Chief Scientist Dr. Eli Opper has obtained a NIS 100 million budget supplement from the Ministry of Finance. Earlier this year, the Office of the Chief Scientist suffered a NIS 28 million budget cut 2% as part of the across-the-board NIS 1.24 billion budget cut, so the Chief Scientist's has been increased by a net NIS 72 million.
Opper also obtained a NIS 100 million advance on the 2010 budget, giving him NIS 172 million in additional funding for this year, boosting the budget to NIS 1.69 billion.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor said that the Office of the Chief Scientist was holding marathon sessions to approve funding applications by the end of the year, to ensure that the entire budget supplement will be allocated.
Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Benjamin Ben-Eliezer thanked the Ministry of Finance for finding additional budget sources for the Chief Scientist, in view of the economic crisis. "These budgets will give oxygen to companies in the Israeli economy," he said.
Opper has warned that he has a NIS 400 million shortfall to meet the larger number of funding applications caused by the economic crisis, so the increase in the 2009 budget is about one-quarter of what Opper claimed that he needed.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 8, 2009
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