A recent piece in the Israeli press entitled US fund to set up $78m nanotech fund piqued our curiosity. What sort of fund, private equity, research?
It also appears that Israel is somewhat strapped for R&D cash, with Minister of Industry Trade and Labor Ehud Olmert announcing that “The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor is ready to cooperate with any research institute that finds external sources of investment.”
Israeli sources tell us that the matched funding source is most likely to be connected to Yehuda and Zohar Zisapel, the founders of the RAD Communications telecoms empire, who have already committed $4.5 million to build the Technion‘s new 3200 sq. meter Centre for Nanoelectronics.