Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Israel held an online meeting with the chairman of the board of the Israel Innovation Directorate Ami Appelbaum, Dunyo news agency reported.

The Israel Innovation Authority was established in 2016 on the basis of the Office of the Chief Scientist under the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry. Its areas of expertise include the provision of a variety of practical funding tools and platforms to effectively meet the needs of Israeli and international innovation ecosystems.

It covers a wide range of partners: start-up entrepreneurs, established companies developing new products or production processes, academic groups aiming to spread their ideas to the market, global corporations interested in Israeli technology, Israeli companies looking for new markets abroad, factories and plants, seeking to integrate innovative manufacturing into business.

According to the consulting firm PwC Israel, in 2019 foreign companies carried out purchases of Israeli startups with a total value of US$9.9 billion. 80 major transactions were completed, including 24 transactions worth over US$100 million.

During the meeting, the Israeli side was familiarized in detail with the policy of innovative development carried out in Uzbekistan, including comprehensive measures for the widespread introduction of the digital economy, improving the electronic government system, further developing the domestic market of software products and information technologies, and creating IT parks.

Taking into account the leading positions of Israel in the field of innovation, issues of establishing interaction in such areas as the development of the startup ecosystem, research and development, attracting Israeli specialists and technologies to expand the innovation infrastructure in Uzbekistan were discussed.

As a result of the negotiations, an agreement was reached to continue bilateral consultations to fill the cooperation agenda with targeted and mutually beneficial projects.