U.S.-Israel Bi-national Industrial R&D (BIRD) Foundation
The PICC is the U.S.-Israel Binational Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation’s representative for Pennsylvania and Delaware. Established in 1977, the BIRD Foundation is a joint initiative between the U.S. and Israeli governments. Operating from its main offices in Tel Aviv, with representatives throughout the U.S., the BIRD Foundation aims to stimulate, promote and support joint industrial R&D of mutual benefit to Israel and the United States. Through interest earned on a $110 million endowment and repayments from successful projects, BIRD annually funds more than 20 joint development projects between US and Israeli companies.
BIRD funds conditional matching grants of up to $1 million each for joint development on a risk sharing basis to early stage and mature companies. BIRD funds up to 50% of each company R&D’s expenses associated with the joint BIRD project and claims no repayments if the project is not successful. BIRD claims repayments as royalties only when commercial revenues are generated from the project.
In the past three decades, BIRD has approved more than 942 projects and made grants aggregating more than $343 million that have led to more than $104 million in repayments, more than $10 billion in sales generated by BIRD sponsored projects and billions more in sales indirectly generated by BIRD sponsored activities.
In 2009, BIRD began making grants up to $1 million for cleantech and renewable energy development through the BIRD Energy program, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures and the BIRD Foundation. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Israel Ministry of Public Security (MOPS) started granting projects for First Responders technologies.
Since 2013, BIRD has approved projects in Pennsylvania and Delaware with regional companies including: Mekorot (Tel Aviv, Israel) and ANP Technologies (Newark, DE); Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Haifa, Israel) and Aquion Energy, (Pittsburgh, PA); Freshpoint Quality Assurance Ltd (Israel) and West Pharmaceutical Services (Exton, PA); GSOLAR Photovoltaics Ltd (Jerusalem, Israel) and Arkema Inc. (King of Prussia, PA); and Advanced MemTech (Ness Ziona, Israel) and Arkema (King of Prussia, PA).
As BIRD’s representative in Pennsylvania and Delaware, PICC helps U.S. companies to find strategic partners and supports the grant application and management process. Additional information about the BIRD Foundation is available at www.birdf.com. Please click to contact the PICC if your company is interested in exploring the feasibility of a BIRD project.
Click for upcoming submission deadlines.