Israel’s population has reached the magic figure of 10 million, exceeding the populations of many Western European nations. It is difficult to ignore a country with the second-highest per capita income in the world - standing at USD 52,000. Its second only to Qatar and is known to punch far above its weight.
Despite defence spending at 10% of the total budget, the Stock Market has shown a gain of as much as 22% in the year. One of the contributing factors to this increase is the defence industry in Israel, Most of the world’s leading world tech and life-science companies have R&D centres in Israel. Indian companies need to bite into this as well.
Collaborations in agriculture
India's links with Israel have been continually strengthened over the years. There isn't a single major Israeli agricultural company that doesn't either have manufacturing facilities or prominent branches in India. In fact, the major Israeli drip irrigation companies have at least two production facilities in India.
What India can particularly learn from Israel is the manner in which it approaches 'crisis points'. For example, Israel foresaw the crisis of water scarcity long before other countries did and began to work on solutions - these included water recycling methods (the main source being municipal waste water) that generated water for agriculture. Today, 96% of water used in Israel's agriculture comes out of recycling - the highest percentage in the world. Potable and non-potable water are sourced through desalination - with 5 major desalination plants along its shores. Although the cost of desalination is high, Israel is currently working on reducing costs, making the solution viable for India.
Israel’s approach to Power
Another area in which Israel has displayed the 'forward-thinking' approach is power. Traditionally, Israel has been using coal to power its plants. Then, when it found large reserves of natural gas, there was a dramatic switch to natural gas. Realising that natural gas is finite and is not expected to last more than 10 years, it set out to find alternative methods for generating power:
Accent on A I
The latest thrust that Israel is involved in is on A I. In September of 2024, the number of A I companies in Israel stood at 2,300, a particularly high number in relation to the country’s size! And as we speak they are involved in preparing themselves for the next level of A I technology. And to get prepared, they are seeking about 200 top experts in A I from other countries.
To quote Dr. Ziv Katzir, who is responsible for the national program for A I and Deputy Director of the Israel Innovation Authority, 'The national program is intended to keep Israel at the top of international rankings in A I in the world’.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the country's largest defence group, has been searching for deep-tech start-ups in India to jointly create cutting-edge innovative technologies and solutions in big data, signal and image processing, green energy and more with the aim of expanding globally. The program will also focus on advanced navigation systems, A I and autonomy, extended reality-maintenance and training, advanced production, quantum, edge computing, human-machine-interfaces and wearable technology.
IAI opened its latest facility last month in Hyderabad, specialising in maintenance and repair of radar modules and sub-systems such as power systems, cooling systems, Information Technology integration, radar testing and calibration.
Multi-level collaboration with India
Collaboration with India is multi-layered - defence, homeland security, cyber security, animal husbandry, water management, precise irrigation methods like drip irrigation, field agriculture, healthcare and cutting-edge technologies like A I, space exploration and quantum computing, among other fields. Virtually all leading Israeli water management companies are involved in water projects in India - be it the cleaning of major rivers, water desalination for industry and natural methods of making potable water available.
Mention must be made of the more than 30 Centres of Excellence in Agriculture & Water that Israel has set up in various Indian States. These provide knowledge and training to Indian agriculturalists by Israeli experts on better use of land and water, growing methods, increasing productivity in field agriculture, increasing shelf life of produce, etc.
We need technological innovation in defence, Homeland Security, AI-driven surveillance, water management, autonomous systems and in energy security. Looking ahead, the two countries would benefit by enhanced knowledge and capabilities in digital governance, smart agriculture, advanced manufacturing and in networking and communications, green energy.
Israel-India cooperation is a win-win situation and is destined to grow in the coming years.
Abraham Yehuda assists the Indian Jewish community in preserving and restoring its Synagogues and Cemeteries besides being a Business Consultant, Business Editor & Writer who lived in Israel for 26 years before returning to India in 2007