Chief Scientist: Budget cuts will close programs

Chief Scientist Avi Hasson: A 40% cut is not streamlining or a change in priorities but means that programs will be closed down.

It has been a long time since Israel's high-tech industry has waged such a fight against the Ministry of Finance's plan to cut the Office of the Chief Scientist's budget. In the 2013-14 budget, the office is allocated NIS 1 billion, the lowest amount since 2000 - at a time when the Ministry of the Economy is headed by a man who is seen as a scion of the high-tech industry: Naftali Bennett.

In terms of arithmetic, Office of the Chief Scientist's budget is not being cut: at NIS 1 billion a year, it is unchanged from the basic budget in 2012, after a reduction from NIS 1.3 billion. But, during 2012, the Office of the Chief Scientist's budget received supplements, which boosted its budget to NIS 1.57 billion. As far as Chief Scientist Avi Hasson is concerned, 2013 is different. The timing of the 2013 budget, in summer, and the budget hole, leave little chance of a change. "We've received a very clear message on the matter," he told "Globes".

"A cut of one-third, actually 40%, in the predetermined fixed costs is not streamlining or a change in priorities; it means that programs will be closed," said Hasson. "Incubators will definitely be closed. That's obvious; four, five or six incubators (Israel has 24 technology incubators - S.S.). I don’t have an exact number at the moment. Programs in the periphery will definitely be affected; everything will take a hit."

ECI Telecom Ltd. is one company will be affected, as the Office of the Chief Scientist finance's a substantial part of the salary cost of hundreds of employees at the company's development center in Omer, outside of Beersheva.

"The government gave a three-year commitment to finance these programs, and I will honor the commitments I made last year," said Hasson. "But new programs, which finance employees' future salaries - I don’t have the resources to even discuss them. Their support is gone, along with the salaries of employees who depend on it."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 12, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013

Twitter Facebook Linkedin RSS Newsletters גלובס Israel Business Conference 2018