Women in High-Tech 2025: Status Report

Introduction and Key Findings

Israeli high-tech continues to strengthen its position as a significant sector in its contribution to the national economy. Nevertheless, the sector continues to be characterized by gender inequality, with women comprising only about one-third of its workforce, a ratio that has remained essentially unchanged for three decades. In this publication, the Israel Innovation Authority presents […]

Women’s Path to High-Tech

High School: Female Students Comprise 36.1% of Examinees in the 5-Unit Computer Science Exam Nearly Equal: 48% of Students Taking the 5-Unit Math Matriculation Exam Are FemaleIn the 5-study unit mathematics exam, there was almost complete parity between male and female students throughout most of the period examined (2016–2023). In 2023, the number of female […]

Women in Management Roles in High-Tech

Management in Private High-Tech Companies: Women Comprise 17.6% of Senior Management In addition to women’s overall representation in the high-tech industry, an analysis was conducted of their presence in managerial roles. This analysis aims to assess women’s career paths and promotion opportunities in the industry relative to their overall employment ratio in high-tech.1The examination of […]

Women in Start up Entrepreneurship and Investments

Managing Startups: One in Ten CEOs Are Women In the field of technological entrepreneurship, the ratio of female CEOs heading startups founded in the past decade (2013–2024) remains low, standing at just 10.6% (of companies where the CEO’s gender is known). This represents a […]

The Israel Innovation Authority’s Activities to Promote Gender Equality in High-Tech

The Israel Innovation Authority is working to address the gender disparities in the high-tech industry presented in this report via a range of tools related to funding, training, and coordinating efforts. In the startup entrepreneurship sector, the Innovation Authority offers a 10% grant increase for female-led startups as part of the Startup Fund.1Full details of […]

Appendix: Employment in Tech Roles

Approximately 554,000 people were employed in tech jobs in Israel in 2024. Of these, about 391,000 worked in the high-tech sector, while 163,000 held tech jobs in other industries. In other words, approx. 70% of tech jobs are in the high-tech sector. A breakdown by gender and population group reveals that 73.5% of Jewish (Non-UItra-Orthodox) […]

A Year Since October 7: A Situation Report on the Israeli High-Tech Sector

A Year Since October 7: A Situation Report on the Israeli High-Tech Sector

A year after the beginning of the ‘Swords of Iron’ War on October 7, 2023, the Innovation Authority is publishing a situation report aimed at examining the war’s ramifications on Israeli high-tech. As a sector that is based predominately on foreign players, high-tech is currently contending with a sensitive situation where the risk and uncertainty […]

High-Tech Employment Data

Employees: Stagnation in High-Tech Employment Over the Past Two Years In terms of the Israeli economy, high-tech’s significant contribution to the economy depends on employment in the sector. The changes related to this metric are therefore fundamental for the future of the economy. Between 2012-2022, high-tech doubled in size in terms of employees whose numbers […]

High-Tech Investments Data

No Significant Change in Startups’ Fundraising During the War A further metric that reflects the state of the high-tech sector is the capital raised by startups – capital that is used to hire new employees and to expand the business activity of the companies’ future generations. The total capital raised by technology companies in Israel […]

Conclusion and Recommendations

A year after October 7, 2023, it is clear that despite the difficult year experienced by the entire Israeli economy, the high-tech sector has demonstrated resilience. The sector’s strength is expressed by the fact that it was the fourth largest global hub in terms of capital raised since the onset of the war. At the […]

High-Tech Contribution to State Revenues

1. Background and Main Points

In this report, we examine the contribution of the high-tech sector and its employees to the Israeli economy. The report is the result of collaboration between the Innovation Authority and the Chief Economist Division in the Ministry of Finance. This analysis was performed during the past year and includes, for the first time, an in-depth […]

2. Methodology: Measuring High-Tech's Contribution to State Revenues

According to the definition of the high-tech sector and of high-tech companies There are several accepted approaches used to define the companies and employees of the high-tech sector in Israel. The definitions differ from each other in the number and type of companies they include. Consequently, there are also variations in the number of employees […]

