Nasdaq president Robert Greifeld said today that he had never encountered a more developed software applications company than Oshap Technologies Israel. He said, "This company is a quintessential product of the State of Israel, which is characterized by entrepreneurship and creativity, as well as the leader in R&D investment per capita."
Griefeld was participating in a session on high tech R&D and international financing as an economic foundation in a competitive market at the Prime Minister's Conference on Exports. He said Nasdaq's cooperation with Israel surpassed that of any other country in the world.
Griefeld added that Nasdaq's international philosophy did not call for competing with other bourses, but to cooperate with them. Many Israeli companies therefore hold IPOs on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and only later arrive at Nasdaq to raise capital in international markets. He noted that 36 of the 70 Israeli companies listed on Nasdaq are also listed on the TASE.
Motorola chairman and CEO Ed Zander called on Israel's government to make Israel more attractive for foreign investors. He said Motorola (NYSE:MOT) invested $4 billion a year in R&D, a substantial part of which was invested in Israel. "You can expect us to walk together for many more years," he said.
Zander said Israel offered competitive investment terms compared with other countries, and that its tax policies on exports and R&D grants were competitive and fair. However, he warned, "We now live in a global society… Costs in the developing world are 30-50% of costs in the West, and we at Motorola have already established 40 development centers in these countries, which employ over 3,000 people.
"We cannot expect costs in Israel to fall to the level to those in these countries, but I ask the Israeli government to heed global opportunities facing us, and suggest more creative ways of dealing with the phenomenon."
US Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology Philip J. Bond said that given the conditions of global competition, Israeli companies needed to establish strategic partnerships.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on November 11, 2004