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Update April 2000: Israel

Israel spends proportionally more on research and development than all other industrialized countries except Sweden and Japan, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics at the end of March. Israel was tied with Finland for third place, with an expenditure of 2.8 percent of GDP in 1997. This compares to 3.7 percent in Sweden and 2.9 percent in Japan. Next on the list were Switzerland with 2.7 percent, the United States and Germany with 2.2 percent, Holland (2.1 percent), France and Denmark (2.0 percent), and England, Canada, Norway, Belgium and Iceland (1.6 percent). The increase in R&D is principally due to a 7 percent increase in R&D spending in the high-tech sector, where research and development play a major role. Business sector spending on R&D totaled NIS 9.3 billion in 1999, two-thirds of the national total. Some 30 percent of this spending was in the field of software, where employment grew 18 percent.

1. Organisational Awareness Aspects

A new parliamentary sub-committee for the Internet and Information Technologies was established with M.K. Michael (Miky) Eitan as chair. The committee established working groups headed by experts that will lead the development of policy papers in the following areas: Regulation; Internet II; Communications and ISPs; Personal Identification; Hi-Tech Development; Educational (k12) Networking; Teachers Education and Training; Life Long Learning; The Digital Divide; Electronic Commerce; Legislation; Information Protection; Freedom of Information; On-line Democracy; Online Government Access; The Arab sector in the Internet. The WGs will use an advanced Web site and groupware. The working groups will enjoy the parliamentary privileges of the Internet and IT Committee being able to request documents from the government and summon public officers. The proceeding will be open to public participation and feedback (moderated). The initiative is backed by the Parliament chairman, Avraham Burg. (March 2000)

Several publicity campaigns related to the promotion of IS related actions have been carried out lately. An estimated 20 million dollars were spent by the International telephony corporations in the the campaign for registration of users for their first preference among the different companies; a secondary result of the campaign was an overall significant increment of the international calls.

Other significant publicity campaigns were related to the entry of the third cellular telephony provider, Partner with ensuing reactions of the incubents, Pelephone and Cellcom.

The latest months have seen a fierce campaigns related to the imminent licensing of broadband services. The Tevel Cable TV company is carrying a campaign indicating that if the Ministry of Finances didn't delay the license for broadband cable modem Internet access the public and the hi-tech industry would already have access to such services. A counter campaign has been launched by the historical operator, the Bezeq, offering ADSL services, although they haven' t been licensed. The YES DBS has also joined these campaigns although their services are not expected to be available before July 2000.

2. IS National / Regional Strategies and Action Plans

ISERD is the Israeli Directorate for the 5th Framework Program directed by Marcel Shaton. It is an inter-ministerial entity with the participation of the Ministries of Trade and Industry, Finances, Science Culture and Sports, Foreign Affairs and the Council for Higher Education. Its mission is to support Israeli participation in the RTD programs of the European Union. ISERD has just published the results for 1999. Almost 50 million euro was awarded to 180 Israeli companies and research institutes under the programme’s first call for proposals. This surpasses Israel’s 1999 investment in the programme of less than 35 million euro. Those approved projects involve seven Israeli universities, several colleges, and national R&D giants such as Israel Aircraft Industries, Rafael-Israel Armaments Development, ECI and Tadiran. Funding was also allocated to a host of smaller companies such as Optibase, Orckit, VocalTec, MAKASH etc. Israel is the only country outside the European Union that enjoys full status in the Fifth Framework Programme (see: http://ww.iserd.org.il )

3. Information Content Stimulation

The Chief Scientist Prof. Zamira Mevorah, and the director of the Directorate for Science and Technology Yaffa Vigodsky, from the Ministry of Education, announced the establishment of an special fund, with the support of the Ministry of Finances, for the development of ICT based Learning Environments. The announcement was made at a workshop in March 22, 2000. The workshop has had the participation leading figures in the development of applications of computers in education. In addition to Prof. Mevorah and Mrs. Vigodsky presentations were held by Profs. Gaby Salomon, David Chen, Kenneth Price and the director general of the Ministry of Education Shulamit Amihai. The new fund will stimulate the development of ICT based Learning Environments through partnerships with the education industry.

