Chief Scientist receives extra NIS 120m for seed fund

The extra budget has been awarded after the Chief Scientist's NIS 1.1 billion budget for the year ran out during the summer.

The Ministry of Finance today transferred an additional NIS 120 million to the Office for the Chief Scientist to support its seed company program. The extra budget came after the Chief Scientist's NIS 1.1 billion budget for the year ran out during the summer.

Following the reduction in the Office for the Chief Scientist's budget for several years, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, which is responsible for it, reached an agreement with the Ministry of Finance for a NIS 400 million supplement, of which one quarter has been transferred. The Ministry of Industry does not know whether the balance will be transferred this year, in view of the shortage of budget sources.

The Ministry of Finance said that the budget supplement was in response to the worrying decline in private financing for seed-stage companies, and the supplement would help close the shortage. After the Knesset Finance Committee approved the transfer yesterday, the Office for the Chief Scientist's R&D Committee will meet in a few weeks to pick ventures for support. A top Ministry of Industry source said that dozens of projects will win support, but that the budget supplement would still not be enough to support many other ventures.

The Life Sciences Forum called on the Ministry of Finance to quickly transfer an additional NIS 180 million to the Office for the Chief Scientist. "Israel's life sciences and high-tech industry has been severely harmed in the past decade from the constant cuts in the Chief Scientist's budget. The Ministry of Finance neglects industries which are marked as important growth engines for the economy, jeopardizing their economic success" said the forum's chairman.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 30, 2012

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012

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