Cooperation Between Israel
and the State of Wisconsin

Binational foundation grants shared by Wisconsin institutions:

Recipients of grants from U.S.-Israel binational foundations:

Germania Dairy Automation Inc.
University of Madison
Manpower, Inc.
Medical College of Wisconsin
Nicolet Biomedical Inc.
Nicolet Instrument Corp.
University of Madison
University of Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin Medical
USDA-ARS Agronomy/Horticulture Research Lab

Agreements with Israel

In 1988, Gov. Tommy Thompson signed an agreement to explore arrangements between governmental, academic and private institutions in each state.

Partners For Change

The U.S.-Israel relationship is based on the twin pillars of shared values and mutual interests. Given this commonality of interests and beliefs, it should not be surprising that support for Israel is one of the most pronounced and consistent foreign policy values of the American people.

It is more difficult to devise programs that capitalize on the two nations' shared values than their security interests; nevertheless, such programs do exist. In fact, these SHARED VALUE INITIATIVES cover a broad range of areas, including the environment, science and technology, education and health.

Today's interdependent global economy requires that trade policy be developed at the national and state level.

Many states have recognized the opportunity for realizing significant benefits by seeking to increase trade with Israel. No fewer than 23 states, including Wisconsin, have cooperative agreements with Israel.

In 2007, Wisconsin exported more than $81 million worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. The total value of exports since 1996 exceeds $694 million. Israel now ranks as Wisconsin's 33rd leading trade partner. In addition, Wisconsin companies received $4,409,110 in 2006 for U.S. government-funded military contracts with Israel through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program (U.S. military assistance to Israel).

Israel is certainly a place where potential business and trade partners can be found. It can also be a source, however, for innovative programs and ideas for addressing problems facing the citizens of Wisconsin.

Israel, for example, has developed a number of pioneering education programs. One, the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), has been praised by President Clinton as “the best preschool program on earth” and replicated throughout the country.

A range of other exciting approaches to social problems like unemployment, environmental protection and drug abuse have been successfully implemented in Israel and could be imported for the benefit of Americans.

The potential for greater cooperation with Israel for the benefit of Wisconsin is limited only by the imagination.

Wisconsin Firms Profit From Business With Israel

As the only country with free trade agreements with both the United States and the European community, Israel can act as a bridge for international trade between the United States and Europe. Moreover, because of the deep pool of talent, particularly in high-technology areas, Israel provides excellent investment opportunities. Some of the nation's largest companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and McDonald’s have found that it is indeed profitable to do business in Israel.

At least 180 Wisconsin companies have discovered the benefits of doing business in Israel, including Nicolet, GE Medical Systems, Manpower Inc. and Sunlite Plastics Inc.

Manpower Inc., a temporary help/staffing business based in Wisconsin, has 35 offices in Israel. James Fromstein, senior Vice President of Manpower Inc., said what attracted Manpower to do business in Israel is the high level of education of Israelis and their aggressive nature in structuring their economy. The company’s experience in Israel has been “very positive.”

Wisconsin benefits by importing from Israel as well as exporting. GE Medical Systems has been exporting diagnostic medical equipment to Israel since the 1950's. Aside from exporting devices used for CTs, MRIs, X-Rays, and Ultrasounds, they also import medical nuclear scanners manufactured in Israel. According to Tony Hahn of the International Sales Department, “the business/medical clientele in Israel is very experienced and there is a good business community.”

Nicolet Instrument Corporation has been doing business in Israel for about fifteen years, says Bruce Jamison, area manager for Nicolet in the Middle East and South Asia. The company has been selling spectrometers used for analyzing chemical composition and materials to Israel. Jamison says it’s a reasonable market for the size of its population (roughly six million) and that, relative to other countries in the area, doing business with Israel is easy.

One good way to break into the Israeli market is through a joint venture with an Israeli company. Funding for such projects is available from the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD). The United States and Israel established BIRD in 1977 to fund joint U.S.-Israeli teams in the development and subsequent commercialization of innovative, nondefense technological products from which both the Israeli and American company can expect to derive benefits commensurate with the investments and risks. Most grant recipients are small businesses involved with software, instrumentation, communications, medical devices and semiconductors. BIRD funds projects in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

Since its inception, BIRD has funded more than 740 joint high-tech R&D projects through conditional grants totaling more than $210 million. Products developed from these ventures have generated sales of more than $8 billion, tax revenues of more than $700 million in both countries and an estimated 20,000 American jobs. Three companies, Manpower, Nicolet Instrument Corp. and Germania Dairy Automation Inc., have taken advantage of the BIRD program, and shared grants with Israeli partners totaling more than $730,000.

