ISRAEL CALLS FOR NEW R&D CENTRES

Israel's chief scientist, Dr. Eli Opper, is calling for the establishment of R&D centres at Israeli universities. These centres will work in unison with industry to ensure the transfer of high-tech information, an important area in biotechnology and nanotechnology.

The new facilities will be modelled on institutes such as the Russel Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), which has recently been set up at Technion Israel Institute for Technology and is partially state-funded. Opper claims that the new programmes are essential in order to preserve Israel's relative advantage in these areas.

Industry sources have claimed in recent months that Israeli drug research is suffering, as multinationals downscale in the wake of the country's controversial new data exclusivity and patent laws. Observers have called on the government to take a more active long-term role in biotech, claiming the sector is in decline.