The Skolkovo Foundation and Yoqneam Illit City signed cooperation agreement during the official visit of the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Israel

Yoqneam Illit city developing a large industrial hi-tech park is the first city to sign a cooperation agreement with Skolkovo Innovation Center.

 

Yoqneam Illit ecosystem comprises over 100 hi-tech companies working in the sectors of biotech, IT, new industrial, semiconductor, green and agricultural technologies. Companies based in the city include Intel, Panasonic Avionics, Telco Systems, Medtronic and other.

 

The agreement was signed by Simon Alfasi, Mayor of Yoqneam Illit, and Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Board of the Skolkovo Foundation.

 

Mayor Simon Alfasi said:

"The signing ceremony that was attended by heads of governments, both of Israel and Russia, is indicative of the seriousness and the importance that both sides attach to the promotion and development of economic ties between the two countries. As a leading hi-tech and education city, Yoqneam is proud to sign an agreement to promote cooperation with Skolkovo. As a Mayor, I believe that the future lies in high-technology industries, and I'm happy, we were able to build our thriving high-tech parks in the city with a hundred companies, whose products benefit millions of people worldwide. Yoqneam and Skolkovo will work together and promote initiatives which will benefit Israel, Russia and the entire world. "

 

Igor Drozdov, Chairman of the Board of the Skolkovo Foundation, commented:

“This agreement is unprecedented for us in many respects. Today Skolkovo as an innovation city is signing an agreement with a similar city – Yoqneam Illit. We expect that this city will become a platform for international cooperation of the Skolkovo Foundation. Therefore it is very important for us to be connected with the key partners of the Israeli hi-tech city, such as Intel, Telco Systems, Medtronic and others that set up their R&D centers here. We also hope that our Israeli partners will be interested in Skolkovo’s startups, for which this cooperation will be the starting point to reach the global market.”

 

The agreement foresees the following cooperation between the Skolkovo Foundation and Yokneam Illit City:

• to further advance cooperation in a joint and coordinated manner, including collaboration in innovations and cultural partnership;
• to conduct business missions and meetings by exploiting common economic and technological potential in order to provide possibilities for companies from both countries to launch joint activities and projects predominantly in the domains of biomedical, information and telecommunication technologies;
• to assist in organization and implementation of youth and academic exchanges, as well as bilateral cultural and educational events with an outlook to strengthening friendly contacts and relations;
• to explore capabilities of mutually beneficial activities rising from the highly successful experience Yoqneam Illit has accumulated in the development of park and ecological culture;
• to define other cooperation vectors in furtherance and support of economic, social and cultural connections between the cities.

 

Following the signing of the agreement the first road show of the representatives of the Skolkovo companies and Biotech cluster representatives will come to Israel later this week. The team will meet the leading hi-tech companies and VC funds, will hold meeting with the key R&D centers on creating joint R&D projects and search of new industrial partners for the Skolkovo companies in order to enter the Israeli market.

 

 

 

About the Skolkovo Foundation

The Skolkovo Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in September 2010 by the Russian government with the objective of accelerating Russia’s transformation from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy. To achieve this objective, the Foundation is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, composed of more than 1,500 high-tech startups, Skolkovo Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (Skoltech) - a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together, these entities establish a vibrant ecosystem of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The cumulative revenue of Skolkovo’s startups through June 2016 reached $1,6 billion. They brought in more than $350 million in investment, creating 21,800 jobs and filing over 1,900 patent applications along the way. By 2020 over 2 million square meters of residential and office space will be built in Skolkovo with 35,000 people working daily in the Innovation Center. For more information:  http://www.sk.ru/en

 

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