Nicolet Instrument Corporation, a world leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of instrumentation for assessing nerve, muscle, hearing/vestibular, sleep, epilepsy and brain blood flow disorders, teamed up with Isorad Ltd., an Israeli company that develops mid-infrared fiberoptic materials. Their BIRD grant supported the development of a fiberoptic chemical sensor to identify harmful chemical materials in the environment and for the performance of safe quality control analysis on toxic chemical products. Once this “FiberCell” was developed, the two companies applied for another BIRD grant to develop a complete fiberoptic sampling system that could be integrated with commercial infrared spectrometers.

Nicolet also partnered with Medoc Ltd., an Israeli-based company that develops, manufactures and markets devices for the small fibers of the peripheral nerve system. Medoc’s creation of a Thermal Sensory Analyzer (TSA) is considered the best of its kind in the world. Through a BIRD mini project, Medoc’s TSA device has been modified into a compact accessory for Nicolet’s own diagnostic system, the Nicolet Sensation, launched in 1996. Since their original joint venture, the two companies have expanded their working relationship into additional marketing efforts.

Germania Dairy Automation, Inc. has been the sole distributor in North America of Afimilk, a milk meter and computerized dairy management system, made by the kibbutz-based company Afikim. In 1996, the two companies received a BIRD grant to create a milk component analyzer. This product analyzes the different components of milk such as the amount of butterfat and the somatic cell count, which indicates the level of bacteria in milk. “Germania and Afikim already had a good working relationship so we decided to go together on this project,” said Germania’s general manager Robert Russell.

Scientific Innovations

Wisconsin researchers are making scientific breakthroughs and developing cutting-edge technologies in joint projects with Israeli scientists supported by the Binational Science Foundation. BSF has awarded nearly 3,000 grants, involving more than 2,000 scientists more than 400 institutions in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The University of Wisconsin and its medical school have shared with counterparts in Israel more than $1.2 million in BSF grants awarded since 1987.

Professor John W. Valley is the chairman of the department of geology and physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1995 he received a BSF grant to do joint research with Professor Matthews of Hebrew University in Jerusalem to study the geology of rocks in Greece. Through this study they learned that the rocks of the Alpine belt were once at sea level and then due to tectonic forces, such as the formation of mountain belts, they were then buried 50 km. below. Today these rocks are once again at the mountain surface. This discovery has helped geologists to better understand the geological history of Southern Europe. Practical applications resulting from this research include exploration for metallic ore deposits as well as oil and gas deposits. Valley has been to Israel twice and will likely go back when Professor Matthews takes his sabbatical at the University of Wisconsin next year. A postdoc who was also working with the two professors built her own geochemistry lab at Hebrew University based on her experience working with Valley and Matthews.

Professor Arthur B. Ellis of the University of Wisconsin received a BSF grant in 1996. Since then he has been working with the Weizmann Institute of Science to research chemical sensoring. This consists of putting certain molecules on the surface of semiconductors to create a sensor that can determine the presence of other compounds and their concentration in the gas and liquid phase. “This is basic scientific research,” said Ellis, “we are not engineers so we don’t actually create the sensors, but we do background research.” Professor Ellis has “had a very positive experience” and said that “the professors at Weizmann were very good colleagues [to work with] and had great ideas.”

University of Wisconsin Professor of Chemistry Robert C. West has received several BSF grants and has been collaborating with Israel since about 1988. Professor West works with Professor Yitzchak Apeloig at the Technion in Haifa to research novel types of multiple bonds to silicon. The team in Haifa does all of the theoretical work and calculations behind the creation of new compounds using the element silicon and then the scientists at Wisconsin do the experimental and laboratory work to create new compounds. When comparing the experience of collaborating with Israel to other countries, West said that he has “never been so successful as [he has] been in Israel.” Professor West has also been doing joint electrochemistry research with James Becker at the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva for the past five years.

BSF was established in 1972 to promote research cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel. BSF-sponsored studies benefit the United States by extending research resources to achieve milestones that might not otherwise be attainable; introducing novel approaches and techniques that can lead American researchers to move in new directions; confirming, clarifying and intensifying research projects; providing access to Israeli equipment and facilities and early access to Israeli research results that speed American scientific advances. BSF documented no less than 75 new discoveries that probably would not have been possible without foundation-supported collaboration.

A 1999 external economic review took an in depth look at 10 BSF projects. These 10 alone, produced aggregate benefits of $780 million, a figure four times the total expenditure of BARD since its inception (1978). The benefits accrue to the United States, to Israel and to both countries together.

