11 Sep, 2017 – Yuval Azulai and Gali Weinreb
Medical equipment company Medtronic will be the first company to establish a development center in Israel in cooperation with the Israel Innovation Authority. In return for hiring 100 employees in spheres beyond the company’s existing activity in Israel, the company will receive a $14 million grant from the Innovation Authority. Following approval of the grant in recent days, the new deal between the state and Medtronic is a handshake away.
It is believed that the grant will be spread over three years by paying 30% of the salary of those working in the development center. The new activity will be in two locations: Jerusalem and Yokneam, and will involve brain monitoring (Jerusalem) and big data for medicine (Yokneam). 
The expansion of Medtronic’s activity in Israel was agreed four months ago in the framework of a meeting between Ministry of Economy and Industry Eli Cohen, Israel Innovation Authority CEO Aharon Aharon, and Medtronic chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak. A senior source in the Ministry of Economy and Industry said today that in addition to a number of contacts at various stages taking place between the state and multinationals interested in investing in the Israeli economy, initial negotiations were also being conducted with a major pharmaceutical company.
The source said, “The background to these companies’ interest in investments in Israel involving the opening of development or manufacturing centers is the attractive tax environment in comparison with other countries and the low tax rate on intellectual property.”
Other Ministry of Economy and Industry sources said that talks were taking place today with representatives of 10 multinationals for possible investment in Israel. The sources claim that a low media profile is being maintained in these contacts in order to avoid wrecking them.
According to Innovation Authority figures, foreign investment in Israel totaled $12.6 billion in 2016, 7% more than in 2015. The Innovation Authority said that 320 multinationals were operating in Israel.