http://bit.ly/rtsgd2

The Chief Scientist’s Office and the State of Massachusetts have signed an agreement to encourage collaboration between Israeli and Massachusetts high-tech, life sciences and clean-tech companies. The Chief Scientist’s Office and three Massachusetts agencies – Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Massachusetts Clean Energy Center – will finance the joint ventures in equal shares, each in its respective field. The centers will publish calls for papers for ventures that the Chief Scientist’s Office will coordinate in Israel.

The budget for the first call for papers is $2 million, but it may be increased.

In June, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Chief Scientist Avi Hasson and the US Israel Science Technology Foundation (USISTF) launched the Massachusetts Israel Innovation Partnership.

Massachusetts also set up a trade office in Israel, run by Hadas Bar-Or, a former manager of the Israeli Industry Center for R&D.

Massachusetts is one of the main hi-tech centers in the United States, and many Israeli researchers go the state’s universities and often join companies there.

About 100 companies in the Boston area have been founded by Israelis or are based on Israeli technologies, the USISTF said. In 2009, these companies generated $2.4 billion in revenue and 6,000 jobs. The figures are sometimes cited as examples of Israel’s brain drain, but in this case they are presented as a foundation for collaboration.