Agriculture Benefits

Professor Gary Splitter of the University of Wisconsin is closer to his goals of finding a cure for T-cell leukemia and stopping the Brucella Melitensis endemic thanks to the joint research projects conducted under the auspices of the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund. BARD was created in 1978 with equal contributions by the United States and Israel. Since its inception, BARD has funded more than 800 projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia. In 2005, 28 projects were funded at 31 U.S. institutions.New projects promote increased quantity and improved quality of agricultural produce. Wisconsin institutions have shared grants worth more than $4.6 million since 1987.

Professor Splitter has received BARD grants every few years since 1989 to study the bovine leukemia virus, which is very similar to T-cell leukemia in humans. These viruses are major problems in both countries—approximately 30,000 cattle in Wisconsin alone are affected. Splitter is working with a collaborator from the Israeli Veterinarian Institute, part of the federal laboratory, to monitor the disease in Israel. Together they are trying to learn why the virus persists in the host that eventually causes cancer.

Splitter and his Israeli colleagues are also studying Brucella Melitensis, a bacterium which is currently a serious problem in sheep, goats and cattle in Israel. These bacteria can be found in the milk of these animals and transmitted to humans when they eat non-pasteurized dairy products, which is extremely common in Israel. Because this disease is not found in the U.S. anymore, going to Israel gives him a better perspective of how the disease occurs worldwide. He can see the disease up-close and talk to Bedouins, Israelis, Palestinians and kibbutzniks who have been affected. Through this collaboration, Wisconsin and Israel not only share data but also send reagents back and forth. Overall, this joint research has been “very, very helpful,” said Professor Splitter.

Professor Thomas German from the University of Wisconsin collaborates with researchers from the University of California-Davis, University of Georgia and Hebrew University in Jerusalem to find a way to control the tomato tospovirus. This virus affects more than 1,000 species of plants including tomatoes and peppers, causing billions of dollars of damage worldwide. This virus is transmitted by a tiny insect that is hard to control because of its enormous reproduction rate. These collaborators are studying the mechanism by which the insects transmit the disease in hopes of finding new methods to prevent it.

Wisconsin produces more than $100 million worth of potatoes a year. Today, many U.S. seed potatoes are checked for debilitating diseases, which may cause substantial economic losses, using a new test developed by BARD grantees. Wisconsin, being a large dairy farming state, also benefits from research done regarding inert fats in the diet. Since BARD grantees proved that inert fats in the diet are healthy, nutritional and also affect fertility, they have become part of commercial rations in both the U.S. and Israel.

A team of agricultural economists from the University of Maryland and the University of California found that the economic benefits of just five projects—related to cotton, pecans and solarization—exceeded all U.S. investment in BARD. New projects promote increased quantity and improved quality of agricultural produce.

It is difficult to break down the impact on a state-by-state basis, but, overall, BARD-sponsored research has generated sales of more than $500 million, tax revenues of more than $100 million and created more than 5,000 American jobs.

Other Cooperative Programs

GE Medical Systems of Milwaukee received a grant from the U.S.-Israel Science & Technology Commission for a joint project with ISORAD to develop high performance imaging cameras for medicine.

UJA Partnership 2000 Communities

Milwaukee Kinneret Cluster - Sovev Kinneret

Hillel Campus Profiles

State Contacts

Elmer Winter
Committee for Economic Growth in Israel
5301 Ironwood Rd.
Milwaukee, WI 53201
Tel. 414-961-1000
Fax. 414-906-7878
Email. barbarad@inc.net

Kenosha Jewish Welfare Fund
600 68th Place
Kenosha, WI 53143
Tel. 414-697-0300

Madison Jewish Community Council
6434 Enterprise Lane
Madison, WI 53719-1117
Tel. 608-278-1808
Fax. 608-278-7814

Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations
1360 North Prospect Ave., 2nd Fl.
Milwaukee, WI 53202-3091
Tel. 414-276-7920
Fax. 414-276-7902
Email. mjccr@aol.com

Milwaukee Jewish Federation
1360 North Prospect Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53202
Tel. 414-390-5700

Sherwin Pomerantz, Israel Director
Wisconsin Department of Commerce
c/o Atid EDI Ltd
Bldg. 2, Har Hotzvim, P.O. Box 45005
Jerusalem
Israel 91450
Tel. 2­571­0199
Fax. 2­571­0713
Email. atidedi@netvision.net.il
URL: www.atid-edi.com/wisconsin.htm

Wisconsin Dept. of Development
123 West Washington Ave., P.O. Box 7970
Madison, WI 53707
Tel. 608-267-9330
Fax. 608-266-5551