, which was then occupied by the Ottoman Empire. The Technion would become a unique university worldwide in its claim to precede and create a nation. As Jews were often barred from technical education in Europe, the Technion claims to have brought the skills needed to build a modern state.

Established before World War I, the Hebrew Health Station in Jerusalem, founded by Nathan Straus engaged in medical and public health research, operating departments for public hygiene, eye diseases and bacteriology. The station manufactured vaccines against typhus and cholera, and developed methods of pest control to eliminate field mice. The Pasteur Institute affiliated with the station developed a rabies vaccine. The Rothschild-Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus opened in 1939 and was the first teaching hospital and medical center in the country. Since renamed the Hadassah Medical Center, it has become a leader in medical research.

thumb|[[WEIZAC in 1954, the first modern computer in the Middle East]]

Industrial research began at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, was also initiated at the Daniel Sieff Research Center (later the Weizmann Institute of Science), established in 1934 in Rehovot. The Dead Sea Laboratories opened in the 1930s. The first modern electronic computer in Israel and the Middle East, and one of the first large-scale, stored-program, electronic computers in the world, called WEIZAC, was built at the Weizmann Institute during 1954–1955, based on the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) architecture developed by John von Neumann. WEIZAC has been recognized by the IEEE as a milestone in the history of electrical engineering and computing. IBM Israel, registered on June 8, 1950, was the country's first high-tech firm. The company, located on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, assembled and repaired punch card machines, sorting machines and tabulators. In 1956, a local plant was opened to produce punch cards, and a year later, the first service center opened, offering computerized data processing services.

Scientific and technological research in Israel was boosted by the appointment of a chief scientist for the Industry and Trade Ministry at the recommendation of a committee headed by Ephraim Katzir, later president of Israel. The Israeli government provided grants that covered 50–80 percent of the outlay for new start-ups, with no conditions, no shareholding and no participation in management.

Origins of Israeli high-tech industry

Israel's high-technology industries are a spin-off of the rapid development of computer science and technology in the 1980s in such places as Silicon Valley and Massachusetts Route 128 in the US, which ushered in the current high-tech era. Up until that point, Israel's economy had been essentially based on agriculture, mining and secondary sectors such as diamond polishing and manufacturing in textiles, fertilizers and plastics.

The key factor which enabled high-tech industries based on information and communication technologies to take root and flourish in Israel was investment by the defense and aerospace industries, which spawned new technologies and know-how. Israel devoted 17.1% of its GDP to military expenditure in 1988. Even though this share had dropped to 5.8% of GDP by 2016, Israel military spending remains among the highest in the world. For the purposes of comparison, the United States devoted 5.7% of its GDP to military expenditure in 1988 and 3.3% in 2016. This heavy investment in defense and aerospace formed the basis for Israel's high-tech industries in medical devices, electronics, telecommunications, computer software and hardware.

The massive Russian immigration of the 1990s reinforced this phenomenon, doubling the number of engineers and scientists in Israel overnight. Between 1989 and 2006, about 979,000 Russian Jews and their relatives migrated to Israel, which had a population of just 4.5 million in 1989.

The purchase of Mirabilis in 1998 marked the first big exit of high technology in Israel and caused a rush of Israeli companies as part of the Dot-com bubble.

Contemporary high-tech industry in Israel

thumb|332x332px|Israeli StemRad astronaut anti radiation suit, picture by [[NASA]]

Currently, Israel has the world's most research-intensive business sector. In 2018, 4.95% of its GDP was invested in research and technology. Meanwhile, Israel's technology sector plays a crucial role in the country's economy. In 2021, the Israeli high-technology sector accounted for around 12% of the country's economic output and 10% of its national labour force. Many of these centers are owned by large multinational firms that have acquired Israeli companies, technology and know-how and transformed them through mergers and acquisitions into their own local research facilities. The activity of some research centers even spans more than three decades, such as those of Intel, Applied Materials, Motorola, and IBM. By 2019, the number had risen to 19. The growth in the number of unicorn startups in Israel, together with tech startups maturing to become public companies rather being acquired earlier in their lifecycle, has led to the suggestion that Israel has transitioned from 'Startup Nation' to 'Scale-up Nation'.

In January 2026, the Israeli government launched a national artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer initiative aimed at enhancing technological sovereignty and reducing reliance on foreign cloud providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Managed by the Israel Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, the program provides local high-tech firms, defense startups, and academic researchers with access to a high-performance computing cluster featuring 1,000 Nvidia B200 Blackwell accelerators. The project is a central component of a multi-year national AI plan, budgeted at approximately 1 billion NIS (about $315 million), designed to lower entry barriers for smaller companies and ensure domestic data sovereignty for sensitive defense and medical research.