3. The Contribution of High-Tech Taxation to State Revenues

In this report, we analyze high-tech taxation’s share of total state revenues. The object of the analysis is to understand how the high-tech sector and its employees contribute to the Israeli economy. The need to examine the sector’s contribution to state revenues arose against the background of high-tech’s significant contribution to Israel’s exports and GDP. […]

4. An Analysis of State Revenues from the High-Tech Sector, by Category

After having presented high-tech’s contribution to the Israeli economy via tax payments, this section analyzes the distribution and characteristics of tax payments within the high-tech sector. As shown above, 85% of the collected taxes from the high-tech sector can be attributed to the sector’s employees. In this section, we expand on the differences in tax […]

Conclusions: High-Tech Sector's Contribution to State Revenues from Individuals and Companies

This report presents an analysis of the contribution of tax payments made by high-tech employees and companies to the Israeli economy. The main findings arising from this analysis are detailed below: 1. State revenues stemming from the high-tech sector are increasing and the sector is responsible for about a quarter of the employees’ income tax […]

APPENDIXES

Appendix 1 – Main Differences Between the Approaches The information presented in this report presents two different approaches regarding the definition of the hightech sector. The first is based on the international definition as presented by the CBS in its publications (“the hightech sector”), while the second (“the high-tech companies”) is based on the companies’ […]

The State of High-Tech 2024

Introduction and Main Points

Israeli High-Tech at a Crossroads The Innovation Authority’s 2024 annual report reflects the crossroads Israeli hightech is currently facing. Over the past decade, and specifically since 2018, there has been a boom in investments in startups and new employees joining the hightech sector. During this period, high-tech has become established as the growth engine of […]

Preface

Israeli high-tech is at a crossroads where, among other things, both its resilience and robustness are being tested. The high-tech industry entered 2023 following a significant decline in investments as part of global trends, and its companies and entrepreneurs were compelled to make adjustments to the new situation. However, no one could predict the two […]

Part 1: Situation Report: Israeli High-Tech in 2024

Macro Indices Show a Moderate Increase – Investments Continued to Decline Against the backdrop of the geo-political and security upheavals in 2023, most of the macro indices in Israeli high-tech registered a moderate increase, primarily – a growth in the sector’s output and exports. The number of high-tech employees also increased, however at a lower […]

Part 2: Issues Related to the Future of Israeli High-Tech

Israeli High-Tech: Where is it Headed and How Will it Affect the Israeli Economy? As shown above, Israeli high-tech has grown significantly over the past decade. The sector has established itself as the economy’s shock absorber, especially during crisis periods, and has accounted for high proportions of the growth in Israeli GDP. Furthermore, it is […]

Appendices

Appendix 1 – Methodology for the Innovation Authority Surveys Surveys’ Objective Following the challenges faced by the Israeli high-tech sector in 2023 and ahead of the launch of the ‘Yozma 2.0’ Fund, the Innovation Authority conducted several surveys among Israeli high-tech companies and Israeli venture capital funds. The objective was to attain an updated situation […]

Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2O23

Introduction

Addressing the climate crisis and limiting warming to 1.5°C requires system-wide transformation; involving technology, infrastructure, governance and climate finance. Surveying global endeavors to tackle the climate crisis during the past year since the publication of our report “Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2022 Update” reveals deepened global commitments and actions on all the above fronts, […]

Foreword

In 2021, PLANETech, a non-profit climate tech innovation community and the Israel Innovation Authority – an established government agency – collaborated in the very first nation-wide evaluation of any country’s climate tech ecosystem, culminating in the writing of the first “Israel’s State of Climate Tech” report. This report had multiplying effects, not only documenting the […]

Executive Summary

The goal of transitioning to a net-zero and climate-positive economy has spurred multilateral collaborative endeavors, infrastructure planning, private and public funding, and promises of business opportunities worth trillions of dollars. The significant financial returns, together with the urgency of the climate crisis itself, means that climate tech is a rapidly maturing asset class, with increasing […]

