In June 2024, Dr. Shai Meltzer was appointed Director of the National BC Program. In this role, Dr. Meltzer is responsible for implementing the Telem Forum in this field. Dr. Meltzer holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in law, a PhD in genetics from the Hebrew University, and has 15 years of experience in activity and entrepreneurship within the biomedical ecosystem. He has collaborated with various organizations, including the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center, IBM, and the Jerusalem Development Authority (Bio-Jerusalem), among others, and was a partner in establishing innovative biomedical ventures such as BioGiv, BIOHOUSE, and the Hadassah Accelerator.

As part of his work in the public and business sectors, Dr. Meltzer has collaborated with hundreds of biomedical companies in Israel and worldwide, spanning the fields of pharma-biotech, medical devices, and digital health, with many of them in the BC domain. He also served as Chief Business Officer at Minovia, a company in the Liquid Biopsy consortium established by the Israel Innovation Authority.

“After years of biological research in academia and years of working with biomedical companies, including engineering and digital ones, Bio-Convergence is very close to my heart. I have witnessed the Authority’s efforts, both in Israel and abroad, to develop the field, and I have even participated in some of them, greatly appreciating the focus and resources dedicated to it. I see it as both a privilege and a mission to serve as Program Director, and I am pleased to be part of a professional team addressing the challenges it presents.”

Dr. Shai Meltzer

 

The definitions used to classify a project as BC were established and implemented during the past year. Following a pilot in which a classification questionnaire was introduced for BC companies in Incentive Track No. 7, the questionnaire was expanded to applicants in all tracks of the Israel Innovation Authority. Applicants’ responses to the questionnaire enable early classification of the file and accurate routing of the evaluation process across the various technological domains integrated within the project.

The evaluator is requested to provide an opinion on the company’s responses and determine whether the project can be classified as BC. For a project to be considered BC, the answer to all three questions in the classification questionnaire must be “Yes”.

Microorganism Fermentation Infrastructure

YDLabs, located in the Ziporit industrial zone, has received a three-year budget to establish infrastructure for providing fermentation services in the fields of food and agriculture. The services range from pilot scale to small-batch production and must comply with relevant standards. As part of the three-year call for proposals, YDLabs established technological and operational infrastructure to deliver fermentation services, process development, and scale-up to a volume of 15,000 liters, with a cumulative total of approximately 24,000 liters.

Bio-Device Infrastructure

In December 2024, the partnership between Israel Aerospace Industries and Baccaramos Technologies won the tender to establish a leading R&D infrastructure center for chip-based bio-devices. This center is designed to feature dedicated equipment and multidisciplinary personnel, providing R&D services to Israeli corporations and research institutions, supporting various stages of research, development, design, prototype production, validation, and other related activities. The establishment of this infrastructure is carried out as part of the national BC program and will be funded with up to NIS 113 million, of which the Israel Innovation Authority will invest NIS 75 million. The infrastructure is currently under construction.

R&D Services for 3D Biological Models for Cancer Research

In June 2024, Alvox Bio received funding to establish R&D infrastructure for services in the field of three-dimensional biological models, which are used for drug development and cancer research. The infrastructure encompasses the implementation of equipment and methods for printing 3D tissue models derived from cancerous tumors, as well as techniques for characterizing these models and evaluating their functionality in drug efficacy and safety testing processes. In the future, the company plans to expand its range of services and offer advanced high-throughput analyses, enabling extensive screening of drugs and potential treatments tailored to the patient and type of cancer. This expansion will also broaden the potential customer base from biotech companies and researchers to pharmaceutical companies and practicing physicians.

The OrganoSpheres consortium began its activities in September 2024 with the support of approximately NIS 25 million. The consortium was established to create a shared technological and data infrastructure based on the development and optimization of methods and tools for cultivating three-dimensional cell systems (spheroids, organoids).

Organo-spheroids are three-dimensional multicellular structures that self-organize and recapitulate features of the original organ, including tissue architecture and functionality. These structures, derived from healthy or pathological tissues, hold the potential to transform basic research, bridging it toward clinical research, drug discovery, and personalized medicine.

The consortium comprises 10 companies, including six startups, two contract research organizations (CROs), two pharmaceutical companies, and five academic groups with diverse areas of expertise, such as medicine, biology, computational biology, algorithms, and more. OrganoSpheres concluded its first six months of activity at the end of February 2025, with the start of effective operations and significant collaborations among consortium members.