Education policy

Despite its reputation as a 'Start Up Nation', 25% of Israelis are technologically illiterate due to cultural and financial barriers. Around 375,000 children in Israel do not have access to a computer at home.

Sixth Higher Education Plan

Israel's higher education system is regulated by the Council for Higher Education and its Planning and Budgeting Committee. The Israeli higher education system operates under a multi-year plan agreed upon by the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) and the Ministry of Finance. Each plan determines policy objectives and, accordingly, the budgets to be allocated in order to achieve these objectives. The shortage also generates a significant and disproportionate increase in salaries, which causes companies to look for new employees abroad. To solve the problem Israel's Council for Higher Education has already launched a five-years program to increase the number of graduates from computer science and engineering programs by 40%.

Digital technologies

Israel is investing heavily in technologies such as AI and data science, smart mobility, digital health and e-governance through Digital Israel, a series of national programmes that include the Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Initiative.

Digital Israel is the concrete expression of the government's Digital Policy for 2017–2022. This NIS 1.5 billion (about US$425 million) initiative aims to make Israel a global leader in this domain. The programme plans to leverage Israeli expertise in information and communication technologies (ICTs) to accelerate economic growth, reduce socio-economic disparities and make governance smarter, faster and citizen-friendlier.

Research universities

thumb|434x434px|The [[Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot]]

Israel has nine research universities: Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the University of Haifa, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University,Open university of Israel, reichman universityand the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot.

Other scientific research institutions include the Volcani Institute of Agricultural Research in Beit Dagan, the Israel Institute for Biological Research and the Soreq Nuclear Research Center. The Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center at Sde Boker is an alternative energy research institute established in 1987 by the Ministry of National Infrastructures to study alternative and clean energy technologies.

Israeli universities are ranked among the top 50 academic institutions in the world in the following scientific disciplines: in chemistry (Technion); in computer science (Weizmann Institute of Science, Technion, Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University); and in engineering (Technion).

In 2009, Mor Tzaban, an Israeli high school student from Netivot, won first prize in the First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics competition. In 2012, Yuval Katzenelson of Kiryat Gat won first prize with a paper entitled "Kinetic energy of inert gas in a regenerative system of activated carbon." The Israeli delegation won 14 more prizes in the competition: nine Israelis students won second prize, one won third prize and one won fourth prize.

Research and development center

Except universities, Israel has seven R&D centers in the periphery. These centers were established by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and include Migal and the Dead Sea and Arava science center. Their orientation is based on applied science and the dissemination of scientific knowledge to the general population. To date, seven centers are working with significant academic impact and relevance to the region.

Scientific output

The number of Israeli publications stagnated between 2005 and 2014, according to Thomson Reuters' Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded). Consequently, the number of Israeli publications per million inhabitants also declined: between 2008 and 2013, it dropped from 1 488 to 1 431; this trend reflects a relative constancy in scholarly output in the face of relatively high population growth (1.1% in 2014) for a developed country and near-zero growth in the number of full-time equivalent researchers in universities. Between 2005 and 2014, Israeli scientific output was particularly high in life sciences. Israeli universities do particularly well in computer science but publications in this field tend to appear mostly in conference proceedings, which are not included in the Web of Science.

Israeli scientists collaborate mostly with Western countries such as the European Union and the United States but there has been strong growth in recent years in collaboration with East Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, India, and the Southeast Asian city state of Singapore. Israel's first university TT unit, Yeda, was established by the Weizmann Institute of Science in the 1950s. Research in such fields as arid and semi-arid zone agricultural engineering was transferred to kibbutzim and private farmers on a gratis basis and agricultural knowledge was shared with developing countries.

In 1964, Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was founded.

Since the 1990s, the traditional dual mission of universities of teaching and research has broadened to include a third mission: engagement with society and industry. This evolution has been a corollary of the rise of the electronics industry and information technology services, along with a surge in the number of research personnel following the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.

Venture capital

As new technology companies require money and seed capital to grow and thrive, Israel's science and technology sector is backed by a strong venture capital industry. Between 2004 and 2013, the Israeli venture capital industry played a fundamental role in funding the development of Israel's high-tech sector. In 2013, Israeli companies had raised more venture capital as a share of GDP than companies in any other country as it attracted US$2 346 million alone during that year. Today, Israel is considered one of the biggest venture capital centers in the world outside the United States of America. Several factors have contributed to this growth. These include tax exemptions on Israeli venture capital, funds established in conjunction with large international banks and financial companies and the involvement of major organizations desirous to capitalize on the strengths of Israeli high-tech companies. These organizations include some of the world's largest multinational technology companies, including Apple, Cisco, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Siemens and Samsung. In recent years, the share of venture capital invested in the growth stages of enterprises has flourished at the expense of early stage investments.

