Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley said the deal could benefit the Miami Valley.
“The reason we’re interested in them is because they have a very strong aerospace industry. We believe the economic upside has real potential for Dayton companies,” Foley said.
Ohio Development Services Agency Director David Goodman and Consulate General of Israel to the MidAtlantic Region of the U.S. Yaron Sideman are expected to sign the MOU on Tuesday in Columbus. The agreement says that “both sides are serious” about economic development, according to Pamela Fannin, Montgomery County economic development specialist.
The partnership between Dayton and Israel is part of an initiative by the Dayton Region Israel Trade Alliance Group — a group that identifies business opportunities between technology-based companies in Dayton and Israel.
“There is a fair amount of activity between Israeli companies and Ohio companies. I think everybody around the state recognizes that Israel is a strong partner for economic development,” Foley said.
Hadas Bar-Or, Dayton region trade representative to Israel, explained business opportunities for the Dayton region and Israel last week for Montgomery County commissioners.
Bar-Or said Dayton complements Israel, which she called innovative but not strong in mass production. “And I know that there is a lot of manufacturers here in the Dayton region that that could be a collaboration,” Bar-Or said.
Fannin said the city of Dayton, Montgomery County and the Dayton Development Collation have funded Bar-Or’s position.
Bar-Or said that a special focus of the growing trade alliance will be to organize a trade mission to Israel, comprised of Dayton companies, and to participate in one of Israel’s upcoming tech conferences.
She added that aerospace expertise here and partnerships with Israel could mean new jobs in Dayton.
Bar-Or proposed using MassChallenge, a nonprofit Boston-based startup accelerator company that runs an annual four-month contest for startup companies that ends with a $1 million grant to the top companies in the contest.
“The idea is to say to companies, ‘We don’t want anything from you. We’ll give you three months of accelerator for free. If you come to Dayton, we’ll introduce you to investors, we’ll introduce you to potential clients, we’ll provide the media coverage and we’ll also give you … legal advice, accounting and we’ll help you grow your business for free in the Dayton region,’” Bar-Or said.
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