Longevity Industry in Israel Reaching
Critical Mass
Israel Established as International Longevity Hub Due to its Well-Developed Scientific BioTech Community and Strong Reputation for Academic-Industry Collaboration
Over 500 pages in length, a new report by Aging Analytics Agency, Israeli Longevity Alliance and the Vetek Association outlines the present state and future of the Longevity Industry in Israel, profiling 160 companies, 180 investors, 10 longevity R&D centers, 10 nonprofit organizations, 60 influencers, 7 university research hubs and 10 conferences.
The Longevity Industry lies at the nexus of geroscience, advanced biomedicine, P3 (precision, preventive, and personalized) medicine, the AgeTech market, and finance. The complexity and regional diversity of this multidisciplinary sector requires country and region-specific analysis. Longevity Industry in Israel is part of a series of regional case studies of the Longevity Industry around the globe. These regional studies follow two previous reports by the Aging Analytics Agency: Longevity Industry Landscape Overview Volume I “The Science of Longevity” (750 pages), and Volume II “The Business of Longevity” (650 pages).
The report seeks to document the factors that make Israel an optimal academic and industry ecosystem for the formation of an internationally-recognized Longevity Industry hub, and how the Israeli government can accelerate the expansion of its Longevity Industry landscape. Israel is a unique country with close academic and industrial ties to the United States and Europe. Consequently, Israel's geroscience has matured rapidly, outpacing the rest of the geographical region, with at least one aging research center or cluster already present or planned in every university. For many years, Israel has been outputting high-volume, high-quality research into the fundamental biology of aging. It is also an attractive technology and innovation hub: the amount of funding raised by high-tech startups in Israel continues to grow, reaching record $ 6.47 bln in 2018 through 623 deals. Large IT and tech giants have been opening locations in Israel. Google, for instance, established an R&D center in Israel in 2016, where many of the company's most important products (including Google Suggest, Google Trends, and Google Live Results) were developed. In January 2019, Intel announced its plan to invest an additional $11 bln into its Israel operations.
The importance of the advancement of biomedical R&D for the promotion of healthy longevity and prevention of aging-related diseases has been increasingly recognized by Israeli decision makers. Discussions on the subject were held in Knesset as a part of the preparation of the Israel National Masterplan on Aging. These efforts are further bolstered by the Israeli government’s proactive approach to forming international research collaborations with other Longevity-oriented countries. One such recent partnership is BIRAX Ageing. In June of 2018, the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX) created a dedicated BIRAX Ageing program which seeks to "advance innovative scientific research into aging and its impact on human health and to encourage the use of cutting edge technology, big data and personalized medicine in aging research". Other initiatives include the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology’s Program for the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure for the Elderly, and the Prime Minister’s Innovation Prize focusing on healthy aging. Despite these initial important steps, the report shows that the governmental investments specifically in the Geroscience field are still less that 1% of the general research budget and needs to increase to address the urgent aging challenge.
Following systematic, data-driven analyses, the report concludes with the following: although Israel has made solid initial steps over the past five years toward prioritizing aging as part of its national agenda, additional efforts are needed to continue to maintain and cultivate its existing strengths, including government support of longevity research & development. It also needs to crystallize its national development strategy and place healthspan extension at its center, akin to UK’s successful decision to list the problem of an aging population as one of four grand challenges in its industrial strategy.
About Aging Analytics Agency
Aging Analytics Agency the world’s premier Longevity Analytics company, dedicated to the production of analytical reports on the topics of Longevity, Precision Preventive medicine and AgeTech. It is the only analytical company focused exclusively on Ageing, Geroscience and Preventive Medicine. Operating for over five years, it began producing in-depth reports on Longevity long before it emerged as an industry. The company also provides strategic consulting in the fields of Longevity and Economics of Aging.
About Vetek (Seniority) – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life (Israel)
Vetek (Seniority) – The Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life is an Israeli non-profit association that sets as its central goals the protection of the rights of older persons and the extension of their healthy longevity and improvement of their quality of life. Recognizing the crucial role of medical scientific research for the achievement of those goals, the association is uniquely poised to advance biomedical aging and longevity research in Israel. Advised by leading Israeli and international scientists in diverse fields of biomedical aging and longevity R&D, supported by noted public figures and advocates, strategically situated and connected in the Israeli and international scientific and civic establishment – it advances the research, development and education for the achievement of healthy longevity and prevention of aging-related diseases in Israel and internationally. The Vetek (Seniority) – the Movement for Longevity and Quality of Life works in strategic partnership with Israeli Longevity Alliance (ISRLA) that has been at the forefront of the longevity movement in Israel, organizing national conferences on longevity science, petitioning the decision makers and organizing events and publications in support of the longevity field. Currently the two associations share the same scientific advisory board composed of leading Israeli and international geroscientists, the same website http://www.longevityisrael.org/ and jointly perform most of their actions.
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