Israel's venture capital market backed deals worth US$4 759 million in 2018. About half of venture capital-backed deals involved an Israeli venture capitalist, either working solo or with others. According to the IVC database, 480 Israeli venture capital companies invested in Israeli high-tech firms in 2018 and 2019.

Accelerator programs

The following table lists notable accelerator programs in Israel that support science and technology startups:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Name !! Website !! Area !! Date established !! Global locations !! Notable startups

| Microsoft for Startups || microsoft.com/startups || SaaS, Cloud, AI || 2018 || Worldwide || —

| Google for Startups Campus Tel Aviv || campus.co/tel-aviv || Various (SaaS, Deeptech, Social) || 2012 || Worldwide (London, Tel Aviv, Seoul, São Paulo, Madrid, Warsaw, Berlin) || —

| 8200 EISP || 8200alumni.com || Cybersecurity, Deeptech || 2011 || Israel || —

| MassChallenge Israel || masschallenge.org || SaaS, Deeptech, Social Impact, MedTech || 2009 || Boston (US), Israel, Switzerland, Mexico, Texas || —

| Techstars Tel Aviv || techstars.com || SaaS, Fintech, Consumer || 2006 || Worldwide (USA, UK, Germany, Israel, UAE, Africa, and others) || Uber, DigitalOcean, SendGrid

| JVP Cyber Labs || jvpvc.com || Cybersecurity || 2014 || Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva (Israel), New York (USA) || —

| UpWest || upwest.vc || SaaS, Consumer Tech || 2012 || Palo Alto, California (USA); Israel || —

| Elevator || elevator.co.il || Deeptech, Industrial || — || Israel || —

| BioMed Invest || biomed.co.il || MedTech, Life Sciences || — || Israel || —

| Microsoft ScaleUp Tel Aviv || microsoft.com/startups/scaleup || SaaS, Cloud, AI, Fintech || 2012 || Tel Aviv (Israel), Berlin, Seattle, Beijing, Shanghai, Bangalore, London || —

| SigmaLabs || sigmalabs.co.il || Deeptech, Hardware, Software || — || Israel || —

| The Kitchen FoodTech Hub || thekitchen.co.il || FoodTech, AgriTech || 2015 || Israel || —

| HIGHROAD || highroad.vc || SaaS, Fintech, Consumer || — || Israel || —

| MindCET || mindcet.org || EdTech || 2012 || Yerucham, Israel || —

| DRIVE TLV || drivetlv.com || Mobility, Automotive || 2016 || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Anthill Ventures || anthillventures.com || Deeptech, SaaS, Consumer || — || Israel || —

| Samsung NEXT || samsungnext.com || SaaS, AI, IoT || 2013 || San Francisco (USA), Tel Aviv (Israel), New York (USA), Berlin (Germany), Seoul (South Korea) || —

| Intel Ignite || intelignite.com || Deeptech, AI, Semiconductors || 2019 || Tel Aviv (Israel), Austin (USA), Munich (Germany) || —

| Nielsen Innovate || nielsen.com || Media, Consumer Analytics || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| OurCrowd || ourcrowd.com || Various (SaaS, Deeptech, MedTech) || 2013 || Jerusalem, Israel; New York (USA); Singapore; Australia || Beyond Meat, Lemonade, Innoviz

| SOSA || sosa.co || Cybersecurity, Deeptech, Smart Cities || 2012 || Tel Aviv, Israel; New York (USA) || —

| Deloitte Launchpad || deloitte.com || Enterprise Tech, SaaS || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| The Junction || thejunction.vc || SaaS, Consumer, Marketplace || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Celo Camp || celocamp.com || Web3, Blockchain, Fintech || — || Remote/Global || —

| NTT Innovation Laboratory Israel || ntt-innovation.co.il || AI, Big Data, Cybersecurity || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| FinSec Innovation Lab || finsec-lab.com || Fintech, Cybersecurity || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Birthright Israel Excel Ventures || birthrightisraelexcel.com || SaaS, Consumer, Social Impact || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Renault Open Innovation Lab Tel Aviv || renault.com || Mobility, Automotive, CleanTech || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| CREATORS || creators.ac || Social Impact, Digital Media || — || Israel || —

