Israel’s cleantech sector has an impressive global reputation. There are now close to 1,000 companies engaged in the industry, not bad for a country the size of Wales.

In the past week alone, two important pieces of news have been posted. An American solar giant, SunEdison, will be moving into Israel. In parallel, Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist will start to prioritise funding of projects in the cleantech sector.

These are not isolated items. For example, earlier this week, I visited several companies, developing water and solar capabilities, with a European investor. One stop included Solaris Synergy, utilising solar energy from water. Established less than a year ago, they have 2 beta sites in Israel and strong prospects in Europe.

The Ministry of Industry, through the Israel Export Institute, have already announced the details of an Israeli cleantech misssion to London in October. Participants will engage with potential strategic partners. Last week, I met up with Gil Erez, the commercial attache in London, who is organising the event.

In other words, small and medium sized Israeli companies are playing a strongly growing part in the global cleantech industry.