Catalonia-Israel Commerce Chamber

1st in R&D investments

 

Israel invests 4.7% of its GDP in R&D, which is the highest ratio in the world (IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007).

 

Preferred choice of leading global players

 

Microsoft, Berkshire- Hathaway, Motorola, Intel, HP, Siemens, Samsung, GE, Philips, Lucent, AOL, Cisco, Applied Materials, Winbond, IBM and J&J, are just a few examples of multinationals that run core activities in Israel.

 

Profit-driving innovations

 

Disk-on-key technology, IP Telephony, Zip compression, the ingestible pill size camera, modern drip-irrigation technology, ICQ instant messenger and many more were all Israeli breakthroughs.

 

Highly-educated available workforce

 

Being 1st in the world for availability of qualified scientists and engineers, Israel provides multinationals with a professional and skilled labor market (2007-8 IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook).

 

Flourishing start-up and VC industries

 

Ranked 2nd in the world for Venture Capital availability, Israel provides its entrepreneurs with the necessary backing to turn their innovative ideas into profitable businesses (IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2007-8).

 

Deeply integrated into the world economy

 

Israel has the largest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ outside of the United States and approximately 70 Israeli companies are traded on various European exchanges.

 

Nobel laureates

 

4 Israelis have won Nobel Prizes within the last 5 years in the fields of chemistry and economics.

 

Sophisticated and comprehensive infrastructure

 

Ranked 3rd in the world for technological readiness, Israel provides multinationals an environment suitable for the most demanding business requirements (2006-7 WEF Global Competitiveness Yearbook).

 

Attentive government support

 

The Israeli government offers investment grants, R&D grants and tax benefits, as well as guidance throughout the decision making process.

 

 

Israel’s Ranking in Global Competitiveness Reports

 

With top scores in leading competitiveness indexes in 2008, Israel continues to demonstrate that it is a major player in the international business arena.  Ranked in the first places in total expenditure on R&D as a percentage of the GDP, technological readiness, venture capital availability, quality of research centers and quality of the workforce, Israel enjoys an impressive track record 

 

 

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Availability of scientists and engineers	Israel	Japan	Finland	India	France
Venture capital availability	U.S.A	Israel	Netherlands	Finland	U.K
Judicial independence	Germany	Netherlands	Israel	New Zealand	Norway
Technological readiness	Sweden	Singapore		Iceland	Switzerland
Quality of research organizations	Switzerland	U.S.A	U.K	Israel	Japan
Technology absorption	Iceland	Japan	Sweden		Taiwan
Utility patents	U.S.A	Japan	Taiwan	Finland	Israel