| Accelerate2030 || accelerate2030.net || Social Impact, CleanTech, SDGs || 2018 || Geneva (Switzerland); Tel Aviv (Israel); Global || —

| ESIL || esil.org.il || Social Impact, Civic Tech || — || Israel || —

| Samsung Mobile Advance || samsungmobileadvance.com || Mobile, Consumer Tech, IoT || 2014 || Israel || — || || ||

| Plug and Play Tech Center Israel || plugandplaytechcenter.com || Fintech, Insurtech, Supply Chain || 2006 || Worldwide (USA, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Israel) || PayPal, LendingClub, Dropbox

| Yazamut || yazamut.com || Social Entrepreneurship, Impact || — || Israel || —

| Zone01 || zone01.co.il || Gaming, Digital Media, Entertainment || — || Israel || —

| StartHub Tel Aviv || starthub.co.il || SaaS, Consumer, Marketplace || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Checkpoint Incubator || checkpoint.com || Cybersecurity || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| StarTAU || startau.tau.ac.il || Deeptech, Life Sciences, SaaS || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Trendlines Group || trendlines.com || MedTech, AgriTech || — || Misgav, Israel; Singapore || —

| Yissum Technology Transfer || yissum.co.il || Life Sciences, Deeptech, Materials || 1964 || Jerusalem, Israel || Mobileye, OrCam, BriefCam

| BrainBoost || brainboost.co.il || EdTech, Neuroscience || — || Israel || —

| TAU Ventures || tauventures.com || Deeptech, Life Sciences, SaaS || — || Tel Aviv, Israel || —

| Mobileye Innovation Center || mobileye.com || Autonomous Vehicles, AI, Mobility || — || Jerusalem, Israel || —

| CyberSpark || cyberspark.org.il || Cybersecurity || — || Be'er Sheva, Israel || —

| Beersheba Advanced Technologies Park Accelerator || batp.co.il || Cybersecurity, Deeptech || — || Be'er Sheva, Israel || —

| Medtech Innovator Israel || medtechinnovator.org || MedTech, Medical Devices || — || Israel || —

| Rambam MedTech || rambam.org.il || MedTech, Life Sciences

| Cleantech Open Israel || cleantechopen.org.il || CleanTech, Energy, Water

| AgriHub Israel || agrihub-israel.com || AgriTech, FoodTech

| Israel Innovation Authority Incubator Program || innovationisrael.org.il || Deeptech, Various

| Xccelerate || xccelerate.co || AI, Blockchain, Fintech

| Fusion LA || fusion.la || SaaS, Consumer, Various

| Impact First Investments || impactfirst.co || Social Impact, CleanTech, AgriTech

| CET Sandbox || cetsandbox.com || Defense Tech, AI, Cybersecurity || 2025 || Washington, D.C. (USA); Tel Aviv (Israel) || D-Fend Solutions, Ottopia, Airwayz, Wonder Robotics

| Hadassah Accelerator powered by IBM Alpha Zone || ibmalphazone.hadasit.org.il || MedTech, AI, Deeptech

| EcoMotion || ecomotion.org.il || Mobility, Smart Transportation, Automotive

| The Floor || thefloor.io || Fintech, Banking, Insurance

Intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights in Israel protect copyright and performers’ rights, trademarks, geographical indicators, patents, industrial designs, topographies of integrated circuits, plant breeds and undisclosed business secrets. Both contemporary Israeli legislation and case law are influenced by laws and practices in modern countries, particularly Anglo-American law, the emerging body of EU law and proposals by international organizations.|alt=A horizontal parabolic dish, with a triangular structure on its top.]]

The country's lack of conventional energy sources has spurred extensive research and development of alternative energy sources and Israel has developed innovative technologies in the solar energy field. Israel has become the world's largest per capita user of solar water heaters in the home. A new, high-efficiency receiver to collect concentrated sunlight has been developed, which will enhance the use of solar energy in industry as well.

In a 2009 report by the CleanTech Group, Israel ranked number 5 clean tech country in the world. The Arrow Ecology company has developed the ArrowBio process a patented system which takes trash directly from collection trucks and separates organic and inorganic materials through gravitational settling, screening, and hydro-mechanical shredding. The system is capable of sorting huge volumes of solid waste, salvaging recyclables, and turning the rest into biogas and rich agricultural compost. The system is used in California, Australia, Greece, Mexico, the United Kingdom and in Israel. For example, an ArrowBio plant that has been operational at the Hiriya landfill site since December 2003 serves the Tel Aviv area, and processes up to 150 tons of garbage a day.

