Governor Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan flew to Israel last week to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Industry Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) and hi-tech executives in an effort to bring Israeli hi-tech companies to her home state.
The governor hopes that the creation of Israeli technology and biotech branches in Michigan will create more than a thousand new jobs in Michigan.
The governor and her delegation met with executives from Powermat, a high-tech company that brings wireless electricity to surfaces like walls, tables, and floors. Powermat, located near Jerusalem, is collaborating with a Michigan-based high-tech company on a deal that is expected to create several hundred jobs.
After meeting with Prime Minister Olmert, the governor signed a joint agreement with Indusry and Trade Minister Yishai. The partnership between Israel and Michigan will include a research team that will focus on innovative technology to increase energy efficiency, improve water quality and increase water reuse.
“Like the joint agreement we signed with Sweden to work on biofuels, this holds great potential for new jobs in Michigan,” the governor wrote in a statement.
Gov. Granholm also held meetings in Haifa with technology companies that she hopes will help create jobs in her home state. She visited Senso Optics, a homeland security and defense company that creates technology for lenses used for airport security and border control, and sensors for day and night vision.
The governor subsequently visited Carmel Medical Center, where she met with researchers from Multi Gene Vascular Systems (MGVS) — a life sciences company that is doing work with gene therapy to remove blockage and open up arteries in the legs and heart. Prof. Moshe Fliegelman and Prof. Basil Louis, directors of the department of cardiology at Haifa’s Carmel Medical Center, created MGVS 8 years ago. They hope to have a presence in Michigan in the next 6-12 months.
The governor’s investment mission to the Middle East is her seventh overseas investment mission since 2004. Her previous missions to Germany, Austria, Japan, and Sweden have resulted in 42 companies announcing more than $944 million in new investment and more than 10,600 jobs created and retained.