(Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson)
President of Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso today (Thursday, May 12, 2022) at a festive ceremony at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem announced the opening of an Ecuadorian office of innovation in Jerusalem in the presence of Minister of Science, Technology and Space Orit Farkash-Hacohen.
The opening of the Ministry of Innovation in Jerusalem is one of the highlights of the Ecuadorian President's historic visit to Israel and took place thanks to his desire to strengthen entrepreneurship and innovation in his country.
The opening of the office was achieved thanks to the hard diplomatic work of Israel’s embassy in Quito, headed by Ambassador Zeev Harel, Ecuadorian Ambassador to Israel H.E. Helen Sophie Deller Klein, and many partners in Ecuador and Israel, including the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology and the Innovation Authority.
As part of the ceremony, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Orit Farkash-Hacohen, and Ecuadorian Minister of Commerce Julio Jose Prado signed the first agreement for scientific-technological cooperation between Israel and Ecuador.
The agreement strengthens the scientific and technological collaboration between the countries and provides a new framework for the promotion and support of scientific and technological ideas and research between the two governments. The agreement will also encourage collaboration between scientific research institutions and institutions of higher learning of the two countries, the implementation of joint scientific and technological programs and projects, the exchange of scientists and students and the creation of scientific research projects of interest to the two countries.
Minister of Science, Technology and Space Orit Farkash-Hacohen: I congratulate the President of Ecuador on his first important historic visit. The opening of the Innovation Center in Jerusalem will help implement technological cooperation between the countries and strengthen the ties between them. In addition, I welcome the scientific technological agreement we will now sign. Israel has long been more than just a land of milk and honey. We are also an advanced technology country, and we are very happy today to share our leading knowledge with friends from around the world.”
MFA Deputy Director General Yael Rabia-Tzadok: "The Innovation Center that was inaugurated in Jerusalem represents a leap forward in the connection between the Israeli and Ecuadorian ecosystems. During the visit, the memoranda of understanding were signed for economic and scientific cooperation, which together with the opening of the office in Israel paves the way for upgrading business relationships, connecting entrepreneurs, opportunities and investments while strengthening the economic dimension of good relations between countries.”
The agreement signed today is the result of a bilateral Israel-Ecuador working team. In the near future the team will formulate the areas of scientific research that the parties want to promote, the publication of the joint calls for proposals and the determination of the level of funding from each country, which will stand on an equal basis.
The agreement is for a three-year period and will be extended automatically for an additional three-year period.
As mentioned, even before the agreement was signed, the Ecuadorian government decided to open an innovation office in Jerusalem. In order to increase the presence in Israel, create a basis for long-term activity in the field, connect the Ecuadorian innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem to the Israeli ecosystem and learn from Israeli knowledge and experience in the field of innovation. It will be recalled that Ecuador was the country in which Waze conducted its pilot research, and is open to similar cooperation with other companies.