JERUSALEM, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israel Innovation Authority issued a report Monday saying that employees in the innovation industry would reach half a million within a decade, doubling the current number.
To achieve the goal, Israel will make efforts in expanding circles of influence of multinational companies, both in terms of employment opportunities and the range of technological fields.
The country will also encourage the growth of Israeli companies, from startups at the early stages of developing technology to companies with a complete value chain of design, manufacturing, marketing, sales, etc.
Also, employment will be expanded in hi-tech industry, including integration of women, members of the Arab sector and Ultra-orthodox Jews in the workforce, along with veteran engineers above the age of 45, and diversify the entry points to hi-tech employment by promoting initiatives such as coding boot-camps and others as well.
Moreover, other innovative sectors apart from ICT (software, computing and communication), with an emphasis on the life sciences, and the promoting of innovation in a wide range of industries, especially leveraging global trends in Industry 4.0, are also important ways to realize the goal.
Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry, MK Eli Cohen, believed that Israel is a key player in a "global economy characterized by technological innovation," mentioning a great number of startups and leading international companies active in Israel.
"The 2017 Innovation Report published by the Israel Innovation Authority encompasses a range of achievements and challenges faced by the Israel innovation industry and presents a roadmap for future development," he said.
"We are providing incentives for more multinational companies to add manufacturing and export activity to their R&D (research and development)," he said, adding that this will increase the number of people employed in technological branches.
Israel enjoys achievements on a global scale, ranking top in the world regarding the percentage of R&D investment and venture capital investments taken in the GDP.
It also has 600 new startups per year, more than 300 multinational R&D centers, such as Intel, Google, IBM and Apple, according to the report.
However, these achievements "do not carry over to other branches of the economy," Aharon Aharon, director of Israel Innovation Authority said, adding that the percentage of employees in hi-tech lies at 8 percent for over a decade.
He thinks that manufacturing industries in Israel are not innovative enough, and have trouble competing with "the low costs in the East and the high production standards and innovation level of the West."
"If we do not act to leapfrog these industries forward, the gap between the hi-tech industry and traditional economy will only increase," Aharon stressed, saying that the hi-tech industry itself is facing significant challenges.
According to him, hi-tech industry suffers from a lack of engineers and programmers, which hinders its growth.
Moreover, the Israeli model of innovation is largely based on creating technological added value. However, the economic value emanated from the technological value is "enjoyed outside Israel's borders," he said.