Methodology

Climate tech companies are mapped according to the relevant climate challenges addressed by their innovation. The methodology section begins by describing the PLANETech Climate Challenge Map and then details the compilation of the database used for the analysis and the mapping procedure. Complementary information was also collected directly from climate tech startups through a survey […]

Israel’s ClimateTech Startups

Climate Tech Startups by Climate Challenge The updated mapping of Israeli startups identified a total of 784 startups that offer solutions to climate challenges, an increase of 90 startups compared to the 694 climate tech startups identified in 2022. Figure 2 shows the distribution of the startups according to the […]

Barriers to Scaling and Growth Faced by Israeli Startups

Climate tech startups face unique scaling challenges. They are mostly deep tech, requiring expensive physical assets and equipment, are capital intensive, and have long-term horizons for development from the initial proof of concept stage until commercialization. Until this endpoint, startups need to establish pilot demonstrations and are challenged by the extended period needed to progress […]

Looking Ahead

This 2023 report highlights the role of multistakeholder players in the continued growth of the Israeli climate tech ecosystem. This is expressed in both the private sector with entrepreneurs, founders, startups, investors and the corporates and businesses deploying the innovations; And in the public sector where the state fulfills several roles, acting as regulator, dominant […]

The state of hi-tech 2023

Chairman and CEO

Last year (2022) and the beginning of 2023 have been a complex and challenging period for the global economy, for the Israeli economy and, consequently, for Israeli high-tech. As 2023 began, the cheap state-funded capital provided worldwide to contend with the Covid pandemic “disappeared”, the Russia-Ukraine war broke out triggering extensive economic sanctions against Russia, […]

Introduction and Highlights

Following more than a decade of growth and prosperity in Israeli high-tech, this year’s annual Innovation Authority report is being published during a challenging period, one characterized by uncertainty for the Israeli high-tech industry. During the previous quarters, the positive trend that typified the industry over recent years was replaced by a decline in important […]

High-Tech's Contribution to the Economy

Israeli High-Tech 2023 – A Situation Report The past decade has witnessed an increase in the importance of the high-tech sector to the Israeli economy. Even prior to that, high-tech was regarded as “the growth engine” of the Israeli economy, however an analysis of data from the last decade reveals that the sector has grown […]

How Many Israelis Really Work in High-Tech?

For the first time, this year’s report presents data that reveals the number of Israelis working as salaried employees in technology positions in Israel, both in the high-tech sector and in other sectors. The data relates to salaried employees in the high-tech sector, both in technology and non-technology jobs, and in technology jobs in other […]

A Global Comparison

A Global Comparison: High-tech in Israel Relies Almost Entirely on the Private Sector, and Primarily on Foreign Investors The Israeli innovation ecosystem is in direct competition with other hubs around the world for human resources, investments, and innovation infrastructures. It is important therefore to examine high-tech’s contribution to the Israeli economy not just in comparison […]

Decline in Establishment of New Startups

Is the Decline in the Number of New Startups Creating a Problem for the Israeli Economy? The introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the lower prices of cloud services, and further technological and economic changes, brought about a global growth in the rate at which new startups have been opened. Until approximately 2015, there was […]

Investments and Recruitments: Fintech - Climate

Israeli high-tech has enjoyed phenomenal growth in startups’ funding over the past decade. Looking at the entire decade, the investments in Israeli startups grew five-fold between 2013-2023, totaling 95 billion dollars. These investments enabled the startups to remain independent over time without the need to perform a quick exit, to establish and develop sustainable businesses, […]

A Superpower of Org. SW, Fintech and Cyber

The technology companies established over the past decade operate primarily in three prominent fields: organizational software, fintech, and cyber. These three fields seem to spearhead Israel’s high-tech and are of main interest in terms of entrepreneurship and investments in Israeli high-tech, as detailed further down this chapter. In short, the findings of studies we’ve conducted revealed […]

The Climate Crisis

The climate crisis is one of the largest challenges threatening our planet’s future and the future of mankind. The UNFCCC – the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – designated national goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing man-made damage to the atmosphere. To meet these goals, the different countries and the corporate […]

