In 2014, California and Israel entered into an applied research and development partnership to drive innovation across a range of sectors, create value for both economies and become a catalyst for partnerships with developing economies. This session will review a recent report by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute. The report, Silicon Valley to Silicon Wadi: California's Economic Ties with Israel, concludes that while cooperation led to new opportunities during the past eight years, neither government funded the MOU and that "strengthening these exchanges calls for a deeper level of investment, and consideration should be given to broad-based funding for a widened range of cooperative initiatives that can advance California-Israel research and technology agenda and potentially produce deeper benefits for both sides." Public funding blended with private initiatives would drive a joint research and technology agenda to accelerate impact on global challenges. We shall discuss next steps for this program.