In 2010, Technion – the Israel Institute of Technology – established the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP). This multidisciplinary task-force brings together Technion's top researchers in energy science and technology from over nine different faculties. GTEP's 4-point strategy targets research and development of alternative fuels; renewable energy sources; energy storage and conversion; and energy conservation. GTEP is presently the only center in Israel offering graduate studies in energy science and technology to bring the energy skills and know-how to address the energy challenges of the future.

Natural gas

Since 1999, large reserves of natural gas have been discovered off Israel's coast. This fossil fuel has become the primary fuel for electricity generation in Israel and is gradually replacing oil and coal. In 2010, 37% of electricity in Israel was generated from natural gas, leading to savings of US$1.4 billion for the economy. In 2015, this rate is expected to surpass 55%.

In addition, the usage of natural gas in industry – both as a source of energy and as a raw material – is rapidly expanding, alongside the requisite infrastructure. This is giving companies a competitive advantage by reducing their energy costs and lowering national emissions. Since early 2013, almost the entire natural gas consumption of Israel has been supplied by the Tamar field, an Israeli–American private partnership. The estimated reserves amount to about 1 000 BCM, securing Israel's energy needs for many decades to come and making Israel a potentially major regional exporter of natural gas. In 2014, initial export agreements were signed with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt; there are also plans to export natural gas to Turkey and the EU via Greece. The Technion Asher Space Research Institute plays a central role in educating the aerospace engineers of the next generation. In 2009 Israel was ranked 2nd among 20 top countries in space sciences by Thomson Reuters agency.

Israel became the eighth nation in the world to have an orbital launch capability when it deployed its first satellite, Ofeq-1, using the locally built Shavit launch vehicle on September 19, 1988, and has made contributions in a number of areas in space research, including laser communication, research into embryo development and osteoporosis in space, pollution monitoring, and mapping geology, soil and vegetation in semi-arid environments.

Key projects include the TAUVEX telescope, the Tel Aviv University Ultra Violet Experiment, a UV telescope for astronomical observations which was developed in the 1990s to be accommodated on an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) geo-synchronous satellite GSAT-4, for joint operation and use by Indian and Israeli scientists; the VENUS microsatellite, developed in collaboration with the French space agency, CNES, which will use an Israeli-developed space camera, electric space engine and algorithms; and MEIDEX (Mediterranean – Israel Dust Experiment), in collaboration with NASA.

Ilan Ramon was Israel's first astronaut. Ramon was the Space Shuttle payload specialist on board the fatal STS-107 mission of Space Shuttle Columbia, in which he and the six other crew members were killed in a re-entry accident over the southern United States. Ramon had been selected as a payload specialist in 1997 and trained at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, from 1998 until 2003. Among other experiments, Ramon was responsible for the MEIDEX project in which he was required to take pictures of atmospheric aerosol (dust) in the Mediterranean area using a multispectral camera designed to provide scientific information about atmospheric aerosols and the influence of global changes on the climate, and data for the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments. Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) were responsible for the scientific aspect of the experiment. The TAU team also worked with a US company, Orbital Sciences Corporation, to construct and test special flight instruments for the project.

Aerospace engineering

thumb|[[Gulfstream G280 transcontinental business jet was designed and is currently produced for Gulfstream Aerospace by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI).]]

thumb|[[Technion Faculty of Aerospace Engineering|Aerospace faculty, Technion, 1956]]

Aerospace engineering related to the country's defense needs has generated technological development with consequent civilian spin-offs. The Arava short take-off and landing (STOL) plane manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries was

the first aircraft to be produced in Israel, in the late 1960s, for both military and civilian uses. This was followed by the production of the Westwind business jet from 1965 to 1987, and later variants, the Astra and the Gulfstream G100, which are still in active service.

Israel is among the few countries capable of launching satellites into orbit and locally designed and manufactured satellites have been produced and launched by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Israel's largest military engineering company, in cooperation with the Israel Space Agency. The AMOS-1 geostationary satellite began operations in 1996 as Israel's first commercial communications satellite. It was built primarily for direct-to-home television broadcasting, TV distribution and VSAT services. AMOS-2 was launched in December 2003 and a further series of AMOS communications satellites (AMOS 2 – 5i) are operated or in development by the Spacecom Satellite Communications company, headquartered in Ramat-Gan, Israel. Spacecom provides satellite telecommunications services to countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Another satellite, the Gurwin-II TechSAT, designed and manufactured by the Technion, was launched in July 1998 to provide communications, remote sensing and research services. EROS, launched in 2000, is a non-geostationary orbit satellite for commercial photography and surveillance services.

