Israel Reaches Economic Partnership with America’s State of Ohio

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Dayton Ohio has increased its trade ties with Israel.

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The American Midwestern city of Dayton, Ohio is looking favorably upon a memorandum of understanding that will serve as a formal agreement for future economic ties between Ohio and the State of Israel. The city expects the memorandum to foster economic growth and lead to new jobs in the aerospace industry located in Dayton area.

Ohio Development Services Agency Director David Goodman and Consulate General of Israel to the Mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S. Yaron Sideman, are to sign the MOU on Tuesday in Ohio’s capital, Columbus.

The Commissioner of Montgomery County, Ohio, where Dayton is located, Dan Foley said of Israel, “The reason we’re interested in them is because they have a very strong aerospace industry. We believe the economic upside has real potential for Dayton companies. There is a fair amount of activity between Israeli companies and Ohio companies. I think everybody around the state recognizes that Israel is a strong partner for economic development.”

Montgomery County economic development specialist Pamela Fannin told the Dayton Daily News that the agreement means that, “both sides are serious” about economic development.

The partnership between Dayton and Israel is the result of an initiative taken by the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance Group which finds business opportunities for technology-based companies in Dayton with Israel.

Dayton region trade representative to Israel, Hadas Bar-Or, gave Montgomery County commissioners a briefing on business opportunities for the Dayton region and Israel last week. She told the Dayton Daily News that Dayton complements Israel; Where Ohio is strong in production and manufacturing, Israel is an innovator. “And I know that there is a lot of manufacturers here in the Dayton region that that could be a collaboration [with Israel], ” she said.

Bar-Or expects to organize a trade mission to Israel, comprised of Dayton companies, and to participate in one of Israel’s upcoming tech conferences.

She has also proposed looking to the MassChallenge, a nonprofit Boston-based startup accelerator fund that holds an annual four-month competition for startup companies and offers a possible $1 million grant to the winners.

“The idea is to say to companies, ‘We don’t want anything from you. We’ll give you three months of accelerator for free. If you come to Dayton, we’ll introduce you to investors, we’ll introduce you to potential clients, we’ll provide the media coverage and we’ll also give you … legal advice, accounting and we’ll help you grow your business for free in the Dayton region, ’” Bar-Or said.

This comes just days after two children from Columbus who were dual American-Israeli citizens, were stabbed to death by their father in Israel. The two children of divorced parents had just arrived in Israel to spend their summer vacation with their father.

Trade agreements between Ohio and Israel are not new. In September of 2009, Haifa’s director general signed a memorandum of understanding with Montgomery County, the Dayton Development Coalition and the City of Dayton to expand economic, business and research collaboration, including the opening of a Dayton region trade office in Haifa.

In March 2009, Tel Aviv’s Tidex Systems, the University of Dayton’s Institute for the Development of Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST), and Woolpert formed a new company in Dayton, i23D, to develop applications for 3D technology that Tidex creates.

The Dayton Region-Israel Trade Alliance office was established in Israel in April 2010. The DRITA program promotes business development activities between Israeli and Dayton Region technology-based companies and organizations. Its goal is to promote investments, joint ventures, presence and commercialization in the Dayton Region and Israel.

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