Informing
Policy
for Progress

Development of Sustainable Agriculture Under Drought Conditions

The research aims to study the agriculture of Israel under sever drought conditions, and sharp raise in water prices. Agriculture is the largest consumer of water in Israel. Raising the price of water would mean that around 10% of the agricultural land in Israel would be changed from irrigated to non-irrigated land. Such change would […]

The Impact of R&D Spillover on Growth and Productivity in Israeli Manufacturing Industries 1990-1994, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-14

The study presents the positive external effects (spillovers) of investments in research and development in manufacturing industries, in Israel and abroad. This examination quantifies the spillover of domestic and imported technologies, through intermediates and capital goods, to establishments that did not participate directly in the research and development process. The analysis examines the interactions between […]

Rethinking Higher Education in Israel – the Colleges, University Education and Human Resources

The subcommittee recommends that higher education in Israel be expanded and based on three institution types: Research Universities, Academic Colleges [the equivalent of the American Four Year Colleges], and Community Colleges [to be established].   The Research Universities should emphasize graduate studies [M.A. and M.Sc. with thesis and Ph.D.] and restructure their undergraduate curricula towards […]

Incentives and Invention in Universities, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-18-2003

We show that economic incentives affect the number and commercial value of inventions generated in universities. Using panel data for 102 U.S. universities during the period 1991-1999, we find that universities which give higher royalty shares to academic scientists generate more inventions and higher license income, controlling for other factors including university size, quality, research […]

Financing R&D in Mature Companies: An Empirical Analysis, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-10

R&D intensive firms are often described as (1) relying mainly on equity financing; (2) investing primarily in intangible assets; (3) exhibiting a high market to book ratio (a high Tobin’s q); and (4) as being young and fast growing. We put these commonplace characterizations to systematic empirical tests. For our sample of Israeli manufacturing firms […]

The Technion’s green campus

At the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, we don’t just talk about the environment – we are here for the environment. The Technion today is the country’s leading institute in this field and is a model for other academic institutions in Israel and around the world.  The Technion, as Israel’s first and major technological university, bears […]

Is Venture Capital Special? Empirical Evidence from a Government Initiated Venture Capital Market, Science, Technology and the Economy Program (STE) – Working Papers Series STE-WP-9

The financing extended by venture capital funds is examined in this paper, using a unique database that includes information about all the firms in the portfolio of all the Israeli venture capital funds in 1997-2000, and data on a control group of firms that were not backed by venture capital funds but were supported by […]