Canada, Israel Fund Will Invest In Eight Joint R&D Projects

March 28, 2018 | The Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF), backed by the Israel Innovation Authority, will invest about $4.3 million in eight research and development projects by Israeli tech companies in cooperation with Canadian companies, the Israeli Innovation Authority announced in a statement Monday. The projects will be in the fields of agtech, robotics, satellite communications, food, and cleantech. The companies funded by CIIRDF include agtech robot startup FFR Robotics, satellite communications company Gilat Satellite Networks, cleantech and food company Altantium Technologies, information and communications technology (ICT) company Canopy Media, cleantech automation firm Afcon, an agtech companies C-Nature, Inovpro, and Flora-photonics. The Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation was founded in 1994 to connect tech companies from both countries and finance joint R&D project, in addition to a bi-national fund. Total funds for the foundation so far stand at about $12 million. The Innovation Authority also invested $1.16 million in four joint projects — a cleantech, an agriculture, an aerospace, and an ICT project with Ontario Province in Canada last month. They also signed an agreement with Quebec which included a $2.7 million investment. In Canada, the Israel Innovation Authority operates a designated program for the consolidation of health solutions for the elderly in Canadian hospitals as well as a new program in the field of smart transportation.