Minister of the Economy Naftali Bennett announced today that he has succeeded in "greatly reducing" the cut in the Office of the Chief Scientist's budget, after reaching an agreement with the Ministry of Finance. "The cut in spending for start-ups was a blow to the hope for growth by the Israeli economy as a whole, and to this, I could not agree," he said. "This is the only way to pull the country out of the deficit, even if we have to reduce spending in the present, we must not hurt the future."
The Office of the Chief Scientist's budget will be NIS 1.3 billion.
Bennett said, "The proposed cut in the Office of the Chief Scientist's budget was liable to deal a lethal blow to the growth of start-ups and to Israel's image as the 'Start-Up Nation'. But we have prevented this. The Chief Scientist will continue to foster start-ups and projects, which are the future of the Israeli economy." He added, "We will continue to try and increase the Chief Scientist's budget in the future."
The Ministry of Finance planned to cut the Office of the Chief Scientist's budget by a third, which would have had an adverse effect on start-ups, technology incubators, and companies located in the periphery.
Chief Scientist Avi Hasson said, "I am glad that the minister of the economy was able to greatly reduce the blow to the Chief Scientist's budget. As a country, it is important to keep our main growth engine. We will continue to do everything we can to create diverse tools to increase investment in R&D, to create jobs and encourage Israel's economic growth."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 13, 2013
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