State-to-State Cooperation: Maine and Israel
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Trade and Population Statistics
| Exports to Israel (2020) | $8,818,413 |
| Percentage Change (2019-2020) | 12% |
| Total Exports to Israel (1996-Present) | $299,165,450 |
| Israel’s Rank As Trade Partner (2020) | 31 |
| Military Contracts with Israel (2015) | $1,437,152 |
| Jewish Population (2020) | 12,550 |
| Jewish Percentage of Population | .9% |
Binational Foundation Grants
| Agricultural Research & Development (1979-Present) | $0 |
| Science & Technology (1999-Present) | $61,000 |
| Industrial Research & Development (1977-Present) | $0 |
| Total Binational Grants | $61,000 |
Grant Recipients in Maine From U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
Jackson Laboratory
Maine Medical Center Research Institute
University of Maine, Orono
Ventrex Labratories Inc.
Bilateral Institutions
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Cooperative Agreements
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Maine Government Missions to Israel
July 1999 - Attorney General Andrew Ketterer joined eight other state attorneys general for a legal affairs mission to Israel. The participants in the mission went to explore U.S.-Israel cooperation in legal affairs and discussed issues including youth violence, the death penalty, and extradition laws.
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. States can benefit from Israeli innovations in these areas as well as through collaboration.
In addition, 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. At least 33 states, excluding Maine, have cooperative agreements with Israel.
In 2020, Maine exported nearly $9 million worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Maine exports to Israel have totaled nearly $300 million and Israel now ranks as Maine’s 31st leading trade partner.
Additionally, in 2015, Maine companies received more than $1.4 million in foreign military financing (FMF) to provide materiel for the Israeli Defense Forces. Since 1996, Maine companies have received nearly $83 million in FMF. These include: ComNav Engineering in Portland and System Logistics Corporation in Lewiston.
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 Maine.
Israel has developed several pioneering education programs. For example, AICE introduced an innovative Israeli peer tutoring program to North Carolina that educators adapted for use in the United States. Now known as Reading Together, the program is used in 28 states. The program is designed to help students achieve reading fluency and is mostly used for children in second grade. The hope is that with its implementation, increasing numbers of students will perform at grade level or above.
Maine has also received $61,000 worth of grants from binational U.S.-Israel foundations for joint research in science, agricultural and the promotion of commercial ventures.
A variety 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 Maine is limited only by the imagination.
Maine Firms Profit From Business With Israel
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). BIRD funds projects in 36 states and the District of Columbia and hundreds of companies including AOL, GE, BP Solar, Texas Instruments and Johnson & Johnson have benefitted from BIRD grants.
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.
Since 1977, the Foundation has approved investments in more than 1,000 projects, which have yielded direct and indirect revenues of more than $10 billion. More than $125 million worth of grants have been approved for projects in 37 states and the District of Columbia.
Dr. Eli Opper, the former Israeli chair of BIRD, has said that BIRD is a strong pillar of U.S.-Israel industrial cooperation and that the extreme success of BIRD has led Israel to adopt similar models of R&D with other countries.
As of yet, though, no Maine-based companies have succeeded in receiving any BIRD grants.
Scientific Innovations
Researchers across the United States are making scientific breakthroughs and developing cutting-edge technologies in joint projects with Israeli scientists thanks to support from the Binational Science Foundation (BSF). BSF was established in 1972 to promote scientific relations and cooperation between scientists from the United States and Israel. The fund supports collaborative research projects in a wide area of basic and applied scientific field for peaceful and non-profit purposes. Since its inception, and in today’s value, BSF has awarded over $700 million to more than 5,000 research projects involving thousands of scientists from more than 400 U.S. institutions located in 46 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Many of these projects have led to important scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs with wide-ranging practical applications.
BSF-sponsored studies are highly successful in achieving their two main goals: strengthening the US-Israel partnership through science and promoting world-class scientific research for the benefit of the two countries and all mankind. The BSF grants help extend research resources to achieve milestones that might not otherwise be attainable; introduce novel approaches and techniques to lead American researchers in new directions; confirm, clarify and intensify research projects; and provide unmatched access to Israeli equipment, facilities and research results that help speed American scientific advances. BSF has documented no less than 75 new discoveries made possible by its research grants and counts 37 Nobel Prize and 19 Lasker Medical Award laureates among its joint partners.
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, Jackson Laboratory, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, and the University of Maine, Orono have received BSF grants worth $61,000.
Agriculture Benefits
In 1978, the United States and Israel jointly created the Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund (BARD) to help fund programs between US and Israeli scientists for mutually beneficial, mission-oriented, strategic and applied research into agricultural problems. Since its inception, BARD has awarded more than $130 million to U.S. institutions for 1,352 joint projects. A 40-year review in 2019 involving 20 case studies estimated the foundation’s contribution to the U.S. economy at $2.7 billion. BARD research has resulted in the adoption of approximately 200 new agricultural practices, around 40 commercial engagements, and approximately 100 patents and breeding rights licenses.
Most BARD projects focus on either increasing agricultural productivity, plant and animal health or food quality and safety and have been influential in creating new technologies in drip irrigation, pesticides, fish farming, livestock, poultry, disease control and farm equipment. BARD funds projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia and at present is beginning to administer collaborative efforts between Australia, Canada and Israel as well. 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.
No researchers in Maine have yet used BARD funds to support their research initiatives.
Other Cooperative Programs
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Sister Cities
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UJA Partnership 2000 Communities
State Contacts
Hillel Campus Profiles
Jewish Federation of Lewiston-Auburn
74 Bradman St.
Lewiston-Auburn, ME 04210
Tel. 207-786-4201
Jewish Federation of Southern Maine
57 Ashmont St.
Portland, ME 04103
Tel. 207-773-7254
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