4. Other tools

A seminar with the official launching of ESIS II in Israel has taken place at Tel Aviv University under the auspices of Prof. Hezi Yeshurun, head of the National Committee for Information Technologies Infrastructures. The central participant in the event Ulrich Boes, from ISAC (Information Society Activities Center) at the DG Information Society. Ulrich Boes made the central presentation at the seminar with a broad scope presentation of the European concept of Information Society and in particular the E-Europe initiative of Romano Prodi the new president of the Commission. Ulrich Boes also described the various initiatives and institutional tools employed by the European Commission to this purpose. The seminar was chaired by Dr. Yair Sharan, director of ICTAF the contractor for ESIS II in Israel. Dov Winer presented the findings of the ESIS II survey in Israel and some queries regarding IS policy in Israel. The representatives of the different Ministries and institutions involved in the promotion of Information Society in Israel were present. (February 17, 2000).

The W3C is one of the main institutions with responsibilities for continuing development of the tools for the World Wide Web - architecture, users interfaces, relations between technology and society, accessibility and internationalisation. The establishment of an office for the promotion of the W3C Consortium (see: http://www.w3c.org) is an initiative of the Israel Internet Association (http://www.isoc.org.il) and the Hebrew University. On the occasion of the annual conference of the Israel Internet Association (16.2.2000) the office was officially opened in a ceremony that counted with the participation of the Minister of Communications, Mr Benyamin Ben Eliezer; Mr. Ulrich Boes the officer in the DG Information Society that instrumental in establishing the W3C and having continuing responsibilities related to it; Prof. Robert Hopgood, from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK/ Brunel University and in charge of the W3C Officers at the Consortium. The speaches at the launching event were made by Ulrich Boes and Prof. Michel Bercovier from the Hebrew University.

A first activity of the W3C office has taken place organised by the Israel Internet Association: a workshop on XML - Extensible Markup Language by Prof. Robert (Bob) Hopgood. The event was well attended with over hundred participants and is considered a landmark in the introduction of XML in Israel. (February, 17 2000).

The annual conference of the Israel Internet Association has taken place February 16-17 in Kfar Hamacabiah, Ramat Gan (near Tel-Aviv). The conference has become a regular part of the Information Society calendar in Israel. This year the conference was particularly successful with the presence of distinguished guests like Esther Dyson, the chairman of ICANN; Ulrich Boes from ISAC at the DG Information Society; Prof.Robert (Bob) Hopgood from the W3C. The different sessions dealed have dealt with: The Information Society in Israel and in Europe; Data Security; Electronic Commerce; Distance Learning; Law and Jurisprudence; Sociability in the Internet; Advanced Infrastructures and Services (2) ; Freedom of Information;

Internet World 2000 was an event for the general and industrial public has taken place between the 28th and 30th March with massive participation of thousands of visitors.. It included an Exhibition with stands for more than 130 companies; Conferences on: Electronic trade in the internet era ; Linux Day ; Information Security in the e-commerce era ; WAP (Wireless Application Protocol): Cellular & Content Day . Some 35 professional seminars in the following tracks: - E-commerce management; Management of infrastructure, networking and webmasters; Systems development; Communication and the Internet; Start-up companies and high-technology. The event was organised by the People and Computers publishing group managed by Peli Peled and Penton Media, Inc. in the Israel Trade Fairs and Convention Center. (March, 28-30, 2000)

The Information Week included the International Conference on Information and Knowledge in the Internet Age and the Inter@Commerce conference. It was organised by Teldan Information Systems in cooperation with ASMI (The Association of Special Libraries in Israel); The Association of the Buying Managers; Ernst & Young; The Automation Company (Local Authorities); and the Export Institute. The three main tracks dealt with Inter Commerce; Information, Intelligence and Knowledge; and Satellite Events. The main sessions: Information, Law and Ethics; Society and Technology (with ASMI); The Local Government in Israel - Internet and Information (with the Automation Company); Information Specialists 2000 ; Information Management (1 and 2) ; Internet Economy; Intra-Net 2000 (1 and 2); Electronic Commerce; Electronic Commerce Business to Business; Combined planning of buying systems and logistics; E-Education - systems for education in the 2000s; Internet in Information Centers; Computerisation of the archives of the organisation, engineering and graphics documentation; Free information resources in the network; Innovations in Databases; PRICE Systems Review. An exhibition with about 30 stands of leading companies in the field of information and intelligence was part of the Information Week (April 4-5, 2000).


Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.

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