ISRAEL'S COMPETITIVE EDGE

1st in R&D Investments

Israel invests 4.7% of its GDP in R&D, which is the highest ratio of any country in the world (IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).

Globally Open Economy

Israel is a preferred choice among leading global players. After the United States, Israel has the largest number of companies listed on the NASDAQ of any country and more than 60 Israeli companies are traded on various European exchanges. The long list of multinationals that run core activities in Israel includes: Microsoft, Berkshire-Hathaway, Motorola, Intel, HP, Siemens, Samsung, GE, Philips, Lucent, AOL, Cisco, Applied Materials, Winbond, IBM and J&J.

A Highly Educated Available Workforce

Israel is ranked 2nd in the world for availability of qualified scientists and engineers and 1^st in terms of total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP (IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2009) and providing multinationals with an exceedingly professional and skilled labor market. Four Israelis have won Nobel Prizes within the last 5 years in the fields of Chemistry and Economics.

Strong Managerial Entrepreneurship 

As a testimony to the country's vibrant start-up culture, Israeli managers were ranked 1^st in the world for their business entrepreneurship (IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2009). 

Flourishing Start-up and VC Industries

Ranked 1^st in the world for number of start-ups per capita and  3rd in the world for Venture Capital availability, Israel provides its entrepreneurs with the necessary backing to turn their innovative ideas into profitable businesses (IMD Global Competitiveness Yearbook 2009).

Ideal Conditions for Innovation

Israel provides the ideal environment to help stimulate innovation. It is ranked 3^rd in terms of its quality of scientific research institutions and 5^th in terms of utility patents and government procurement of advanced tech products by the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009. Profit driven Israeli innovations include a long list of market firsts such as disk-on-key technology, IP telephony, ZIP compression, the ingestible pill-size camera, modern drip-irrigation technology, ICQ instant messenger, and many more.