Amendment to Israel R&D Law – The Establishment of the National Authority for Technological Innovation

By‎ עו"ד דותן המר

שותף בקבוצת הסייבר, הפרטיות וזכויות היוצרים במשרד פרל כהן צדק לצר ברץ

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On January 1, 2016, a National Authority for Technological Innovation (the “Authority”) was established in Israel, replacing the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Economy (the “OCS”). The purpose of the OCS, and now the Authority, is to encourage innovation and to create new job opportunities in Israel, through the funding of innovative research and development projects.The new Authority was established pursuant to a major amendment to the Law for Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry - 1984 (the “R&D Law”) enacted by the Knesset (the Israeli parliamnet) on July 29, 2015.
 
The Authority will have greater power and freedom than the OCS in launching creative funding tracks and instituting new guidelines that will govern the transferability and licensing of the resulting technology.The Authority will publish new grant tracks and guidelines from time to time, but it will likely take the Authority several months to launch into full operation. In the interim, the existing OCS regulations continue to apply.
 
At present, the R&D Law only recognizes the “transfer” of technology, while much awaited regulations addressing licensing transactions were drafted but have not been promulgated to date.
 
Licensing regulations similar to those previously proposed by the OCS are expected to be adopted by the Authority and go into force in the course of 2016. Source: Pearl Cohen Client Alert.