The Israeli government has given GE, Medtronic, and digital health solutions provider Change Healthcare a $33 million grant for R&D centers in a move that aims to help establish the country as a major player in biotechnology and medicine.

Israel's minister of economy and industry, Eli Cohen, called the decision by the firms to operate in the country “an important vote of confidence in the state of Israel and the Israeli economy,” according to the Yeshiva World.

The expansion will help bring “high-quality jobs in the fields of engineering and manufacturing, generating additional exports worth billions of dollars,” he told the news site, adding that “these three companies join 320 other foreign multinationals active in Israel, positioning the country as an international leader in innovation and as an attractive hub for global companies.”

The grants are the latest in a new six-year $264 million Ministry of Economy and Israel Innovation Authority program focusing on digital health, and hopes are that it will lead to an increase in intellectual property in the country – and additional tax revenues in the future.

“The new activity is expected to provide a significant boost to the biomedical field in Israel and to facilitate growth in new directions, creating prominent international centers of excellence along with significant local capabilities in these growing fields,” said Aharon Aharon, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, adding that, “these R&D centers will bring unique knowledge and experience to the local workforce and will serve as the basis for the continued growth of Israel’s innovation ecosystem and Israeli companies growing here.”

The three firms bring different strengths to the table.

Change Healthcare, with $3.3 billion in yearly revenue, provides software and data analysis-based solutions. Its Intelligent Healthcare Network assists in the managing of clinical, administrative processes and financial transactions in the medical industry. It first established a center in Israel in 1993 and has about 100 workers there, whose work focuses on data and monitoring for cardiology. It received a $5.5 million grant.

GE Healthcare began its footprint in Israel in the late 1990s, during which time it made several local acquisitions, according to the news site CTECH. Its latest deal was for the assets of Orbotech Medical Solutions in 2011. GE Healthcare has about 400 employees in the country at four locations. It received a $13.8 million grant.

Medtronic employs about 800 people in Israel at present and plans to develop a center there focusing on imaging systems for laparoscopic surgery. It also received a $13.8 million grant.

Israel's R&D efforts were also in the news in January, when Israeli startup Montfort, specializing in neurological disorders, won the Henry Ford Health System’s first ever artificial intelligence challenge.

The company created a real-time brain monitor that uses smartphones' built-in sensors – including accelerometers, gyroscopes, and touch screens – to capture and analyze with artificial intelligence patient data from a panel of neurological tests for conditions like Parkinson’s disease and normal pressure hydrocephalus.

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