Right: Michel Hivert and Jonathan Thomas signing the new cooperation agreement between Israel and California
Left to right: Gili Ovadia, head of Israel’s Economic & Trade Mission to the West Coast, Michel Hivert, the Executive Director of MATIMOP, Jonathan Thomas, Chairman of the CIRM governing Board, and Consul General Andy David
On December 5th Israel’s Industry Center for R & D (MATIMOP) signed a cooperation agreement with California’s state stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). This new agreement is the first of its kind for MATIMOP with a Californian government agency, and strengthens the special relationship between Israel and California in the form of stem cell research, regenerative medicine and joint R & D projects. It has the transformative potential to improve lives and tackle chronic and often fatal diseases such as cancer, heart disease, HIV and diabetes.
The signing ceremony took place at CIRM’s headquarters in San Francisco, with Michel Hivert, the Executive Director of MATIMOP representing Israel and Jonathan Thomas, the Chairman of the CIRM governing Board, representing California.
Also present were Israeli Consul General Andy David, Dr. Bertram Lubin, CIRM Board member and CEO of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Gili Ovadia, head of Israel’s Economic & Trade Mission to the West Coast, and Talia Cohen, head of the California Israeli Chamber of Commerce, among other dignitaries, scientists and CIRM members.
CIRM, founded by a California ballot measure initiative in 2004 with a $3billion bond issue, would co-fund with MATIMOP projects that meet the standards of a rigorous peer review process. With more Israeli and Californian scientists collaborating on regenerative medicine, MATIMOP and CIRM will also help academics and researchers to commercialize their products. As Dr. Patricia Olson, Executive Director of Scientific Activies at CIRM noted, ‘scientists don’t think about borders’, and recent international CIRM collaborative projects have targeted diabetes, cancer stem cells, and cultivating heart muscle to tackle heart failure.
The new agreement builds upon the exclusive partnership between the two states ushered in by the March signing of an MOU by Governor Brown and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Dr. Andy David, Consul General of Israel to the Pacific North West sees this official partnership as strengthening the Israel-California relationship “in order to do good”, while Jonathan Thomas expressed the ‘very valuable’ effects of new collaboration. Dr. Lubin regards the agreement as a catalyst for the support of science at a time when funding cuts were threatening many endeavors.
Michel Hivert was keen to ‘push forward bilateral projects’ immediately, and Jonathan Thomas anticipated ‘work of great note’ ‘that will benefit patients everywhere’.
About MATIMOP: MATIMOP, the executive agency of the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS), of the Ministry of Economy of Israel is the official National Agency for industrial R&D cooperation in Israel, charged with promoting highly supportive policies to build Israel's industrial infrastructure, and nurturing industrial innovation and entrepreneurship. MATIMOP is the government agency that generates and implements international cooperative industrial R&D programs between Israeli and foreign enterprises.
About CIRM: CIRM was established in November 2004 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was overwhelmingly approved by voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. A list of grants and loans awarded to date may be seen here:
http://www.cirm.ca.gov/for-researchers/researchfunding.