OTTAWA, ONTARIO; SASKATOON, SK; and TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - The CanadaIsrael Industrial R&D Foundation (CIIRDF), Israel’s National Technological Innovation Authority (NTIA), and Innovation Saskatchewan today announced an important step towards bilateral technology cooperation with the potential to transform agriculture and agri-food production. Senior leaders from Saskatchewan and Israel convened at a roundtable meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel on January 24, 2016 to establish actions that advance the collaborative development of technologies to address global food security challenges. The event culminated in the signing of the first declaration of its kind between the Governments of Israel and Saskatchewan. It reinforces the commitment of both regions to bring their innovation strengths to bear in agriculture for the benefit of both jurisdictions, agri-food producers and consumers around the world.

Building on a year of dialogue, the outcomes of the roundtable and declaration set the stage for a groundbreaking bilateral R&D initiative in agriculture that will draw on Israel’s international innovation support programs. This strategic partnership will leverage the complementary R&D strengths of Saskatchewan and Israel; address shared priorities, and help all participants to seize economic development and trade opportunities in the multi-billion dollar global market for agricultural technologies. It will facilitate R&D collaboration between technology developers and scientists in both regions, with an initial focus on nextgeneration crop and germplasm development, plant genomics, and data processing.

Organized and chaired by CIIRDF, the roundtable brought together more than 50 participants from both regions including:

  • Saskatchewan-based scientists and leaders from Innovation Saskatchewan; the University of Saskatchewan; the Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS); the University of Regina; Genome Prairie; and the Canadian Embassy in Israel; and
  • Israeli innovators and leaders from 10 world-class agricultural biotech companies; the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Faculty of Agriculture; Tel Aviv University; Weizmann Institute of Science; the Volcani Institute (the research arm of Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture); and the NTIA..

CIIRDF is now working with participating organizations on the preparation of an action plan that will take immediate effect and begin to realize the objectives of this strategic partnership. It will leverage CIIRDF’s established collaboration platform and R&D funding programs, and propose initial technology priorities, resources and milestones.

“Scientific advances in genomics, proteomics, systems biology, big data and other fields create tremendous opportunities for agricultural and agri-food innovators in Saskatchewan and Israel,” said Dr. Henri Rothschild, President of CIIRDF. “The outcomes of this roundtable represent an important milestone towards groundbreaking technology collaboration in agriculture that harnesses the expertise of both regions in these fields. The emerging innovations could help transform the agriculture industry, and enhance the performance, productivity and profitability of crop producers around the world.”

“We are excited to explore potential avenues for cooperation in Innovative technologies related to food security with the NTIA and Innovation Saskatchewan,” said Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist and Chairman of Israel’s NTIA. “We look forward to creating a framework for future cooperation between entities from the State of Israel and the Province of Saskatchewan.”

“Innovation Saskatchewan is proud to help facilitate this strategic R&D partnership with Israel on behalf of our province,” said Jerome Konecsni, President and CEO, Innovation Saskatchewan. “We are committed to enhancing the ability of the private sector to innovate and commercialize new, high value-added products. The collaboration proposed with Israel will help us to deliver on this mandate, and showcase Saskatchewan’s technology and agricultural strengths on the global stage. This will provide our innovators and crop producers with a competitive edge, and facilitate access to lucrative new markets.”

“This novel collaboration with Saskatchewan will enable Israel to build on its many breakthroughs in agriinnovation, crop plants breeding, water management, applied genomics, computational biology and related fields,” said Dr. Eli Khayat, Scientific Director of Rahan Meristem, Israel’s first operating commercial plant biotechnology and tissue culture in Israel. “It will allow us to capitalize on our strengths in plant breeding and biotechnology, and contribute to new technologies with the potential to improve crop yield and performance, and address global food scarcity challenges.”

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Media inquiries

Sonya Shorey

Communications Strategist CIIRDF

613.851.9416 sonyashorey@ciirdf.ca