Israel will join the World Economic Forum network to promote the regulation of new technologies

The head of the Innovation Authority and the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, Dr. Ami Appelbaum, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Minister of Economy and Industry, Eli Cohen, in the framework of the WEF meeting in Davos, to allow Israel to take part in the global economic forum.
At the beginning of the week, the government approved a proposal to promote participation in the C4IR-Centers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution network established by the WEF Forum on the regulation of innovative technologies based on international cooperation. The WEF activity in Israel will be managed by the Innovation Authority.
In order to join the network, the Forum defines that of the nine topics, at least two topics should be selected in which technological and regulatory pilots are to be based on which a process of preparing regulatory recommendations will be prepared.
The operational costs, estimated at NIS 6 million per year, will be divided between the Prime Minister's Office, the Innovation Authority and the Ministry of Economics and Industry. Once a decision has been made as to the areas in which the pilots and the recommendations will be based on them, the public bodies that will have jurisdiction over the pilots will also participate in the operating costs.
The Innovation Authority will establish a steering committee that will include members of the Finance Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Economics, the Innovation Authority, the Attorney General and two public representatives.
Since the recommendations will be shared among the various centers of the forum and will be able to provide comments, joining the network will enable Israel and technological companies in Israel to influence the formulation of regulation in the various countries of the world - an action of clear economic and technological value. This exposure will enable Israeli regulators to be exposed to regulatory progress existing in the world in their areas of responsibility. In addition, it will enable Israeli companies to develop their products in accordance with the knowledge that is developing in the world and will provide them with an opportunity to influence policy, regulation and technology in the target countries with large markets.
Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chief Scientist, Ministry of Economics and Industry: "The goal of joining the network is to create a shared global infrastructure and to unite international forces in dealing with these rapid technological changes. On the one hand, there is a need to prevent delays in the development and assimilation of innovative technologies due to an unreasonable regulatory burden or alternatively due to lack of required regulation. As future technologies are still under development, a change from the standard system of top-down regulation to a regulatory framework that anticipates a future in global collaboration is required. Israel's participation in the network will enable Israeli regulators to align with the world's leading regulation in the most advanced technological fields. The innovation authority will be the address for all regulators and companies in Israel for exposure to the most advanced regulation in the world. "
Minister of Economics and Industry Eli Cohen: "In the economic world characterized by technological innovation, the State of Israel is a key player, and the results of the Bloomberg Innovation Index are further proof of the number of international companies that set up development centers in Israel and in the number of leading high-tech companies operating in Israel. In addition to providing incentives to multinational companies that are concurrent with the development of R & D in Israel, they will also engage in production and export, increasing the number of employees in technology industries in general and in the periphery in particular. The declaration signed at the World Economic Forum is a testament to Israel's international positioning and will expand its cooperation with member states that were part of the network. "
The World Economic Forum is a non-profit organization based in Switzerland with the goal of creating partnerships between the public and private sectors. In 2017, the Forum launched a center in San Francisco for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which he defined as a digital revolution characterized by a fusion of technologies that blur the boundaries between the physical, the digital and the biological. The Center seeks to promote an international examination of policy and regulation in nine specific topics: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Blockchain technology, digital commerce and cross-border data flow, autonomous transport and smart urban traffic, Meimad and Robotics, personalized and digital medicine, the contribution of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to Earth.
Later, the forum's leaders established a network of centers in China, Japan and India, and now they wish to create cooperation with various countries that will join the network that deals with the above. After the Forum approached Israel, in recent months a task force of the Innovation Authority, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Economics and Industry and the Ministry of Finance worked on the principles of joining the network and initial negotiations were held with the forum to examine the issue.
Within this framework, the government decided this week to arrange joining the network through the Innovation Authority. The purpose of this move is to advance the Israeli economy's readiness for these technologies by examining and making recommendations for relevant regulation. This will be done through knowledge sharing, learning and consulting with regulators from around the world, public participation and technology companies in Israel as an open and ongoing dialogue, as well as coordination between regulators and public bodies in Israel for the purpose of creating protocols and recommendations for regulation in order to serve as a basis for legislative consolidation. This is done in order to create an infrastructure of smart regulation, enabling the preservation of relevant public interests, as well as facilitating direct or indirect research, development and technological innovation in Israeli industry.
The Innovation Authority shall be the authorized body on behalf of the State of Israel to include in the network of the examination process and to make recommendations for regulation in the nine above issues defined by it.

Photo: PR Innovation Authority