Within the disruptive ventures track, which enables the development, validation, testing, and demonstration of disruptive innovation within a unique, world-leading “regulatory sandbox,” an additional opportunity was opened for submitting BC projects facing significant regulatory barriers.

As part of this program, the company is expected to reach a first-in-human clinical trial at an Israeli health organization, while receiving continuous guidance on the regulatory process from the Ministry of Health.

In 2024, one call for proposals was published. Nine applications were submitted, and support was approved for two companies facing challenging regulatory pathways:

• SpotitEarly – The company’s development is based on dogs’ ability to detect cancer through their highly sensitive sense of smell, which can identify odor signatures in patients’ breath samples. The company’s technology analyzes the dogs’ responses by collecting extensive data from various sensors and computing the test result. The outcome is a score indicating the probability of cancer for each breath sample.

• Edity Therapeutics – The company’s technology is based on a novel cellular system for delivering genetically engineered components designed to recruit the immune system to attack solid malignant tumors for which no effective treatment currently exists. The engineered genetic system developed by the company uses the patient’s own cells, which are reimplanted into the patient to deliver the therapeutic payload to malignant tumor cells. Once there, the tumor cells are induced to secrete substances that attract the immune system to attack them.

In 2023-2024, the Israel Innovation Authority issued a call for proposals to develop human capital, aimed at training programs for CEOs who will lead Israeli deep-tech companies. Five organizations were selected to run 12-month training programs. Each program is allocated a budget of up to NIS 1 million, with funding of up to 70%.

One of the selected organizations is the 8400 Health Network, which will provide theoretical and practical training that connects the fields of health and high-tech to create a new generation of CEOs in the HealthTech industry, with an emphasis on BC, and on bridging engineering and biotech domains.

During 2024, the Israel Innovation Authority published content highlighting Israeli companies applying BC in innovative and diverse ways – from miniature organs for drug testing, cow-free milk, and biological fibers to smart agriculture. Below is a selection of the content published on the Authority’s digital media platforms.

Articles in the Authority’s Digital Magazine

• Still Waters Run Green – A Shopping Bag Made of Algae? Fish grown in the desert? The convergence of scientific fields creates surprising realities. Meet Biotic, which aspires to replace polluting plastic with an algae-based biological polymer, and Bio-Castle, whose miniature filter enables rapid and efficient purification of contaminated water.

• Bio-Convergence – Israel’s New Growth Engine – This is not science fiction, but the next reality: BC as a national program, supported by the Israel Innovation Authority, empowering Israeli companies that will lead the country’s high-tech industry.

• Chips of Hope – Two Israeli companies in the biomedical world are developing technologies that spark the imagination: Quris produces miniature human organs that enable safe, rapid, personalized, and significantly lower-cost drug testing; Qalob Medical is developing patches to prevent and treat diabetes.

• Materials from Another World – Bold thinking based on BC propels two Israeli companies to create innovative materials: Seevix developed a fiber inspired by spider silk – the “holy grail” of materials science – while Enzymit designs and builds enzymes, biological nano-machines capable of producing any material.

• A Scientist Grew Grain in the Garden – Farmers of the 21st century still battle pests, but are also focused on the environment and health. So where do we grow from here? Two Israeli startups are harnessing engineering, artificial intelligence, chemistry, biology, and machine learning to reduce the amount of chemicals on our plates.

• Food for Thought – In a world where traditional production processes harm the environment and human and animal health, Israeli FoodTech is working to change reality through integrated technologies and tools that sound almost imaginary – Remilk and Bee-io are turning vision into reality with cow-free milk and bee-free honey.

Films and Podcasts on Various Platforms

• FORSEA Cultivating eels to enter the Japanese food market.

• Alternative Proteins – Ronit Eshel, Head of the ClimateTech Division, in an interview for “Kan Basviva” with Sharon Wexler and Uri Levi, discussing Israel’s position at the forefront of alternative protein technologies compared to the global landscape.

• Precise Bio – Printing a cornea ready for transplantation at the push of a button.

• Redefine Meat – Tissue engineering of plant-based materials.

• Seevix Material Sciences – Producing strong spider silk without spiders.