Government's investment choice

Does the State Take More Risk with Investments in Startups Than the Private Sector? The decline recorded over recent years in investments in startups in Israel stems, among other things, from them being fields that are characterized by long and expensive development processes until products or services are released onto the market and by high […]

Appendix

The Israel Innovation Authority endeavors to provide a solution to the different challenges facing the Israeli innovation hub via three operational units called “divisions”. Each division is mission oriented and offers a unique toolbox that is adapted to the different challenges inherent in the various stages of the technological lifecycle. The Innovation Authority’s divisions undertook […]

The state of hi-tech 2022

Opening Remarks

As we do each year, the Israel Innovation Authority is proud to present its annual report outlining the current state of the Israeli innovation industry. This year’s situation report differs from previous years due to the structural changes that have occurred in the global economy in general and, specifically in the Israeli economy. These developments […]

Introduction and Main Points:

2022 meets high-tech at an interesting intersection: on the one hand, following a decade of record achievements and prosperity, the industry is increasingly strengthening its standing as one of the Israeli economy’s central sectors. On the other hand, the capital market is cooling down, a war is raging in Ukraine, and the sanctions imposed on […]

Part A: Israeli High-Tech 2022 Situation Report

High-tech exports exceed half of all Israel’s exports for the first time – but the technology companies’ value is declining Israeli high-tech continued to prosper and to constitute the economy’s primary growth engine during the past year. The product of the high-tech sectors grew by more than 10% in 2021 and stood at 237 billion […]

Part B: What Will Enable the Next Quantum Leap of Israeli High-Tech?

The Next Quantum Leap of Israeli High-Tech: It seems as if Israeli high-tech has existed forever, but it is actually one of the younger sectors of the local economy. In a relatively brief period over the past few decades, Israeli high-tech has established itself as a significant factor in the local economy, not only contributing […]

Appendix: Activity of the Israel Innovation Authority’s Divisions

In 2021, the Innovation Authority's divisions implemented a wide range of measures aimed at advancing the growth of the Israeli innovation ecosystem. This chapter presents the main activity of the various divisions during 2021 and the way in which they translated the Authority's policy into action and specific policy tools.

Women in High-Tech 2022 - Status Report

Women in High-Tech

The Israeli high-tech industry is at the forefront of Israeli innovation and its achievements set new records every year. Nevertheless, as far as gender equality is concerned, Israeli high-tech has significant room for improvement. Women comprise only one third of Israeli high-tech employees, a figure that has remained constant over time. At each stage of […]

Israel Innovation Authority Grants:

An examination of the requests submitted by women for grants from the various Innovation Authority incentive programs reveals that the ratio of women submitting such requests is similar to their ratio in the general entrepreneurial field in Israel. For example, in 2020- 2021, requests submitted by women comprised 15% of all grant requests submitted to […]

Between Paris and Zurich

Unsurprisingly, women also fare poorly in other focal points of global entrepreneurship. Nevertheless, when comparing Israel to the international entrepreneurial hubs, the data shows that Israel lags behind both in the ratio of women entrepreneurs and in the level of capital that women raise for startups in their early stages. In practice, of the leading […]

Investing in Venture Capital

Another of the entrepreneurial ecosystem’s significant and influential elements is that of venture capital investors. As those controlling the “flow” of investment, these investors decide which startups will receive funding and therefore contribute significantly to shaping the Israeli startup arena. To a large degree, the funding they provide to startups frequently decides which startups will […]

Less Than One Tenth:

Less Than One Tenth: Women Technology Entrepreneurs in Israel To clarify the gender situation of technology entrepreneurship in Israel, we analyzed data relating to 8,668 startups founded between 2010-2021 in which the CEO’s gender was known. An Israel Innovation Authority adaptation of the data retrieved from the IVC database reveals that the ratio of women […]

Summary

What Can Be Done to Improve Gender Equality in Israeli High-Tech? In this report, we have presented an up-to-date situation report describing the representation of women at different stages pertaining to their employment in the Israeli innovation ecosystem. A wide range of reasons leads to a low number of women in hightech, from social paving […]

Israel Innovation Authority’s 2021

Executive Summary

High-Tech During Covid – Innovation Authority Report 2020-2021

Is this the end of the Israeli "Start-Up Nation” era?

