Schemes to be funded at a total budget of NIS 36 million also to include retraining initiatives for the bio-convergence, foodtech, and other innovative sectors.
Israel Innovation Authority to fund schemes attracting and placing human capital from overseas in Israeli tech industry
Schemes to be funded at a total budget of NIS 36 million also to include retraining initiatives for the bio-convergence, foodtech, and other innovative sectors.
Over the course of the next two years, 2,550 people will receive training and placement in 15 dedicated schemes created to address the human capital challenges in the tech industry, with special focus on advanced technologies, the professions in the growth sectors, and new immigrants (Olim).
The Israel Innovation Authority announced today (Monday) that it will fund training and placement schemes with a total budget of NIS 36.4 million (of public and private funds), based on the Human-Capital Fund Program.
In total, 38 schemes applied for the program, of which 15 outstanding initiatives were selected to receive an aggregate sum of NIS 17.6 million of public funds. These funds will be used for training and placement of 2,550 program graduates, in various growth sectors in the Israeli tech industry. For the first time, the initiatives selected include programs training human capital for integration in companies operating in advanced tech fields such as bio-convergence (companies combining biology and engineering), digital medicine and big data for medical applications, and foodtech (foodtechnologies). Also selected were schemes dedicated to integrating olim (new immigrants from around the world arriving under the Law of Return), as well as Israeli citizens returning from life overseas, into good positions in the Israeli tech industry. This aspect of the initiative is in collaboration between the Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, which launched a multiannual joint working plan dedicated to drawing high-quality human capital to Israel from overseas–including Russia and Ukraine – and integrating them into the Israeli tech industry.
Dror Bin, CEO of the Innovation Authority: “The tech industry is the growth engine of the Israeli economy, even in periods of slowdown. The development and adaptation of technological platforms and dedicated training, including in ground-breaking fields such as bio-convergence, medical big data and foodtech, will prepare Israel for the evolving needs of the most innovative sectors of the industry. The purpose of the schemes selected by the committee is to make the world of tech even more accessible to thousands of additional employees from a variety of populations, assisted by targeted, innovative and quality training.” He added: “The human resource potential presented by olim, persons with rights under the Law of Return, and Israeli citizens returning from life overseas, is sizeable. The purpose of the selected schemes targeting this focus is to promote integration of talented and experienced olim, persons with rights under the Law of Return, and Israeli citizens returning from life overseas into the Israeli tech industry while leveraging their relative advantages, with the goal of preserving our international status as a leading global hub of innovation.”
The schemes selected by the research committee:
1. The Gvahim Association – Integrating Aliyah
The Gvahim Association works to integrate olim with an academic background into the job market in Israel, especially the tech sector. The scheme will identify, train and help hundreds of olim find career-ladder employment in the tech industry
2. Salesclass Ltd.
The goal of the scheme is to train hundreds of olim for SDR/BDR positions while leveraging their relative advantages (languages, culture, and professional network at their country of origin), thus also addressing the personnel needs of the tech industry for capable sales professionals
3. Initech Software Services Ltd.
A software firm that in recent years has focused on training olim from the former USSR. In this scheme, the company will train dozens of olim from Ukraine and Russia for research and development positions in biotech and MedTech
4. ITWorks Empowering People
ITWorks specializes in professional training for underrepresented populations.
The proposed scheme seeks to train hundreds of olim who immigrated to Israel due to the Russia-Ukraine war, in order to help them find employment in full stack, SDR and data analyst positions
5. AYYT – Data Updates and Technological Applications Ltd.
AYYT is the applied-economic company of HIT Holon College.
This is a new scheme to train 50 candidates with a life-sciences bachelor’s degree for positions as medical data analysts in the MedTech/digital medicine sectors
6. The Association of Engineers, Architects and Graduates
The Association of Engineers, Architects and Graduates in Technological Sciences, in collaboration with the Hebrew University – Center for Executive Training, have established a partnership and a new scheme to address the market’s failure, in which a large proportion of medicine and life-sciences college graduates struggle to find suitable employment with a decent salary. The purpose of the scheme is to train the target group for data-science roles in the biotech and MedTech industry
7. SCIENCE ABROAD
The objective of Science Abroad is to repatriate Israelis residing abroad, who are researchers in the life-sciences, with a doctorate degree or higher. The objective of the scheme is to promote researchers who returned to Israel within the last 7 years and require upskilling in order to become leading figures in their companies.
8. The 8400 Health Network (Community Interest Company)
A training scheme combining a practicum and mentoring for senior executives in the tech industry, following which they will launch start-ups, or earn promotions to management positions in the bio-convergence and health-tech sectors; alongside training tech engineers and exposing them to these worlds, helping them integrate into the bio-convergence industry
9. BioForum Applied Knowledge Center Ltd.
Bioforum is a biomedical training company engaged in regulation and data management for clinical studies. The goal of the scheme is to train dozens of life-sciences college graduates for positions in foodtech, based on the needs of the companies operating in the sector.
10. Place-IL (Registered Association)
An association that works in cooperation with tech industry companies, dedicated to advancing populations that are underrepresented in the Israeli tech industry and to increase their representation.
In this scheme, the association will develop a platform interfacing with the HR recruitment systems of the tech industry companies. The association will then access job descriptions, enabling it to identify and put forward appropriate candidates, in the service of compatibility between the scheme graduates and the tech firms.
11. Infinity Labs R&D Ltd.
A veteran training organization retraining college graduates for development positions in the tech industry. The company will develop a platform to improve its screening, training and placement systems. This will enable the company to increase the number of trainees by several hundred this year.
12. Hyperactive Hi-Tech Ltd.
A veteran tech-industry training organization.
The purpose of the platform is to integrate graduates of the scheme as mentors for new trainees by developing a system that will integrate them as supervisors in the trainees’ practical training. Thus the company will be able to train hundreds of additional employees for the tech industry
13. ITQ Ltd.
ITQ specializes in training managers for communications networks and cyber security in cloud environments.
The scheme will train experienced IT professionals who have left the job market for network engineer positions
14. G-Stat Ltd.
G-Stat is a veteran data science training and services company. The purpose of the current scheme is to train data analysts for data scientist positions.
15. Thrive-DX Saas Ltd.
Thrive-DX is a company dedicated to developing training for the cyber sector.
The purpose of the scheme is to train candidates for SDR positions in the cyber sector.
This article was first published on 15 November by ISERD.
Receive our news bulletin each Tuesday & Thursday and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