Israel also develops, manufactures, and exports a large number of related aerospace products, including rockets and satellites, display systems, aeronautical computers, instrumentation systems, drones and flight simulators. Israel's second largest defense company is Elbit Systems, which makes electro-optical systems for air, sea and ground forces; drones; control and monitoring systems; communications systems and more. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology is home to the Asher Space Research Institute, which is unique in Israel as a university-based center of space research. At ASRI, Israeli students designed, built and launched their own satellite: Gurwin TechSat.

Agricultural engineering

thumb|left|Anaerobic digesters at [[Hiriya waste facility]]

Israel's agricultural sector is characterized by an intensive system of production stemming from the need to overcome the scarcity in natural resource, particularly water and arable land, in a country where more than half of its area is desert. The growth in agricultural production is based on close cooperation of scientists, farmers and agriculture-related industries and has resulted in the development of advanced agricultural technology, water-conserving irrigation methods, anaerobic digestion, greenhouse technology, desert agriculture and salinity research. Israeli companies also supply irrigation, water conservation and greenhouse technologies and know-how to other countries.

The modern technology of drip irrigation was invented in Israel by Simcha Blass and his son Yeshayahu. Instead of releasing water through tiny holes, blocked easily by tiny particles, water was released through larger and longer passageways by using velocity to slow water inside a plastic emitter. The first experimental system of this type was established in 1959 when Blass partnered with Kibbutz Hatzerim to create an irrigation company called Netafim. Together they developed and patented the first practical surface drip irrigation emitter. This method was very successful and had spread to Australia, North America and South America by the late 1960s.

Israeli farmers rely heavily on greenhouse technology to ensure a constant, year-round supply of high quality produce, while overcoming the obstacles posed by adverse climatic conditions, and water and land shortages. Technologies include computerized greenhouse climate control, greenhouse shading, irrigation, fertigation, greenhouse water recycling and biological control of plant disease and insects, allow farmers to control most production parameters. As a result, Israeli farmers successfully grow 3 million roses per hectare in season and an average of 300 tons of tomatoes per hectare, four times the amount harvested in open fields.

Computer engineering

thumb|The faculty of [[computer science of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology|318x318px]]

Israeli companies excel in computer software and hardware development, particularly computer security technologies, semiconductors and communications. Israeli firms include Check Point, the creators of the first commercial firewall; Amdocs, which makes business and operations support systems for telecoms; Comverse, a voice-mail company; and Mercury Interactive, which measures software performance. A high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain of Israel has led to the nickname Silicon Wadi (lit: "Silicon Valley"). Both Israeli and international companies are based there. Intel, Microsoft, and Apple built their first overseas research and development centers in Israel, and other high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Cisco Systems, and Motorola, have opened facilities in the country. Intel developed its dual-core Core Duo processor at its Israel Development Center in Haifa. More than 3,850 start-ups have been established in Israel, making it second only to the US in this sector and has the largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies outside North America.

Optics, electro-optics, and lasers are significant fields and Israel produces fiber-optics, electro-optic inspection systems for printed circuit boards, thermal imaging night-vision systems, and electro-optics-based robotic manufacturing systems. Research into robotics first began in the late 1970s, has resulted in the production of robots designed to perform a wide variety of computer aided manufacturing tasks, including diamond polishing, welding, packing, and building. Research is also conducted in the application of artificial intelligence for a variety of needs, from robots to foundation models for video creation.

Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology are ranked among the top 20 academic institutions in the world in computer science. An Israeli electronics engineer and businessman who was the founder, chief executive officer, and president of M-Systems, Dov Moran, invented the first flash drive in 1998.

Cybersecurity

In November 2010, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu entrusted a task force with responsibility for formulating national plans to place Israel among the top five countries in the world for cybersecurity. On 7 August 2011, the government approved the establishment of the National Cyber Bureau to promote the Israeli cyberdefence industry. The bureau is based in the Prime Minister's Office. The National Cyber Bureau allocated NIS 180 million (circa US$50 million) over 2012–2014 to encourage cyber research and dual military–civilian R&D; the funding is also being used to develop human capital, including through the creation of cybersecurity centres at Israeli universities that are funded jointly by the National Cyber Bureau and the universities themselves. In 2018, a lawsuit was filed against NSO accusing it of secretly helping Saudi Arabia to spy Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, later murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. In 2019, WhatsApp sued NSO.

