Binational Industrial Research
and Development Foundation (BIRD)

The United States and Israel established the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (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. Grants are paid back, with interest, if revenues are shown from the R&D project. The limit on the amount due from any one project is 150 percent of the BIRD investment. Most grant recipients are small businesses involved with software, instrumentation, communications, medical devices and semiconductors.

BIRD derives its primary income from the interest on a total endowment of $110 million that was contributed in equal parts by the two governments. An increasing share of funds comes from repayment income from companies participating in successful BIRD-funded projects.

BIRD funds 50 percent of the companies' expenses in developing a product to the stage of commercial readiness. There are two main types of projects: Mini and Full-Scale. Mini projects have a maximum budget of $200,000. The average full-scale project has a budget of $1.2 million, spread over 12-15 months.

Since its inception, BIRD has funded 672 joint high-tech R&D projects through conditional grants totaling more than $214 million. Products developed from these ventures have generated direct sales of $4.1 billion, tax revenues of more than $700 million in both countries and created an estimated 20,000 American jobs.

Eitan Yudilevich
Executive Director
BIRD Foundation
Kiryat Atidim, Building 4
Tel Aviv, Israel 61581
Email: eitan@birdf.com

P.O. Box 58054
Tel Aviv, Israel 61580
Tel. 972-3­647­0710
Fax. 972-3­649­8341
Email. chava@birdf.com