New Materials and Nanotechnology

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) agreed in 2016 to cooperate on applied nanotechnology. A bilateral funding announcement was published in November 2016. Twelve ‘2+2’ projects were jointly selected for funding. The projects ran from 2018 to 2022, with approximately 8 million euros of funding from each side. In 2007, the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI) was launched as a joint initiative of the Israeli National Infrastructure Forum for Research and Development (TELEM) and the Israeli Ministry of Economy. Today, this initiative continues under the name NANO Israel. NANO Israel also operates a national database of companies and researchers active in nanotechnology.

The bilateral cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) on battery research focuses on the promotion of young scientists. In December 2012, BMBF and MOST signed an agreement on battery research on the occasion of the German-Israeli government consultations. Since August 2014, a total of five bilateral battery schools have been held in Germany (twice) and Israel (three times) as part of the German Israeli Battery School (GIBS), the last of which in spring 2023 after an interruption due to the pandemic. The battery schools bring together both experienced and young junior scientists from both countries. In addition to scientific discussions on the topic of batteries and the networking aspect, the battery schools have also produced joint publications. In September 2016, the first joint initiative ‘New Materials for Battery Systems – Promoting German-Israeli Research Cooperation’ was announced. A total of nine bilateral projects were funded by the BMBF with a funding volume of 2.7 million euros.

The cooperation between the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in materials research, which started in 1981, was restructured in 1995. In accordance with the BMBF materials research programme at the time, Ma-Tech, the thematic priorities were to develop magnesium alloys and materials for new battery developments.