Anne Zhang zhangy49@gmail.com ISRAEL is working to develop closer collaborations with Shenzhen in fields including biofuels, new energies, electronics and telecommunications, a leading Israeli scientist and trade official said over the weekend. Avi Hasson, chief scientist with the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry of Israel, said his office funds hundreds of projects annually through collaborations between Israeli and foreign companies in more than 50 countries, and is now turning its focus to collaborations in China. “I expect China next year to be the leading country in terms of the number of projects funded through our program,” Hasson told Shenzhen Daily during the 14th China Hi-Tech Fair. Israel has been a subvenue of the annual high-tech fair for three years. Hasson said this was his first time attending the fair in Shenzhen, but not his first visit to the city or with local technology giants. “I personally visited the Huawei headquarters in Shenzhen last year. The company is not strange to Israel,” Hasson said. Huawei Technologies, a leading enterprise in China’s telecommunications industry, has conducted several collaborative projects with Israel and Israeli companies. A delegation of Israeli companies visited Shenzhen last year and discussed projects with local tech enterprises including Huawei, ZET, TCL and Konka. A Shenzhen delegation led by the city’s Party chief, Wang Rong, visited Israel last year and made an agreement with the Israeli Government to boost cooperation in technological innovation. The two governments said they would work together to match related companies and provide financial support for cooperative projects. Known as an innovative high-tech center, Israel is a global leader in areas including water conservation, solar energy technologies, electric vehicles and biomedical research. “Israel is a very small country. We don’t have many natural resources; we don’t have oil or water [resources],” Hasson said. “Human capital is the main asset we have.” Private enterprises also play an important role in the country’s technological research and development. “One of our biggest achievements is that our government manages to create an innovation system where 85 percent of the investment in R&D is made by private sectors,” Hasson said. Israel not only looks for cooperation with large players like Huawei, but also keeps an eye on smaller, startup companies that have interesting technologies and capabilities, Hasson said. “Sometimes the best ideas are within smaller companies,” he said. | 