Cooperation Between Israel
and the State of Connecticut

Binational foundation grants shared by Connecticut institutions:

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

Alcide Corp.
Canberra Industries Inc.
CAS Medical Systems Inc.
Corometrics Medical Inc.
Executone Information Systems
General DataComm
Kollmorgen Motion Tech.
Lansco Inc.
MacDermid Inc.
Micromint Inc.
Packet/PC Inc.
Timex Corp.
TranSwitch Corp.
University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut Med School
VA Medical Center
Yale
Yale Medical School

Agreements with Israel

In 1988, Governor William O'Neill signed an agreement that led to the creation of the Connecticut-Israel Exchange (CONNIX). The purpose is to expand economic, scientific, educational, technological, commercial, industrial and cultural cooperation and exchange.

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.

The two nations cooperate on a wide variety of projects that reinforce our common beliefs. These SHARED VALUE INITIATIVES cover everything from energy to science to education to 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 have cooperative agreements with Israel.

In 1988, the Connecticut-Israel Exchange Commission was established to promote economic, scientific, educational, technological, commercial, industrial and cultural cooperation and exchange.

Today, trade with Israel is flourishing. Since 1996, Connecticut has exported almost $1 billion worth of goods. In 2007 alone, the total exceeded $161 million. In addition, Connecticut companies received $135,325,177 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 now ranks as Connecticut's 19th largest trade partner.

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 Connecticut.

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, including seven Connecticut communities (Easton, Danbury, Hartford, Stratford, Bridgeport, Stamford and New Haven).

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 Connecticut is limited only by the imagination.

Connecticut 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 high­technology areas, Israel provides excellent investment opportunities. Some of the nation's largest companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, Motorola and Intel have found that it is indeed profitable to do business in Israel.

More than 250 Connecticut companies have also discovered the benefits of trade with Israel. Several own interests in Israeli companies or have subsidiaries there, including MacDermid, Brink's, General Electric and Branson Ultrasonics.

The Connecticut­Israel Exchange Commission, which is located in the Governor's office in Bridgeport, provides information about trade opportunities and helps match Israeli and Connecticut companies that are interested in cooperative ventures. One source of funds for such projects is 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.

Several Connecticut companies have benefited from BIRD grants, including Alcide Corp., Executone Information Systems, Lansco, Micromint, TranSwitch Corp., General DataComm, Timex and MacDermid. Connecticut's BIRD recipients to companies total nearly $2 million. Since its inception in 1980, BIRD has funded projects in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

One BIRD annual report highlighted a project between Middlebury­based General DataComm Industries, a leading provider of communications networks, and Orckit, an Israeli company in the forefront of High­bit­rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL) technology. Orckit's technical capabilities and experience designing products to meet both American and European standards attracted GDC's attention. The products they are jointly developing will allow worldwide carriers to improve and expand telecommunication services without major investments in infrastructure, such as fiberoptic cabling, according to the report.

MacDermid of Waterbury has had several BIRD grants for joint ventures with its Israeli subsidiary. One successful project was the development of a photoresist, which is used in the semiconductor industry to help make smaller and finer components. The latest grant is to produce an improved photoresist for printed circuit boards, the platform on which computer chips are mounted. Jurgen Diekmann, director of imaging systems, said the grants are a catalyst for projects because they reduce the risk of undertaking new and costly ventures.

Dr. Daniel Upp has used the BIRD grant to TranSwitch Corp. to accelerate the development of a new integrated circuit chip. This technology will be used by manufacturing firms that make transmission equipment for telephone companies.

Since its inception, BIRD has funded more than 740 joint high­tech R&D projects. Products developed from these ventures have generated sales of more than $8 billion, tax revenues of more than $200 million in the United States alone and created an estimated 20,000 American jobs.

Scientific Innovations

Institutions in Connecticut have shared with counterparts in Israel more than $2.4 million in grants awarded by the Binational Science Foundation (BSF) since 1987. BSF was established in 1972 to promote research cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel. It has awarded more than 3,000 grants, involving scientists more than 400 institutions located in 44 states and the District of Columbia. Yale and the University of Connecticut are among the grant recipients.

Jeffrey Kocsis is a professor of neurology at Yale Medical School doing research on proteins that are believed to be related to types of pain associated with secondary nerve injuries. He said that surgeons find that, for example, after an amputation a patient's pain goes away temporarily, but then returns later. He is trying to understand the cause of that pain so that eventually drugs might be developed to alleviate it.

“I can't emphasize enough how wonderful the BSF program is,” Kocsis said. “It fosters collaboration that would not otherwise occur and made possible an exchange of visits with my colleague that has led to a number of publications.”

The Yale Child Studies Center has had extensive collaboration with counterparts in Israel, according to Robert King. He was a scholar­in­residence at “a wonderful place” in Jerusalem run by B'nai B'rith Women, called the Residential Treatment Center, which offers residential care and psychotherapeutic treatment to severely emotionally disturbed boys.

The project he is working on with a BSF grant looks at traits in adolescents related to physical pain and suicide. Israel has a much lower suicide rate than the United States, according to King. Israelis are not as likely to abuse alcohol or suffer from conduct disorders. They do, however, feel tremendous pressure to be high achievers and those who think they have failed may be more prone to suicide. He has also found that Israelis who are more tolerant of pain are more prone to suicide. “Each year, the army screens every adolescent in Israel,” King said, “and this provides a rich source of information that allows us to prospectively study how kids with certain traits adapt.”