Hydraulic engineering

Since rain falls only in the winter, and largely in the northern part of the country, irrigation and water engineering is vital to the country's economic survival and growth. Large-scale projects to direct water from rivers and reservoirs in the north, to make optimal use of groundwater, and to reclaim flood overflow and sewage have been undertaken. The largest such project was a national water distribution system called the National Carrier, completed in 1964, flowing from the country's biggest freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee, to the northern Negev desert, through huge channels, pipes and tunnels. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant was the largest in the world at the time it was built. The project was developed as a BOT (build-operate-transfer) by a consortium of three international companies: Veolia water, IDE Technologies and Elran.

By 2019, desalination provided 70% of domestic and municipal water.

Water-saving technologies

According to water experts, pipe leakage is one of the major problems confronting the global water supply today. For Israel, which is two-thirds desert, water-saving technologies are of critical importance. The International Water Association has cited Israel as one of the leaders in innovative methods to reduce "non-revenue water," i.e., water lost in the system before reaching the customer.

Military engineering and technology

thumb|left|[[IAI Harop, Israel, is the world's largest exporter of drones.]]

Rejection of requests for weapons and technologies, arms sanctions and massive rearmament of the Arab countries prodded Israel into the development of a broad-based indigenous arms industry. The Israel Defense Forces relies heavily on local military technology and high-tech weapons systems designed and manufactured in Israel. Israeli-developed military equipment includes small arms, anti-tank rockets and missiles, boats and submarines, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, unmanned surface vehicles, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), air-defense systems, weapon stations and radar. An impetus for the development of the industry was the embargo on arms sales to Israel during the Six-Day War which prompted Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), founded as a maintenance facility in 1953, to begin developing and assembling its own aircraft, including the Kfir, the Arava and the Nesher.

thumb|Israeli soldier with [[Spike (missile)]]

Notable technology includes the Uzi submachine gun, introduced in 1954, the country's main battle tank, the Merkava, and the jointly designed Israeli and U.S. Arrow missile, one of the world's only operational, advanced anti-ballistic missile systems. The Iron Dome mobile air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells. The system was created as a defensive countermeasure to the rocket threat against Israel's civilian population on its northern and southern borders, and was declared operational and initially deployed in the first quarter of 2011. It is designed to intercept very short-range threats up to 70 kilometers in all-weather situations. On April 7, 2011, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza, marking the first time in history a short-range rocket was ever intercepted.

Israel has also developed a network of reconnaissance satellites. The Ofeq (lit. Horizon) series (Ofeq 1 – Ofeq 7) were launched between 1988 and 2007. The satellites were carried by Shavit rockets launched from Palmachim Airbase. Both the satellites and the launchers were designed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), with Elbit Systems' El-Op division supplying the optical payload.

Israel also has the first all-around operational active defense system for tanks named Trophy, successfully intercepting anti tank missiles fired at Merkava tanks.

Israeli defense technology firm Kela Technologies is reducing cloud computing expenses for tracking companies through the acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup Pelanor, which specializes in the automatic identification of overhead costs. Kela re-emerged in March 2025 with the objective of providing Western militaries with a software platform aimed at promoting the adoption and integration of commercial technologies, including tablets, sensors, and radars, into current military systems.

According to a report released in January 2026 by Israel’s Ministry of Defense Directorate of Defense Research and Development (MAFAT), Israeli defense-tech startups secured NIS 1.08 billion in government orders during 2025. This investment is part of a strategic initiative to preserve Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) and ensure economic resilience by accelerating the "battle-to-innovation" cycle. The report highlights a significantly integration of early-stage commercial technology, such as AI-driven autonomous systems and counter-drone hardware, directly from the private sector into operational military use.

Life sciences

thumb|170px|[[Given Imaging|Given endoscopic capsule (Pillcam)]]

Israel has an advanced infrastructure of medical and paramedical research and bioengineering capabilities. Biotechnology, biomedical, and clinical research account for over half of the country's scientific publications, and the industrial sector has used this extensive knowledge to develop pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and treatment therapies.

Biotechnology

Israel has over 900 biotechnology and life sciences companies in operation throughout the country with nearly 50 to 60 formed each year. Many multinational corporations such as J&J, Perrigo, GE Healthcare and Phillips Medical have all established branches in Israel. In 2011, Israeli scientist Inbar Friedrich Ben-Nun led a team which produced the first stem cells from endangered species, a breakthrough that could save animals in danger of extinction. In 2012, Israel was one of the world leaders in stem cell research, with the largest number of articles, patents and research studies per capita.

