Summary:

Program Description

The goals of this Call for Proposals include:

• Expanding the entry channel for graduates, and in particular for reservists and military personnel and for underrepresented populations (women, the ultra-orthodox sector, the minority sector, members of the Ethiopian community and people with disabilities) to the first job after completing the degree or training.
• Assisting in the placement of recent graduates with technological degrees, who have not yet gained practical experience, in knowledge-rich companies, and particularly those located in priority areas A, while integrating them into the core activities of high-tech companies in technological positions.
• Accompanying the receiving companies and the trainees in the process of placement, experience and accompaniment before and during the practical experience, as well as building an infrastructure for the continued reception of graduates after the end of the program.
• Strengthening the high-tech industry in the Negev, the Galilee and the Takuma Valley.

Designated Audience

• Non-profit organizations, public bodies, and NGOs
  • Including training and academic institutions that will present solutions for integrating juniors into practical experience programs in technological fields in the high-tech industry for a period of at least 6-9 months.
  • Programs will focus on the experience of the reservists and will include at least 55% discharged soldier’s eligibility (the rest of the participants will be from the general population or from underrepresented populations).

Clarification: according to the law, it is established that the duration of a discharged soldier’s eligibility for the benefits stipulated in the law is up to 5 years from the end of regular service or national-civilian service (and up to 10 years for individual discharged and active reserve servants).

Finance 

The scope of government support for the operator will amount to up to NIS 35,000 for each participant who will participate in the practical experience. Additionally, an additional budget will be given for sorting and accompanying the participants, from the operating body or from the company where the candidate was recruited.

• A program with a requested budget of up to a total of 1,000,000 NIS will be granted a grant of 70% of the approved budget, according to the decision of the Research Committee.
• A program whose requested budget exceeds a total of 1,000,000 NIS and up to 5,000,000 NIS will be granted a grant of 50% of the approved budget, according to the decision of the Research Committee.
• In special cases, where the research committee believes that the programs are of a very high level of innovation and uniqueness, meeting the voice of the reader, it will be able to approve a grant of 60%.

The research committee may approve the stipulation of an additional 10% to the above grant rates, based on pre-determined goals that can be measured and evaluated.

*Applications will be submitted for 12/24/36 months.

Criteria

The application and the applicant must meet all the following eligibility requirements: All eligibility requirements must be met at the time of applying and throughout the entire execution period of the approved program. Failure to meet one of the following eligibility requirements will result in the rejection of the entire application or the cancellation of the approved program:

• The applicant is a corporation that is duly incorporated and registered in Israel and operates under the laws of the State of Israel.
• If the applicant is a non-profit organization or a public benefit company (Public Benefit Company), it has a valid certificate from the Registrar of Associations on proper management, or if less than two years have passed since the date of its commencement of activity, a certificate of submission of documents. Notwithstanding the above, an applicant that is a non-profit organization or a Public Benefit Company, which does not have a certificate of proper management or a certificate of submission of documents as aforesaid, as the case may be, at the time of applying, may present such a certificate until the date of signing the budget sheet and undertaking per the Hebrew incentive program.
• The application is intended to address one or more of the challenges in developing skilled human capital for the knowledge-intensive industry in Israel, as defined in the Hebrew incentive program.
• No financial assistance has been received to carry out the project, subject to the application, from a governmental entity or the Innovation Authority, directly or indirectly, other than per the provisions of the Hebrew incentive program.
• The applicant does not have restricted accounts and is not in the process of receivership, stay of proceedings, liquidation, etc.
• The applicant and its controlling shareholders meet the requirements of the Regulations for the Encouragement of Research and Development in Industry (Conditioning of Approvals – Minimum Wage), 2011. The criteria as detailed in the Hebrew incentive program.

Application Process

For further information on the requirements and application process for this program, please refer to the Israel Innovation Authority’s Hebrew site.

Note: 

The Innovation Authority reserves the sole discretion to change any of the dates listed in this call for proposals, by a notice to be published on the Authority’s website – on the call for proposals page, including postponing any of the dates, as long as it has not yet passed.  

It is the responsibility of the proposers to update from time to time the Innovation Authority’s website, regarding date postponements, or updates, changes, notices, or clarifications that will be in connection with the competitive process.