- The Group working closely with Israeli high-tech companies
- Focus on new services and applications
- Agreement with the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor signed in the presence of Chairman of the Board of Management, René Obermann
Deutsche Telekom intends to cooperate even more closely in the future with Israeli high-tech and start-up companies in the information and communication technology (ICT) area. An agreement signed by representatives of the Israeli government and Deutsche Telekom on Sunday in Jerusalem forms the basis of this cooperation.
Also present were Eli Yishai, Minister for Industry, Trade and Labor, and René Obermann, Chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG. Deutsche Telekom's aim is to be able to more rapidly develop innovative information and communications services and offer these to customers.
Companies participating in the Global Enterprise R&D Cooperation Framework program, and who are supported in research and development by Deutsche Telekom as selected partner companies – for example, through integration in proprietary platforms, joint developments or consulting – receive complementary financial support from the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) in the Department of Trade. This enables them to expand and intensify their marketing, technology development and access to customers. Furthermore, the Chief Scientist will support Deutsche Telekom with the development of pioneering new technologies and applications.
"The extreme application-oriented approach of Israeli ICT companies allows Deutsche Telekom to rapidly convert future-oriented solutions for innovative new services into commercially viable products," emphasized René Obermann. In this context, the Chairman referred to the promising results of partnerships with Israeli high-tech and start-up companies. Initial results will be presented to interested parties from research and development, and industry partners from Germany and Israel, at the first Deutsche Telekom Innovation Day on October 29 in Berlin. Displays will include a portal for mobile information, booking and payment systems, a broad range of WLAN-based applications for use in hospitals by, for example, enabling increased logistics efficiency in areas such as bed management, and the beta portal at T-Online (www.beta.t-online.de), where innovative Web 2.0 solutions are already being trialed.
Eli Yishai, Minister for Industry, Trade and Labor, emphasized that the "Israeli ICT industry's leading global position will be recognized and used by global players in the trade." Deutsche Telekom is the first telecommunications service provider in the world to enter into an MoU of this nature with the Israeli Department of Trade. The program has already been agreed with respected industry partners, i.e., Oracle, IBM, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft and, most recently, Sun Microsystems.
For René Obermann, the contract signing represented “a further commitment to the successful and long lasting cooperation with Israeli companies and institutions.”
In 2006, for example, Deutsche Telekom and Ben Gurion University (BGU) set up a joint research and development institute in the Israeli town of Beer Sheva in the Negev Desert. The BGU is known as one of the world's leading universities in the areas of information technology and telecommunications, and especially IT security. The institute is an academic satellite of the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories based at Berlin's Technical University. By 2008, Deutsche Telekom will have spent around $12.1 million on funding the institute in Israel.
Further information on the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories can be found at www.deutsche-telekom-laboratories.de .