Neil A. Cooper of Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld.

Across the United States, many regions—including very notably our own—have been lining up and spending significant attention and resources on the bidding for Amazon HQ2. Companies, researchers and investors worldwide are rightfully focusing on Amazon and other U.S. tech companies. At the same time, significant numbers of savvy tech players are increasing attention on Israel as a source of innovation, talent and exciting new companies.

Anecdotally, I witnessed this development first hand when I traveled to Israel on a trade mission this past fall with the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (PICC) and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. While we saw the usual complement of American executives and investors, it was amazing to meet representatives from dozens of countries—including India, China, Japan and various European and African countries—crowding the convention halls of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and environs to get a look at Israeli technologies and cut deals.

The Philadelphia Region Has Much to Offer Israeli Tech Companies

Philadelphia's highly skilled and educated work force, leading universities, attractive cost of doing business, and vibrant and growing entrepreneurial sector, all recommend our region to Israeli companies looking to launch a presence in the United States. The region's easy global access, potential enterprise customers, and geographic location close to New York City, Washington, D.C., and a large segment of the U.S. population and business sector, add to the benefits of locating here. Just as importantly, Philadelphia boasts affordable housing, impressive cultural and sports offerings, convenient transportation and more. Leading industries, institutions and investors in the region are a good match for much of Israel's technology sector, such as pharma, health care IT, medical devices and media.

Israel Is a High-Tech Powerhouse

Israel boasts one of the world's highest concentrations of startups and is a global leader in research and development, as well as venture capital. The World Economic Forum recently ranked Israel number two worldwide in innovation, and Israel has a disproportionate amount of patent filings, PhDs and Nobel prize winners per capita. Israeli technology is embedded in a wide array of modern devices, including cell hones, computers, search engines, smart textiles, medical devices and autonomous cars. Just as noteworthy, regions in the United States that have embraced Israeli companies, such as Boston and Silicon Valley, have seen a significant contribution to local economic development by way of jobs and revenues.

Curing Cancer, Clean Tech, Drones and More

Examples abound of how Israeli innovation is impacting our region:

• Israeli company NovellusDX is working with Christiana Care's gene editing institute to develop cures for cancer.
• Arkema and American Water are collaborating with Israeli companies on alternative energy innovation and advanced water technologies.
• Simlat, an Israeli company with a location in Philadelphia, provides training for drone utilization in industry.
• GNS Corp., another Israeli company with its U.S. base in Philadelphia, optimizes maintenance of aircraft fleets nationwide.
• A number of companies located in our region, such as Teleflex, Magento and West Pharmaceuticals, have purchased Israeli companies in order to integrate their leading technologies.
• The world's leading generic drug company, Israeli company Teva, has their U.S. headquarters in our region.

Actively Engaging With Israel

Philadelphia is not standing on the sidelines. The city has sent two delegations to Israel led by former Mayor Michael Nutter, and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania just signed a historic memorandum of understanding with Israel to support joint tech development by Pennsylvania and Israeli companies. Many Philadelphia institutions, such as Thomas Jefferson University, Drexel University, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, are also engaging in partnerships with Israeli companies and institutions, and leading companies in the region, such as Comcast and SAP, are actively working in Israel.

The PICC also helps generate significant relationships between local and Israeli companies to attract Israeli companies to the region. This past year alone, PICC, with the support of local institutions and businesses, has organized cutting edge Israeli delegations to Philadelphia, in industries such as smart textiles, big data, health care IT, first responders and homeland security. Close to 50 Israeli companies have visited Philadelphia in the past year, and hundreds of leaders from industry and academia have attended conferences to learn about the technologies and develop strategic relationships.

Structuring Deals and Legal Considerations

Philadelphia is home to professionals who have years of expertise working with Israeli companies, including in areas such as legal, accounting, tax, marketing and technology.  Although most Israelis are fluent in English, an important factor in doing business overseas, members of our professional community also speak Hebrew and have lived in Israel, both of which help build relationships and promote commerce.

The Israeli legal system is based on English common law, and Israel has incorporated many American legal principles into the modern legislation, most notably in the field of corporate law. Intellectual property protections in Israel are comparable to those in the United States, and the judiciary is well-regarded and efficient. Israeli entities can often be restructured so that the parent company is a U.S. corporation with an Israeli subsidiary, which can be preferred when a company receives U.S. investment. A common business structure is for the R&D to remain in Israel with the marketing office in the United States.

The language and legal similarities, combined with the fact that Israeli companies often focus on international markets because Israel is small geographically and in population, make great opportunity for our region.

The Race to Leveraging Israeli Advanced Technologies

The region's leading research institutions, the business, technology and health care communities, the city and the commonwealth, all seek to capitalize on the opportunities offered by Israeli innovation. The prospects of bringing leading technologies, as well as attendant economic growth, make the case for doing so compelling.

Amazon itself has made significant efforts to engage with the Israel tech sector, most recently with an announcement that it will set up research and development centers in Tel Aviv and Haifa to improve its Alexa Voice Shopping system. While we compete in the Amazon HQ2 race, the Philadelphia region can win, right now, by actively seeking Israeli technology and deals with Israeli companies.

Neil A. Cooper is executive partner of Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld, a fast-growing law firm with offices in the Greater Philadelphia area and New York, where he practices corporate and business law. Cooper is also the newly elected president of the Philadelphia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (PICC), helped lead the PICC and commonwealth of Pennsylvania's 2017 trade mission to Israel.