【正文】
t of Israels hightech industry. HighTech Exports Israels first hightech exports were produced by defense industries such as the Israel Aircraft Industries and Rafael, as well as by defense industry subcontractors. These firms produced electronic defense products with advanced technologies, meant for use by the IDF. Demand for proven in battle products from Israel led to a developing export industry of defenserelated products. today this is still a relatively large percentage of hightech exports. Studies have shown that Ramp。 it even surpasses some Western European nations. In 1997, more than 250,000 personal puters were sold in Israel, pared to 102,000 sold in Egypt (with a population of some 60 million) and just under 300,000 in Turkey (with a population of some 65 million). Israel also leads the Middle East with the highest peration rate of PCs in private homes. There is a personal puter in nearly one out of two households, a ratio similar to that of the United States, Canada and a very few European and Far Eastern countries. In recent years, the education system has purchased tens of thousands of puters for use by students, from kindergarten through university age. Compared to other socalled hightech 39。 and exports (goods and services, 1996) of $ billion. Moreover, advanced technologies developed in Israel are in great demand, and many Israelideveloped applications can now be found in the products of multinational panies in the munications, puters, information systems, medicine, optics, consumer goods and software sectors. Origins The Israel hightech industry was born with the State of Israel. In 1948, the newlycreated Israel Defense Forces established a branch called the Science Corps. The corps developed new arms, explosives, and a variety of electric and electronic appliances for the IDF. Israels military industry developed at a rapid pace, meeting the countrys needs for armaments and technologies which it could not obtain from abroad. During the same period, Israel developed what were to bee the best institutions of education and scientific research in the Middle East. They include the TechnionIsrael Institute of Technology in Haifa, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and universities in Haifa, Beer Sheba, Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. In the early sixties, Israel entered the nuclear era with the establishment of two nuclear research plants. The first Israeli puter was developed and assembled in the early fifties at the Weizmann Institute. Golem (dummy) was an alltube puter, similar to the first puters developed in the US in the forties. In the late fifties and early sixties, there were already several mainframe puters in Israel, purchased from IBM and Philco. Those puters were used primarily by government ministries and institutions, universities and a number of banks. In the late sixties and early seventies, mainframe and mini puters perated the financial and business sectors. During the eighties, many Israelis acquired personal puters. The HighTech Industry One factor in the exceptional growth rate in this industry in recent years is Israels percentage of engineers, the worlds highest, with 135 engineers per 10,000 persons, as pared to 85 per 10,000 persons in the United States. Another factor has been the many thousands of skilled engineers and technicians who have immigrated from the former Soviet Union since 1989. Moreover, advanced technologies that were originally developed and utilized for military purposes are now being used for developing mercial products for civilian use. With the downsizing of Israels defense industry as a peace dividend thousands of skilled personnel have left the defense industry since 1988. Many of them were absorbed into the civilian marketplace, while others formed startup panies which later became successful hightech firms. The ongoing success of the Israeli hightech industry is re