BIRD: boosting US/Israel innovation with non-dilutive funding

The  Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD)  Foundation was established more than 40 years ago by the two  governments, as a catalyst to promote U.S.-Israel cooperation in  innovation between U.S. and Israeli companies, providing non-dilutive funding. The Foundation was critical in the growth of the Israeli  hi-tech sector. Today, BIRD supports relatively high risk joint projects  in diverse sectors, such as agrotech, medical devices, energy,  transportation, water, homeland security, etc., and also emerging  sectors, such as construction tech. In addition to presenting what BIRD  does and how it works, a discussion will be held on the importance of  government support to R&D and innovation, and on the value of  cross-border collaboration.

Dr.  Eitan Yudilevich assumed the Executive Director position at the BIRD  Foundation on January 1, 2006. He joined BIRD with vast international  experience after a varied career in Israel and the U.S. During  his tenure, BIRD’s Board of Governors has approved more than 300  full-scale joint projects between U.S. and Israeli companies.

Dr.  Yudilevich has a Ph.D. in computers and systems engineering and a M.Sc.  in mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York.   He earned a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in electrical engineering at the Technion,  Israel.

Dr. Yudilevich is a Life Senior Member of the IEEE.