Israeli high-tech continued to break investment records even during the Covid crisis. Alongside the industry’s maturation, the number of new startups is declining sharply, the number of seed rounds is stagnating, and the Innovation Authority’s budget has been eroded. How will these changes influence the industry’s future and what can the government do to preserve Israel’s competitive advantage?

What Will the Future High-Tech Generation Look Like?

Israeli high-tech is undergoing a transformation – its employees are not as young but are still based in Tel Aviv. One tenth of employees in Israel work in high-tech and pay a quarter of the country’s total income tax. One in every four students is studying a technology subject and will soon attempt to integrate into the high-tech industry, however the Covid crisis has made the industry tougher for women and inexperienced juniors. Will they find work after completing their studies?

How can Israeli High- Tech Help Rehabilitate the Economy?

Guaranteeing the Israeli economy’s continued prosperity and the leading global position of its high-tech industry depends on several key factors. One of these is a state policy that supports the creation of infrastructures necessary to develop innovative technologies and train the next generation of high-tech employees. At the same time, significant changes in the government’s policy and regulatory perception will aid Israel’s recovery from its largest ever economic crisis by implementing Blue & White technology solutions.

Activities of the Israel Innovation Authority’s Divisions

The Israel Innovation Authority strives to provide solutions for the various challenges facing the Israeli innovation ecosystem via six operative divisions. Each division is focused on specific tasks and clients and offers a unique set of tools for contending with the different challenges throughout the technology lifecycle.

Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2021

Looking Ahead

Israel has the capability to contribute substantially to global emission reductions. Locally developed and adopted technologies are already responsible for emission reductions around the world that may be greater than the emissions the country itself generates. Increased adoption on a nationwide scale and increased global deployment would further increase Israel’s internal and global contribution to […]

Foreword

Dror Bin, CEO of Israel Innovation Authority & Uriel Klar, Director of PLANETech The climate tech journey gives us an opportunity to tread new paths and create new value. To realize this potential, however, we must all continue to work together. “Israel’s State of Climate Tech 2021” is a powerful source of motivation for doing […]

Israel as a Global Climate Tech Player

Several indices were examined to evaluate Israel’s role as a global climate tech player. A recent global climate tech investment report identified and ranked the top 10 global climate tech hubs according to geographics and the total fundings obtained by the companies headquartered there.14 Silicon Valley, Boston, and Berlin led the rankings, while Israel did […]

Methodology

This report assesses the current and future potential of Israeli innovation to play a central role in tackling the global climate change challenge. By undertaking the first mapping of Israeli companies developing technologies aimed at climate change mitigation and adaptation, the report reveals the current strengths of Israeli climate technology innovations. An AI-driven analysis of global climate […]

Opportunities & Barriers to Climate Tech in Israel

In this section we reflect on the existing and potential strengths of the Israeli climate ecosystem and the global impact of the various climate tech domains. We highlight a number of technologies that provide solutions to global climate challenges and in which Israel is well positioned. This list is by no means exhaustive, and there […]

Israel’s Climate Tech Ecosystem

The mapping procedure, described above, revealed nearly 1,200 Israeli companies that provide solutions to climate challenges. A distinction was made between 637 startup & growth companies and other types of companies. The former category included all the companies founded after the year 2000 and which have raised investments, as well as young companies – founded […]

Capital Investments

As described above, the climate tech domain encompasses a broad variety of solutions which directly or indirectly address global climate challenges, that are based on varied technological platforms, and which are associated with many industry sectors. The resultant added complexity in attributing capital investments to climate tech from available data sources enables only partial retrieval […]

Introduction

Climate Change – Averting limate Catastrophe Climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to humanity and to the planet. The Sixth IPCC Report demonstrates the unequivocal role of human influence in the warming of the atmosphere, ocean, and land, leading to changes in the climate system as a whole, as well as frequency […]

