BIRD Programs

BIRD Grants

BIRD supports industrial R&D in all sectors of the hi-tech industry which are of mutual benefit to the U.S. and Israel.

BIRD is an acronym for Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development. The BIRD Foundation’s mission is to stimulate, promote and support industrial R&D of mutual benefit to the U.S. and Israel.

Our activities include matchmaking services between Israeli and American companies in the field of Research and Development. BIRD takes no equity in the joint projects and all our services are free of charge.

The BIRD Foundation was established by the U.S. and Israeli governments in 1977 to generate mutually beneficial cooperation between the private sectors of the U.S. and Israeli high tech industries, including start-ups and established organizations. BIRD provides both matchmaking services between U.S. and Israeli companies, as well as funding covering up to 50 percent of project development and product commercialization costs.

BIRD’s scope extends to Agriculture, Communications, Life Sciences, Electronics, Electro-optics, Software, Homeland Security, Renewable and Alternative Energy and other sectors of the hi-tech industry.
BIRD supports approximately 20 projects annually. The cumulative sales of products developed through BIRD projects have exceeded $8 billion.
Since its inception in 1977, BIRD has approved 1000 projects with leading companies in the U.S., for example: ADM, American Red Cross, Applied Materials, Avaya, Bayer Pharmaceutical, Becton Dickinson, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Eastman Kodak, General Dynamics, General Electric, Guidant, IBM, J&J, KLA- Tencor, Molex, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, SanDisk, Spansion, Telcordia, Texas Instruments, Tyco and others.

You too can take advantage of the business opportunities offered by the BIRD Foundation. We can help you find your strategic partner, whether technological or marketing. Furthermore, our financial support and request for repayment only on the basis of actual revenues generated, demonstrates our commitment and our willingness to risk sharing.