BIRD Foundation

The Israel-United States Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation is an organization that provides capital for joint industrial research and development (R&D) between American and Israeli companies. BIRD was established in 1977 by the governments of the United States and Israel. Each BIRD project involves a partnership between a U.S. and an Israeli company. Up to 50 percent of the funding is supplied by BIRD and at least 50 percent by the partnership. The source of the funding is an endowment provided equally by the two governments. The current BIRD endowment is $110 million. BIRD also receives annual funding from both governments for the BIRD Energy program. Since its inception, BIRD has approved more than 900 projects, provided more than $300M in grants (~$500M adjusted to inflation). BIRD projects have yielded an estimated $10B in sales. The BIRD Foundation is considered by some analysts to be a successful model of binational R&D collaboration.