Executive Summary

Technological innovations play a crucial role in the global challenge to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Israel is renowned as a global leader of technological innovation and this report sets out to examine, for the first time, Israel’s state of climate tech and the potential of its “problem solving” entrepreneurs to provide solutions for […]

Israel Innovation Authority's 2019

Innovation Report 2019

“…to establish Israel as a global leader in innovation and entrepreneurship that frequently grows innovation-driven companies which provide extensive, highly productive employment for all population groups and all regions of the country.” Alongside this promising data, the Israel Innovation Authority has also identified alarming trends that point to challenges and obstacles that could potentially delay […]

Israeli High-Tech in 2019

In 2019, the Israeli High-Tech industry continued to flourish and broke new records in several indices. Yet the Israel Innovation Authority is detecting alarming trends that call for the government’s close attention, such as a decline is high-tech exports and a shortage of skilled employees

Investing in Progress

The Israel Innovation Authority’s vision is to establish Israel as a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship that frequently grows innovation-driven companies, in order to provide extensive, highly productive employment for all population groups and all regions of the country

Growth of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem

Recent years have shown an increase in the number of Israeli high-tech companies that are in sales and growth stages. The Israel Innovation Authority recognizes that these companies struggle to raise debt financing in Israel. This obstacle could damage their competitive advantage and encourage them to divert their operations overseas

Accelerating Israeli Entrepreneurship

In recent years, there has been an alarming decline in the number of new start-ups and in the amount of funding rounds by seed-stage start-ups. The Israel Innovation Authority analyzes the causes of this decline and is taking action to reverse the trend and to relaunch Israeli entrepreneurship

Bolstering Artificial Intelligence

For Israel to realize its full potential in AI and to maintain its leading position in the field, it must make a concerted effort to meet the challenges posed by regulation, human capital, accessibility to databases, and sub-par supercomputer infrastructure

Bio-Convergence

The field of bio-convergence could potentially become one of the Israeli high-tech industry’s most substantial engines of growth. The Israel Innovation Authority is working in collaboration with additional entities to expand its operations in order to c competitive ecosystem to advance this field in Israel.

The Israel Innovation Authority in Action

In 2019, mission and customer oriented divisions of the Israel Innovation Authority took a variety of measures to advance the growth of the Israeli innovation ecosystem

Innovation Report 2018

Israeli Innovation Breaks the Boundaries

Israeli innovation has attained great heights in recent decades. Israel is a global center with a vibrant innovation culture based on interdisciplinary capabilities, a spirit of entrepreneurship and strong technical skills. Recent years have witnessed a flourishing of Israeli hi-tech that is expressed by widespread activity of multinational corporations, innovative startup companies, and Israeli growth […]

The Innovation Authority

The Innovation Authority’s vision is to establish Israel as a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship that frequently grows innovation-driven companies that provide extensive, highly productive employment for all population groups and all regions of the country

High Tech in Israel 2018

The global tech industry is gearing up for a new world order that has an impact on Israel’s high-tech industry as well. What changed in the global economy in 2018, and what were the industrial trends during these past years in terms of funding, technology, and human capital?

The Race for Technological Leadership

AI is slated to be at the heart of 21st century technological developments. Will Israel, which was among the world leaders in previous waves of technology, successfully find its way to lead with this technology as well?

Personalized Medicine

Radical transformation in the global biopharma industry may bring about an awaited leap forward of the Israeli biopharma industry. How do we realize Israel's competitive advantage in an age of personalized medicine?

From a high-tech industry

Weak competitive intensity and regulation that do not foster innovation have thus far slowed the adoption of new technologies in the Israeli economy. Israel must now brace itself for inevitable 'Creative Destruction' processes that will coincide with global automation trends

An Innovation Driven Economy in the Periphery

Innovation activity in Israel is concentrated predominantly in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and does not exhaust the resources of innovation in the periphery. The Innovation Authority is leading a national strategy to promote an innovation-driven economy in the periphery, which will benefit both the regional economy and the entire national innovation system