The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) held the Korea-Israel Innovation Day with the Israel Innovation Authority in Tel Aviv on March 21 with representatives from both countries’ industry, academia and R&D there to further bolster smart mobility technology cooperation.

Korea and Israel have joint investments adding up to approximately USD 77 million, and 196 international joint R&D projects.

This year, the two countries will focus on smart mobility, a rapidly growing global market with high potential. Smart mobility refers to transportation modes of the future, including autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles (EVs), urban air mobility (UAM) and more. The global smart mobility market reached $57.9 billion in 2022, and is forecast to hit $250.3 billion by 2030.

At the event, the Korean and Israeli delegations discussed smart mobility R&D progress and promising areas for joint projects. They agreed to deepen technology cooperation, signing two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between their relevant institutions and holding one-on-one technology business consultations.

One of the two countries’ major joint projects is the Lighthouse Program, through which $10 million will be poured into developing core technologies in smart mobility over a three-year period.

Lee Min-woo, Director General for Industrial Technology Convergence Policy at MOTIE, remarked that Korea and Israel can become global leaders in smart mobility by capitalizing on their complementary strengths, since Korea is a global mobility powerhouse ranked fifth in automobile manufacturing and first in high value-added, eco-friendly shipbuilding, while Israel owns over 500 future car R&D centers and 97 unicorn companies (as of 2022).

Notice for the Lighthouse Program and further details are available on the Korea-Israel Industrial R&D Foundation website (www.koril.org) until May 17.