Office of the Chief Scientist

The OCS – Office of the Chief Scientist

The OCS is part of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in Jerusalem.operating since 1973. The OCS is responsible for implementing government policy regarding support and encouragement of industrial research and development.

The OCS tasks include:

• Expansion of industries technological and scientific infrastructure
• The development of science intensive industry
• Employment placement for scientific and technological manpower
• Improvement of the competitiveness of the Israeli industry
• Increase national industrial production and balance of trade

The main support program, is the “standard” risk sharing with the industry of market driven R&D leading to marketable processes or products. R&D Grants are available to companies whose projects have been approved by the Research Committee of the OCS. The grants are a percentage (between 30% and 66%, depending on circumstances) of the estimated R&D expenditure. In cases where the government assisted R&D results in a commercially successful product, the developers must repay the grant through royalties.

The annuel budget for the OCS increased drastically from 1990 to 1999, from 110 to428 millions dollars. In the year 2000, the OCS will have assisted more than 900 enterprises and one thousand projects.

An important success indicator for industrial R&D in Israel is the royalties repayment to the OCS which totalled more than 139 million dollars in 1999.

The “Chief Scientist”
Minister of Industry and Trade has chosen Dr. Eli Opper as the next Chief Scientist of the ministry. Dr. Opper (56) earned his Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering, from the Technion. He worked for Rafael (Israel Armament Development Authority) for 27 years, holding several senior positions, including VP of R&D. He has been Giza Venture Capital senior VP for the past two years. Dr. Opper remplaced Mr Carmel Vernia as Chief Scientist in may 2002.

4 Mevo HaMatmid POB 2197
Jerusalem 91021 Israel
Tel +972 (0)2 677 05 00
Fax +972 (0)2 624 81 59

Last update: 2001