 

In 2024, the national program was presented at the following conferences:

• Israeli Cardiology Conference, ICI
• Bio Intelligence Conference, Fraunhofer, Stuttgart
• Synthetic Biology Conference, Reichman University
• 3D Printing Conference, Soroka with Synergy7, Be’er Sheva
• Conference at the Road2 Innovation Center, Haifa
• Biomedical Entrepreneurship and Regulation Conference, RS Ness

 

International Report on Alternative Proteins, published in May 2024:

“Creating a vibrant food innovation ecosystem: How Israel Is Advancing Alternative Proteins Across Sectors”

The report was promoted in several international forums:

• Joint webinar presenting Israel’s national strategy for advancing alternative proteins (May 2024).
• Report launch at the World Economic Forum’s Global Technology Retreat (GTR) in San Francisco. The launch was led by the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Israel (C4IR) and the Global Future Institute Israel (GFI IL), in an event attended by stakeholders including representatives of various countries, investors, and NGOs in the field.

Israeli Companies’ Partnership in the C4IR IL Innovation Community:

Several BC companies are members of the C4IR innovation community and contribute to its activities, including participation in the drafting of the international report prepared by C4IR. The BC companies involved in the initiative are: ImmunAI, Wanda Fish, Imagindairy, Enzymit, Aleph Farms. Community meetings are held periodically.

International Collaborations: Promoting Cooperation with the Serbian C4IR Center:

A joint international report was prepared, presenting Israel’s activities in the field of BC and its ecosystem (published in June 2025).

Participation of the Israel Innovation Authority in International Professional Communities:

• Tzachi Schnarch is the Authority’s representative on the steering committee of the Bio-Economy Community, which formulates policy recommendations, and Dr. Shai Meltzer is a member of the CHAMPIONS team, which holds in-depth discussions on topics brought to the working groups.
• Dr. Shai Meltzer and Dr. Stella Diamant represent the Authority in working groups on regulation and value chain issues, and participate in international discussions on these subjects, which are at the core of the Bio-Economy Community’s activities.

The goal is to address shared global challenges, present case studies from Israel’s activities, and learn from developments in the international arena.

 

• Planning and Budgeting Committee: Investment of more than NIS 30 million in BC equipment and infrastructure in academia.

• Ministry of Science: Investment of more than NIS 20 million in funding BC research in academia.

• MAFAT: Operates the Bio-Talpiot program for training outstanding recruits in life sciences and computer science.

During 2024, the BC field in Israel received significant media exposure. Articles published throughout the year highlighted how Israeli innovation in areas such as cultivated food, personalized medicine, AI-driven drug development, and smart sugar substitutes is not only scientifically groundbreaking but also sparking curiosity and discussion among the public and media. Companies in the field showcased achievements in fundraising, navigating complex regulations, and introducing innovative products to the market.

• The first cultivated steak approved for marketing in Israel
• Venture capital fund Amiti Ventures joins the AION Labs innovation lab
• Another fundraising round by a life sciences startup
• Nucleai raises USD 14 million to develop spatial AI-based biomarkers
• What does cultivated fish taste like? Surprisingly similar to the original
• Under the radar: the Israeli AI company that has already signed deals with pharma giants
• MNLD Bio enters a USD 116 billion market
• Coming soon to your beverage: an Israeli protein-based sugar substitute
• Converge Bio raises USD 5.5 million to accelerate drug development using GenAI
• Super-traits from nature: Israeli startup Cavus attempts to replicate evolutionary solutions from animals
• Immunai and Teva announce a collaboration to develop more innovative AI-driven drug solutions
• Promise Bio raises USD 8.3 million to develop personalized medicine tools for disease treatment
• The first bio-chip lab of its kind in Israel

Despite ongoing difficulties and extraordinary challenges, 2024 was marked by rich activity in the BC field, with growing audiences exposed to the domain and to the goals of the national program. The number of support requests classified as BC remained similar to the previous year, as did the total grant amounts.

At the same time, the number of BC companies grew significantly. The Israel Innovation Authority currently recognizes 163 BC companies active in Israel across diverse application areas. In 2025, the bio-device infrastructure is expected to begin operating, marking a significant milestone in the field’s development. This initiative aims to meet the national program’s objectives and continue promoting BC as Israel’s next growth engine.

 

 

 

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