Economy

Ø       Israel has the highest ratio of university graduates per capita in the world.

Ø        Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation
 by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people - as well as one of the
 highest per capita rates of patents filed.

Ø        In proportion to its population, Israel has the largest number of
 startup companies in the world.

Ø       Israel is ranked #2 in the world for venture capital funds per capita right behind the US.

Ø       Except for the United States and Canada, Israel has the largest number of
 NASDAQ listed companies.

Ø       Israel has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. The
per capita income in 2000 was over $17,500.

Ø       With an aerial arsenal of over 250 F-16s, Israel has the largest fleet of the aircraft outside of the US.

Ø       Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined.

Ø       On a per capita basis, Israel has the largest number of biotech start-ups.

Ø        24% of Israel's workforce holds university degrees - ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland - and 12 percent hold advanced degrees.

Ø       Israel has the third highest rate of entrepreneurship - and the highest
 rate among women and among people over 55 - in the world.

Ø        Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing
 nation on earth.

Ø        Israel was the first nation in the world to adopt the Kimberly process,
 an international standard that certifies diamonds as "conflict free."

Ø       According to industry officials, Israel designed the airline industry's
most impenetrable flight security. U.S. officials now look to Israel for advice on how to handle airborne security threats.

Ø        Israel has the world's second highest per capita production of new books.

Ø        Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century
 with a net gain in its number of trees.

Technology

Ø       With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and start-ups, Israel has the
highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world (apart from the Silicon Valley).

Ø       In response to serious water shortages, Israeli engineers and agriculturalists developed a revolutionary drip irrigation system to minimize the amount of water used to grow crops.

Ø       Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per
capita.

Ø       Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.

Ø       The cell phone was developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its
largest development center in Israel.

Ø       Most of the Windows NT operating system was developed by Microsoft-Israel.

Ø       The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed in Israel at Intel.

Ø       Voice mail technology was developed in Israel.

Ø       Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R&D facilities outside the US
in Israel.

Ø       The technology for AOL Instant Messenger was developed in 1996 by four
 young Israelis.

Ø       An Israeli company was the first to develop and install a large-scale
solar-powered and fully functional electricity generating plant, in southern California's Mojave desert.

Ø       The first PC anti-virus software was developed in Israel in 1979

Medicine

Ø       Israeli scientists developed the first fully computerized, no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer.

Ø       An Israeli company developed a computerized system for ensuring proper
administration of medications, thus removing human error from medical
treatment. Every year in U.S. hospitals 7,000 patients die from treatment mistakes.

Ø       Israel's Givun imaging developed the first ingestible video camera, so
small it fits inside a pill. Used to view the small intestine from the
inside, the camera helps doctors diagnose cancer and digestive disorders.

Ø       Researchers in Israel developed a new device that directly helps the
heart pump blood, an innovation with the potential to save lives among
those with congestive heart failure. The new device is synchronized with the heart's mechanical operations through a sophisticated system of
sensors.

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