Research Landscapes

Germany and Israel are both leading nations in science and research. German-Israeli cooperation in research and technology started in 1959 between the Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Weizmann Institute and has since developed into an important element of Germany and Israel's bilateral relations.

Germany

Ranging from Johannes Gutenberg's invention of mechanical printing and Carl Friedrich Benz's invention of the automobile to Einstein's theory of relativity and Karlheinz Brandenburg's development of the MP3 format; science and research have a long tradition in Germany. Approximately 10% of all Nobel Prizes have been awarded to German scientists. In the last 15 years, the work of eight German researchers has been distinguished with a Nobel Prize. Germany has a highly sophisticated science system: top-class research is not only carried out by universities, but also by four research organizations, a number of public and private research centres, and approximately 260 specialized universities and universities of applied sciences. In total, Germany has about 750 publicly financed research institutions, not counting the private sector's research and development activities. All in all, there are over 250,000 scientists working in Germany.

The strengths of German research have traditionally been in the fields of mechanical engineering, chemistry, medicine, physics and mathematics. However, German scientists also play a leading role in new, forward-looking areas such as environmental research, information and communication technologies, neurosciences, biotechnology, optical technologies and microsystems technology. Germany even leads the field in the area of nanotechnology. In 2003, more than 13,000 German inventions were granted Europe-wide patents. This means that the developments of German scientists accounted for almost a quarter of all European patents.

Today, Germany is an attractive location for modern science. A High-Tech Strategy was introduced by the Federal Government to make it possible for Germany to continue prevailing against international competitors in the area of technology.

Israel

Israel is a small country with almost no natural resources, which led Chaim Weizmann, the country's first president, to recognize early on that intelligence "is the only natural resource we have". With the Daniel Sieff Research Institute (the precursor to the Weizmann Institute), the Hebrew University, the Technion and several smaller institutions, a scientific infrastructure developed even before the State of Israel was founded. After 1948, the young nation could build on this structure.

What was, in its early days, a country dominated by agriculture has now become one of the world's leading science nations. Almost 120,000 students are currently matriculated at its six universities and at the Weizmann Institute. In addition, Israel has a distance university, a network of colleges, and a number of public research institutions, including the Volcani Center for Agricultural Research, a geophysical, an oceanographical, a geological and a biological research centre, and the Israel Space Agency, Israel's national authority for space research. Two Israeli researchers have been awarded Nobel Prizes in recent years: Professor Daniel Kahnemann received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 and Aaron Ciechanover was given the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004.

Israel is one of the world's leaders in the areas of communications technology and life sciences.
The country invests 4.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in research and development, more than any other country in the world. In addition, it has the world's highest per capita number of scientists and engineers.

Scientific and Technological Cooperation

German-Israeli cooperation in research and technology started in 1959 between the Max Planck Society (MPG) and the Weizmann Institute and has since developed into an important element of Germany and Israel's bilateral relations.

Germany is Israel's most important cooperation partner after the USA and has made a significant contribution to the integration of Israel in the European Research Area. The pillars of cooperation are the Minerva Foundation, the inter-ministry research partnership between the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) and the Israeli Ministries of Science, Culture and Sport (MOST) and of Industry, Trade and Labor (MOITAL), the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), the German-Israeli Project Cooperation (DIP) and the German-Israeli Programme for Cooperation in Vocational Training.

In addition to the BMBF's cooperation programmes, the partnership between the two countries is also supported by various organizations funded by the BMBF or other public bodies, such as the German Research Association (DFG), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), but also by some private foundations, particularly the VW Foundation, the Thyssen Foundation and the Krupp Foundation. In addition, the Länder of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia support cooperation between the two countries.

In all of these programmes and activities, the support of young scientists from Germany and Israel plays a particularly important role. In order to reflect this, a Young Scientist Award will be introduced in 2008 as part of the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology 2008. It will be conferred to a German-Israeli research team every year. The Year of Science will also trigger new developments in other subject areas: for example, a Minerva Centre for Humanities and Cultural Sciences is to be established before the end of the year. In addition, scientific cooperation between the two countries will be extended to include the field of civil security research. Other priorities are health research, environmental research, and the humanities and cultural sciences.

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