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Israel: MATAM Scientific Industry Center Haifa Ltd.

Location:  MATAM is located in Haifa, Israel "at the heart of the country's main hi-tech industrial and technological region."¹

Map of Israel courtesy of Discover Israel Travel & Tourism Guide. Used with permission.  Photograph of MATAM from MATAM.

Year Founded: Early 1970's.² 

Focus:  General telecommunications and electronics.³

Size:  MATAM is the largest hi-tech park in Israel today, covering 1 million square feet.  It is home to 45 hi-tech companies and 4500 employees. The Park is planning a future expansion of 1,200,000 square feet.⁴ 

Composition:  Based on the listing at the Park's website,⁵ it appears that 100% of the Park tenants are research-oriented.  However, there are some non-research facilities on the Park grounds, such as medical facilities, a post office and day care centers.

Notable Tenants: Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Microsoft.

Governing Body: "MATAM Scientific Industries Center, Haifa ("The Company") is a jointly Owned Subsidiary of Bayside Land (of the Discount Group), holding 50.1% of the shares, and the Haifa Economic Corp. Ltd. (49.9%), which is wholly owned by the Haifa Municipality."⁶

Universities:  MATAM is affiliated with the following educational institutions:

• Haifa Technion Institute of Technology
• Haifa University
• Rambam Medical Center

Israelis are firm believers in education, evidenced by the fact that  Israel has the world's highest percentage of engineers (135 per 10,000 people compared to 85 per 10,000 in the U.S.), the highest number of medical doctors per capita in the world and its academics publish more scientific papers in international journals (110 for every 10,000 persons) than any other country in the world.⁷  This high academic proficiency has been attributed both to the large number of scientifically skilled Russian immigrants in Israel as well as Israel's mandatory military service requirement that trains young people in technology and fosters the development of personal networks. ⁸

Infrastructure: Internet infrastructure in Israel is highly developed, including a full digital service network, ISDN, ATM, fiber-optic and satellite services.⁹  In addition to these services, MATAM also has satellite communication services for international communication and video conferencing.¹⁰

The government of Israel also provides incubator services for small or highly risky businesses, not addressed by other government aid programs.¹¹ Companies accepted into an incubator qualify for a grant of 85% of their approved budget, or up to $170,000 annually for two years.¹²

MATAM also offers a variety of ancillary services, such as a medical center with modern facilities,¹³ daycare centers for children aged 3 months to 6 years,¹⁴ and an International Exhibition and Conference Center including a shopping center with movie theatres, restaurants and a variety of shops.¹⁵

Research Funding and Financial Incentives:  The Israeli government offers generous assistance to both high technology and other companies, to subsidize R&D and capital spending.  Alternatively, generous tax incentives are available.  Some of the spending measures undertaken by the Israeli government include: $400 million annually in grants that cover between 30% and 66% of total development costs, $320 million in investment in start-up and new-immigrant entrepreneurial efforts, ¹⁶ and $260 million annually on academic research.¹⁷  Israel also has R&D agreements with 8 countries and has set up bi-national R&D funds with 4 countries. ¹⁸

Measures of Success:  One of the driving factors behind the establishment of Israeli technology parks was the goal to establish a competency in the commercial sale of technological innovations.19  It is apparent that when measured against this goal, technology parks in Israel have been quite successful.  "There are currently some 100 Israeli companies trading in the U.S., mainly on the NASDAQ market, representing the second-largest number of foreign firms appearing on the U.S. stock markets (after Canada). Some 80% of these companies develop and manufacture advanced technological products."²⁰

MATAM's path to success has not been without its setbacks.  It currently faces problems in retaining Park businesses and a supply of skilled workers.  One of the Park's biggest tenants, IBM, is currently building a new building that will be located near Haifa University and expects to move all of its employees out of MATAM by December 2001.²¹   Also, despite the enormous success seen in Israeli technology firms, thousands of technology professionals have left Israel for the United States, resulting in severe labor shortages that continue to rise.²²

REFERENCES

1. MATAM, "About MATAM," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Index2.html, visited December 12, 2001.

2. The exact date of the founding of the park was unavailable despite an extensive search.  This approximation comes from our professor Erran Carmel who is an Israeli native.  MATAM did not respond to our inquiry on this issue.

3. Israel Trade Commission, "A Brief Overview of Aspects of the Israeli Economy in the Information Technology Sector," http://www.israeltrade.org.au/it.html, visited December 12, 2001.

4. MATAM, "About MATAM," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Index2.html, visited December 12, 2001.

5. MATAM, "Phone Book," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Index2.html, visited December 12, 2001.

6. MATAM, "Company Profile," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Index2.html, visited December 12, 2001.

7. Griver, Simon, "Facets of the Israeli Economy - The High-Tech Sector," January 2001, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0, visited December 12, 2001.

8. Id.

9. Cohen, Nisso, "The Israel High-Tech Industry: 50 Years of Excellence," http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH01vu0, visited December 12, 2001.

10. MATAM, "Facilities - Communications," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Index2.html, visited December 12, 2001.

11. Izenberg, Dan, "Science and Technology in Israel," http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00vt0, visited December 12, 2001.

12. Griver, Simon, "Facets of the Israeli Economy - The High-Tech Sector," January 2001, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0, visited December 12, 2001.

13. MATAM, "Location," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Location/Location.html, visited December 12, 2001.

14. MATAM, "Facilities - Day Care Centers," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Facilities/Text10.html, visited December 12, 2001.

15. MATAM, "Location," http://www.matam.co.il/Matam_english/Location/Location.html, visited December 12, 2001.

16. Griver, Simon, "Facets of the Israeli Economy - The High-Tech Sector," January 2001, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0, visited December 12, 2001.  See also Hershman, Tania, "Tech's New Promised Land," http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,33537,00.html, visited December 12, 2001.

17. Izenberg, Dan, "Science and Technology in Israel," http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00vt0, visited December 12, 2001.

18. Griver, Simon, "Facets of the Israeli Economy - The High-Tech Sector," January 2001, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0, visited December 12, 2001.

19. Izenberg, Dan, "Science and Technology in Israel," http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00vt0, visited December 12, 2001.

20. Griver, Simon, "Facets of the Israeli Economy - The High-Tech Sector," January 2001, http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0jdq0, visited December 12, 2001.

21. IBM Research & Development Labs in Haifa, "New Building Site FAQ," http://www.haifa.il.ibm.com/new_building_faq.html#3, visited December 12, 2001.

22. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "High-Tech Opportunities in Israel," http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0epq0, visited December 12, 2001.