The Israel Gerontological Data Center (IGDC) commenced in November, 2002. It is one of twelve "Knowledge Centers" that were initially funded by the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, and it is the only one to be funded in the area of the social sciences. The Center's aim is to pool data and to link researchers across Israel's universities and research institutes in order to augment gerontological inquiry.  

The "age revolution," that is, the dramatically increasing longevity that has occurred in our time along with rise in the proportion of older persons within the general population presents an extraordinary challenge to human society. The data center will promote better understanding of the aging of the Israeli population and its social, economic and health-related fields by:

·             Facilitating retrospective longitudinal analysis of newly linked data-bases

·             Offering improved capabilities to compare aging trends over time

·             Providing unique computerized search capacities of published and unpublished sources

·             Initiating the collection and analysis of new relevant data

The three main avenues of activity of the IGDC include

1)       The linking of administrative and survey data in order to allow longitudinal analyses previously unavailable to researchers,

2)       Establishment of a computerized search capacity to promote efficient scrutiny of age-related statistical tables and

3)       Establishment of a computerized bibliographic function that documents Israeli gerontological research literature, including unpublished research reports and dissertations. A fourth function is also planned: archiving gerontological data bases and making them available to researchers, contingent upon receipt of additional funding.  

Finally, a major additional undertaking of the IGDC that is under way is the implementation of an Israeli version of the European SHARE Project, the cross-national survey of adults age 50 and over, that is funded by the European Union and by the National Institute of Aging (NIA) of the American National Institutes of Health. Proposals to include Israel in this highly significant international project were submitted to the NIA, to the German Israeli Foundation and to the Israeli National Insurance Institute. All three sources approved the funding, thus reflecting the important international recognition that the IGDC has already achieved. 

The IGDC will function mainly through a website that is being established especially for this purpose. The scientific infrastructure has been put in place and will be accessible in the near future to researchers and planners by means of the IGDC web-based Internet site. The knowledge center operates under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Howard Litwin, a social gerontologist at the HebrewUniversity heads the Center. Professor Amiela Globerson, a biologist from the Weizman Institute, is Chair of the IGDC's Executive Board. 

National Expenditure on Civilian Research and Developmant

 Since 1989 the Central Bureau of Statistics presents an annual publication of national expenditure on civilian R&D and its components.

The figures show that Israeli level of civilian R&D is high compared even to more developed countries. The R&D expenditure is presented by the sectors operating and financing the activities. In addition, an international comparison is presented.

The Government expenditure on R&D is presented in details which include the ministries and type of expenditure.

The findings, diagrams and tables are presented at the CBS internet site: www.cbs.gov.il