8 Technology and innovation partnership unlocks commercialization opportunities “Building on the existing collaboration between the two countries’ business and innovation ecosystems, in 2022, a refreshed Canada-Israel science, technology and innovation partnership was announced,” adds Nili Goldman, Toronto partner at Aird & Berlis. She continues: “This partnership created opportunities in several sectors including clean technologies, health, quantum computing, digital technologies, cybersecurity and agriculture. Through the partnership, both parties aimed to actively engage key public, business and academic leaders to enable greater commercialization opportunities for innovations in both countries.” “Canada like Israel has leading University research departments, but Israel’s record of commercializing research is much better than Canada’s,” says Noam Goodman, Toronto partner at DLA Piper. In Israel, support, collaborations and partnerships often come via the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), an outstanding example of a public sector entity with historical ecosystem impact, while the Israel Institute of Technology – Technion is also involved in developing the start-up ecosystem through its Drive Accelerator Program, a shining example of how a university can become an integral part of the start-up ecosystem. Canadian government puts out call for collaborative As a percentage of GDP, Israel has is the highest spender on R&D globally and on a per capita basis, Israel has the highest concentration of unicorns initiated by its founders worldwide. Nir at ICaN: “Name a technology multinational, and they probably have a presence in Israel. Microsoft, Google, Apple, Siemens, Sony, Intel, and more than 300 others have either established R&D centers or recruitment operations in the country, or both. When you’ll ask the executives of these global giants about the importance of their Israeli presence, they probably
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