At MassChallenge Thursday morning, Massachusetts Speaker of the House Bob DeLeo expressed his intent on forging a strong economic relationship between the Commonwealth and Israel. In fact, DeLeo is so enthusiastic about the prosperous partnership that he was teleconferenced in from the Middle Eastern country as he’s already overseas attempting to lure Israeli business to the Bay State.
The way Governor Deval Patrick will tour Asia to foster innovative ties between Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan in December, DeLeo is hoping to build on a companionship that helped produce 6,700 jobs and pump a cool $6 billion into the state’s economy.
“During my Speakership, I have been committed to creating and growing jobs in Massachusetts – from blue collar jobs to the innovation economy,” said DeLeo in a statement prior to embarking to Israel. “I hope to let our current and future trading partners in Israel, ‘The Start-Up Nation,’ know about the strengths Massachusetts, the Start-Up State, has to offer. Whether it’s our highly trained workforce, our investments in life sciences and community colleges or our sound fiscal climate, Massachusetts has much to offer companies in Israel and around the world.”
According to a study released by the New England-Israel Business Council (NEIBC), “In the three-year period 2010-2012, Israeli-founded businesses in Massachusetts experienced 12.6 percent in compound annual revenue growth and 5.3 percent compound annual job growth.” In that same three-year span, companies stemming from Israel raked in a whopping $700 million in venture funding spread across 73 deals – a solid six percent of all venture funding over that period of time.
More specifically, in 2012 alone, Israeli-founded businesses pulled down $6.2 billion. When taking into account the likes of “office space, accounting, marketing, and other business needs,” that number jumps considerably to $11.9 billion.
The reasoning behind all of these substantial figures is that, like Massachusetts, Israel boasts a burgeoning IT, cyber-security, electronic health, energy and water, financial tech, neuroscience, and robotics scene, not to mention the emphasis on the importance of higher education.
“On his trade mission to Israel in 2011, I had the opportunity to share with Governor Patrick the extraordinary economic potential that a strong partnership between Massachusetts and Israel has to offer,” said Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO of The Kraft Group and proud owner of the New England Patriots, in a statement to the NEIBC. “I am proud to see the results of that mission all around us, and the benefits of that relationship on display in this research. If we continue to invest in the growth of this relationship, I am confident that the Massachusetts-Israel success story will continue for years to come.”
