The year 2020 was marked by a global pandemic, yet the State of Israel wasn’t deterred and marked many impressive feats in scientific research, technological achievements, and is gearing up for sending the second Israeli astronaut, Eytan Stibbe, to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021. It also has plans in the works for its next lunar spacecraft, Beresheet 2, to be sent to the Moon in 2024, and the local high tech industry is booming, despite the crisis.
In an exclusive interview, Minister of Science and Technology Yizhar Shai spoke to CTech about Israel’s next ventures in space, future scientific collaborations, diplomacy, and how Israel can retain its innovative edge as the Startup Nation.
Israeli experts and former political officials weighed in Wednesday on the still-emerging 2021 election results, expressing hope that Israel’s politicians.
Shai, 57, was a partner at the venture capital fund Canaan Partners Israel, a former Chairman and CEO of V-Secure Technologies, and was an entrepreneur in the field of Israeli startups prior to being appointed minister. He was a member of the Blue and White party led by Minister of Defense Benny Gantz, but recently quit. It is unclear whether he will be in the transition government. Shai replaced outgoing minister MK Ofir Akunis from the Likud party in May 2020. Shai has also been a guest speaker featured at
government to play? how important do you think the deficit is right this moment? how much do do you believe the budget forecast in terms of how much the economy will improve? and what do you want to spend your money on? there s nothing more fundamental to governing than how are you going to spend your money? and this is certainly a budget that s going to reflect the president s priorities. because despite the talk of a freeze on discretionary spending, and that is things that are not mandated by law, for instance, social security, medicare, medicaid, none of that will be touched because that s mandated by law. but then you have other things. education department budget, health and human services, epa. but when you look at education, the president will be investing more in certain programs in the education department. he will be investing more in civilian research. so despite the freeze, it is kind of a strategic freeze in places. so you will see his priorities. you will also see the re