The report is based on data conducted by IVC Research in preparation for the DLD Tel Aviv Innovation Festival taking place this week.

Tel Aviv Global is a municipal agency that manages various incentives for entrepreneurs setting up in the city.

The new report points out that the city has doubled the number of international R&D centers over the past five years from 35 in 2012 to 73 in 2017.

Well-known international companies that now having a tech presence in Tel Aviv include Visa, Renault-Nissan, Bosch, MasterCard, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, AOL, Samsung, Siemens, PayPal, Deutsche Telekom, Citibank, Intel, Yahoo, Barclays, IBM, and Apple.

These international R&D centers provide over 6,200 jobs, according to the report. The 2,000 total high-tech companies in Tel Aviv, moreover, constitute about a quarter of the number of companies in the high-tech sector in Israel overall.

What kind of high-tech companies open shop in Tel Aviv? It used to be more seed-stage companies, but that’s shifted to more R&D-stage companies.

“This shift in the composition of startups is evidence of a maturation of startups in the city and their progression from idea stage to a process of research and development,” Tel Aviv Global commented.

Tel Aviv’s interest in attracting more international R&D centers is key for the future of the entire industry. Tel Aviv Global CEO Eytan Schwartz said the agency is “working with our governmental partners on continuing the process of attracting international R&D centers; opening international accelerators; encouraging foreign entrepreneurs to work in the city; and promoting the activity of global corporations with an emphasis on Chinese companies.”

Tel Aviv Global isn’t the only organization that sees the value of Tel Aviv’s intense concentration of startups. The Virgin.com website called Tel Aviv “one of the world’s best startup hubs.”

(via Israel21c)

[Photo: Tomer Neuberg / Flash90]