Yale geneticist Kenneth Kidd is trying to identify a gene for inherited deafness that will make it possible to offer genetic counseling to treat the condition. The BSF grant has allowed his colleague to study a large number of genetic markers, which have been passed on to his lab for further analysis. "The more hands working on the project, the faster it goes," he said.

Researchers Aner Shalev from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem along with Efim Zelmanov at Yale University in New Haven, understood that the sequencing of certain events is important. Using both Lie algebra and the Abelian group in their research, Shalev and Zelmanov hope to discover new findings that can be applied to the fields of physics, economics, and biology. Lie algebra consists of a group of elements in which there is a commutator (the difference between the process of a group of events in one sequence and then again in the opposite sequence). In other words, in Lie algebra, the sequence of events changes the outcome. In an Abelian group, however, the sequence has no affect on the outcome of events and the commutator is zero.

General benefits to America from BSF­sponsored studies include the extension and elaboration of research to achieve milestones that might not have been reached otherwise; the introduction of novel thinking and techniques that led American researchers to move in new directions and early access to Israeli research results that sped American scientific advances.

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

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 that have led to new technologies in drip irrigation, pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control and farm equipment. In 2005, 28 projects were funded at 31 U.S. institutions. The University of Connecticut and Yale have shared grants with Israeli institutions worth more than $1.6 million since 1987.

Richard Crain, a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of Connecticut at Storrs has received grants from both BARD and BSF. One project involves the investigation of what regulates the aging process (for example, why leaves lose their green color) in plants. The long­term application would be to develop improved methods for storing vegetables to retard the aging process.

A second project looks at plant responses to environmental changes. Crain wants to understand, for example, why some plants wilt easily. The study, he said, applies to plant reactions to conditions such as drought, changing light and variations in salt content.

The grants allow Crain to travel to Israel, which is important for allowing him to interact and exchange ideas with his colleagues. BARD also allowed him to hire a graduate student to work in the lab for three years. And, most important, the collaboration results in prestigious publications.

A project with implications outside Connecticut involves the study of cow reproduction. Bob Milvae of U Conn is studying structures in the ovary of cows to try to understand the biochemical messages that determine whether a calf will develop. Dairy cows only produce milk after having calves. Ideally, cows would give birth every 12 months, but today the interval is 14 months and the two-month difference costs the dairy industry millions of dollars. Milvae hopes his research will help bridge the gap.

Milvae's research may also have important implications for humans, such as understanding why women have early, spontaneous abortions even if an embryo is healthy. "I couldn't do the research without funding from BARD," Milvae said, adding that he and his collaborator have different techniques and labs and therefore benefit from looking at the problem from different perspectives.

An earlier BARD project conducted by researchers at Yale, Israel's Kimron Veterinary Institute and the USDA Plum Island Animal Diseases Center in New York, developed a test for Rift Valley Fever. This test has improved detection of a virus that infects cattle, sheep and humans in many developing countries.

Other Cooperative Programs

Sister Cities:

City of New Haven City of Ramat Gan

City of Stamford City of Afula

UJA Partnership 2000 Communities:

Bridgeport Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Danbury Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Eastern Connecticut Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Greenwich Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Hartford Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

New Haven Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Stamford Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Waterbury Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Westport Afula-Ta'anach-Gilboa

Hillel Campus Profiles

State Contacts

Connecticut-Israel Exchange Commission
Dept. of Economic Development, 10 Middle St., 1st Fl.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
Tel. 203-336-8700

Dr. Israel Peleg
Trade Representative for Israel
Department of Economic & Community Development
Connecticut-Israel Exchange Commission
14 Rahavat Ilan
54056 Givat Shmuel
Tel: 03-532-5974
Fax. 03-532-2460
Email: peleg@netvision.net.il

Jewish Federation
1035 Newfield Ave., P.O. Box 3038
Stamford, CT 06905
Tel. 203-321-1373

Jewish Federation
360 Amity Rd.
Woodbridge, CT 06525
Tel. 203-387-2424

Jewish Federation
333 Bloomfield Ave.
West Hartford, CT 06117
Tel. 860-232-4483

Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut
40 Woodland St.
Hartford, CT 06105
Tel. 860-418-5701

Jewish Federation Of Eastern Connecticut
28 Channing St
New London, CT 06320-5702
Tel. 860-442-8062

Jewish Federation Greater Danbury
105 Newtown Rd
Danbury, CT 06810-4114
Tel. 203-792-6353

Jewish Federation Of Greater Hartford
333 Bloomfield Ave
W Hartford, CT 06117-1544
Tel. 860-232-4483

Jewish Federation Greater New Haven
360 Amity Rd
Bethany, CT 06524-3407
Tel. 203-387-2424

Jewish Federation Of Greenwich
600 W Putnam Ave
Greenwich, CT 06830-6080
Tel. 203-622-1434

Jewish Federation Of Waterbury
100 Williamson Dr
Waterbury, CT 06710-1134
Tel. 203-756-7234

Jewish Federation of Greater Waterbury
73 Main St. South
Woodbury, CT 06798-3404
Tel. 203-263-5121