State-to-State Cooperation: Montana and Israel

Trade & Population Statistics Binational Foundation Grants Bilateral Institutions Cooperative Agreements Government Missions to Israel Partners for Change Business/Industry Science/Technology Agriculture/Farming Other Cooperative Programs Sister Cities & State Contacts

Trade and Population Statistics

Binational Foundation Grants

Grant Recipients in Montana from U.S.-Israel Binational Foundations

Adelos Inc.
McLaughlin Research Institute
Montana State University
University of Montana

Bilateral Institutions

None. Please help us build and maintain the Montana state page. Email us with any additions, modifications or comments.

Cooperative Agreements

None. Please help us build and maintain the Montana state page. Email us with any additions, modifications or comments.

Montana Government Missions to Israel

October 2010 - Governor Brian Schweitzer and his wife joined a delegation from the Solomon Project on an educational and trade mission to Israel. Gov. Schweitzer met with high ranking Israeli government officials, including President Shimon Peres and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad while discussing opportunities to expand business and trade ties between the two governments and the state of Montana. “This is an opportunity to build and grow business in Montana and create more high paying jobs for workers in our state,” Schweitzer said in a press release.

May 2010 - Lt. Governor John Bohlinger and representatives from the trade team of Senator Max Baucus led a delegation of some 20 business leaders from Montana to explore new opportunities in Israel. “Israel is one of American’s largest trading partners and one of the most educated, entrepreneurial and innovative societies on Earth,” Bohlinger said. He added that the delegation is hoping to lay the groundwork for building new ties in energy-related and high-tech business. 

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.

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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. Montana is one of 33 states that have cooperative agreements with Israel.

In 2020, Montana exported nearly $8 million worth of manufacturing goods to Israel. Since 1996, Montana exports to Israel have totaled nearly $59 million and Israel now ranks as Montana’s 23rd leading trade partner.

Additionally, in 2015, Montana companies received nearly $100,000 in foreign military financing (FMF) to provide materiel for the Israeli Defense Forces. Since 1996, Montana companies have received more than $28 million in FMF. These include:Spika Welding & MFG Inc. in Lewistown and ILX Lightwave in Bozeman.

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 Montana.

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.

Montana has also received more than $1 million 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 Montana is limited only by the imagination.

Montana 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.

Polson-based Adelos Inc. received a BIRD grant to work with 4Cast Systems of Petah Tikvah to develop an Upstream – Advanced Pipeline Disaster Prevention System.

Scientific Innovations

Montana researchers 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.

Institutions in Montana have received nearly $100,000 in BSF grants.

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. Montana institutions have shared grants worth over $600,000 since 1979.

Montana State University and the University of Montana have received BARD grants worth a total of nearly $650,000.

Other Cooperative Programs

None. Please help us build and maintain the Montana state page. Email us with any additions, modifications or comments.

Sister Cities

None. Please help us build and maintain the Montana state page. Email us with any additions, modifications or comments.

State Contacts

Hillel Campus Profiles

American Israel Public Affairs Committee
330 Blue Heron Ln.
Missoula, MT 59801
Tel. 406-542-2595