University of California (UC) and Israel's Innovation Authority (IIA) signed an agreement of collaboration on February 17, this year. The said agreement aimed to foster cooperation between UC and IIA for technological innovation and research and development.

The IIA is an agency in Israel that makes recommendations on government policies that would affect innovations in technology.

UC President Janet Napolitano spoke about UC's vision to pioneer technologies that will have practical use worldwide. UC believes that this can be easily achieved by combining UC's advanced technology and the capabilities of Israel, according to University of California Press Room.

This will be done by sharing information and conducting meetings with the two parties in attendance. Moreover, the agreement was aimed at helping Israeli companies to become more competitive in the world market, resulting to their success in the field of commerce.

The consul general of Israel in San Francisco, Andy David, approved the collaboration. He considered it as one way of enhancing the UC's and Israel's goal of promoting peace all over the world.

The said agreement will specifically focus on improving cultural, academic and technical connections between US and Israel. Likewise, the two countries will conduct research of cyber security, alternative energy, water conservation, and bio-technology. A recent research study identified Israel as one of the preferred partners of US researchers. In fact, there has been an increase in the number of top universities in the US working in collaboration with Israel, according to Algemeiner.

It can be recalled that in 2014, the University of California and Israel had a similar agreement. It was aimed at developing joint projects and conducting joint research for the benefit of the Jewish state and the state of California. Aside from UC, Israel also has other collaborative agreements with other universities in the United States.