Israel greenlights 19 projects under the $30 million initiative for Digital Health

Health care companies including HMOs, hospitals, and research institutes will be able to construct the digital infrastructure necessary for anonymous data exchange and cooperation with healthcare entrepreneurs under a modern digital action plan that Israel has picked 19 projects.

There was a call for proposals from health institutions to develop or expand units that would facilitate close cooperation with the health technology sector and allow firms, research institutes, universities, and other organizations to access vast medical data for research purposes.

Three years of NIS 100 million funding will come from the Economy Ministry's National Digital Health Plan budget, and also from the Health Ministry's and the Israel Innovation Authority's respective budgets.

Five Israeli hospital organizations — Hadassah, Tel Hashomer, Ramam, Rabin, and Assuta — proposed establishing the infrastructural facilities for sharing clinical tests.  The HaYeshua Medical Center and Holon Institute of Technology proposed a collaboration. These were among the 19 programs chosen by the government authorities from a pool of 30.

In a statement Monday, Israel's Innovation Authority said it expects to "substantially increase the spectrum of collaborations with enterprises and startups while satisfying the demands of creative development and research under this sector."

For the first year, NIS 40 million ($12 million) was awarded to the selected programs, which will be eligible to apply for further financing for up to three years in the following year.

In order to "advance innovative health care services inside the Israeli health system and allow for the growth of the sector in Israel," Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, stressed that Israel needed "successful collaborations, at competitive pricing."

Israel's health system already has some of the greatest databases in the world, and making them open source would allow for a breakthrough in Israeli technological advancements in the field of healthcare technology," Bin added.

The life sciences industry in Israel is made up of more than 1,500 firms, with the four primary subsectors being biotechnology, medical devices, digital health, and pharmaceutical therapies.