Biomedical engineering

Sophisticated medical equipment for both diagnostic and treatment purposes has been developed and marketed worldwide, such as computer tomography (CT) scanners, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, ultrasound scanners, nuclear medical cameras, and surgical lasers. Other innovations include a controlled-release liquid polymer to prevent accumulation of tooth plaque, a device to reduce both benign and malignant swellings of the prostate gland, the use of botulin to correct eye squint, and a miniature camera encased in a swallowable capsule used to diagnose gastrointestinal disease, MeMic Medical LTD. founded in 2012 received its FDA approval in 2021 for its robotic platform for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) for myomectomy through the vagina.

In 2009, scientists from several European countries and Israel developed a robotic prosthetic hand, called SmartHand, which functions like a real one, allowing patients to write with it, type on a keyboard, play piano and perform other fine movements. The prosthesis has sensors which enable the patient to sense real feeling in its fingertips. A new MRI system for identifying and diagnosing tumors developed at the Weizmann Institute has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is being used in diagnosing breast and testicular cancer. The new system will replace invasive procedures and eliminate waiting time for the results.

Pharmaceutical sciences

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, headquartered in Petah Tikva, Israel, is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world and one of the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide. It specializes in generic drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients and has developed proprietary pharmaceuticals such as Copaxone and Laquinimod for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, and Rasagiline for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Quantum technology

The world's first quantum computing center, located in Tel Aviv, which has several different quantum computers able to hold different quibit modalities, was opened at Tel Aviv University in June 2024.

Artificial intelligence

Israel has seen rapid growth in generative AI companies such as Bria, which develops ethically sourced and controllable image-generation models, Lightricks, known for creative-AI tools and its multimodal generative model Ltx-2, and Decart, which builds foundational AI models for enterprise and operational use cases.

Science and technology newspapers in Israel

NoCamels and CTech are among several Israeli online websites that focus on Israeli innovation, science and technology.

Nobel Prize laureates

Six Israelis have won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In 2004, biologists Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology were two of the three winners of the prize, for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. In 2009, Ada Yonath was a co-winner of the prize for her studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. She is the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize. Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013 for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

Additionally, 1958 Medicine laureate Joshua Lederberg was born to Israeli Jewish parents, and 2004 Physics laureate David Gross grew up partly in Israel, where he obtained his undergraduate degree. In the social sciences, the Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded to Daniel Kahneman in 2002, to Robert Aumann of the Hebrew University in 2005, and to Joshua Angrist in 2021.

Notable companies

Automotive

Better Place
Ituran
Mobileye
Robomow

Chemicals

Adama
Ahava
Israel Chemicals

Clean technology

BrightSource Energy
Netafim
Ormat Industries
Plastro Irrigation Systems
SolarEdge
Solel

Medicine

BioLineRx
Compugen
D. Medical Industries
Given Imaging
Insightec
Kite Pharma
Perrigo
Pluristem Therapeutics
Rosetta Genomics
Syneron Medical
Taro Pharmaceuticals
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Defense contracting

Elbit Systems
Elisra
Elta
Israel Aerospace Industries
Israel Military Industries
Israel Shipyards
Israel Weapon Industries
Plasan
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Soltam Systems

Semiconductors

Anobit
Altair Semiconductor
CEVA, Inc.
EZchip Semiconductor
Mellanox Technologies
Nova Measuring Instruments
Orbotech
Tower Semiconductor
Wilocity
Zoran Corporation

Software and IT

Aladdin Knowledge Systems
Amdocs
Babylon
Boxee
Check Point
ClickSoftware Technologies
Commtouch
CTERA Networks
Lightricks
Magic Software Enterprises
Marvell Software Solutions Israel
Mirabilis
Moovit
M-Systems
Ness Technologies
NICE Systems
Onavo
Panorama Software
Plarium
Retalix
Sapiens International Corporation
Scitex Vision
Secure Islands
Shopping.com
Wanova
Waze
Wix
Wiz
Zend Technologies

Telecommunications and computing

Allot Communications
Alvarion
ASOCS
AudioCodes
Bezeq
Ceragon
Comverse
ECI Telecom
Humavox
Gilat Satellite Networks
Mellanox Technologies
RAD Data Communications
Radcom Ltd
Radvision
Radware
Radwin
Tadiran Telecom

Sources

References

External links

Official website of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space
Science & Technology in Israel at the Jewish Virtual Library
Doing Business in Israel: Overview by Ariella Dreyfuss, Netta Bromberg, Dr. Zvi Gabbay, Anat Even-Chen, Ilan Blumenfeld, Harel Perlmutter and Ron Shuhatovich, Barnea Jaffa Lande.
Hayadan.com, Science News site, based in Israel (en).