The project to transform Mitzpe Ramon into Israel's official "space city" is underway, with a cumulative investment of approximately 100 million shekels. Creation-Space is leading the move, which aims to transform Mitzpe Ramon into the largest civilian space ecosystem in Israel, including a technology campus with a control room for space missions, laboratories simulating Mars conditions, acceleration programs for startups, and international academic research.
Alongside NVIDIA as a technology partner, the investment is backed by a number of government, philanthropic and private entities, including the Jewish National Fund USA, the Mirage Foundation, CreationsVC, the Growth Directorate and the Investment Authority at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, as well as the Innovation Authority and the Israel Space Agency, which operate under the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
The project, which received state grants and a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA, will include a campus containing an R&D laboratory and a control room for monitoring payload launches and managing space missions, simulation laboratories that simulate Mars conditions, acceleration programs for startups, and international academic research. Over the past two years, the growth manager has accompanied the project from the preliminary research stages to its maturity, as part of a strategic move to transform the Negev into an ecosystem for developing the defense and aerospace cluster.
The global space industry has undergone a significant revolution in recent decades. From a field previously dominated by government agencies alone, it is transforming into a vibrant business market that includes robotics, energy, and materials. In this reality, the key to success is technology that has proven its suitability for extreme conditions – even before it leaves the ground.
This is where Mitzpe Ramon's unique advantage comes in: being the most isolated town in Israel, and its natural environment with many analogies to extreme environments on the Moon and Mars, make it a natural and accessible "space laboratory." The "Space City" project will enable the development of technologies with "double value" – solutions that address the pressing needs of the Earth, and the needs of the emerging markets surrounding activity in extreme environments in space.
The launch of "Space City" relies on significant economic strength and trust from state bodies, philanthropy and the private market. The project benefits from private investments, philanthropic investments, assistance from the Investment Authority and winning strategic government tenders from the Growth Directorate, the Innovation Authority and the Israel Space Agency, totaling approximately 100 million shekels.
Space City is a joint venture led by Creation-Space, in collaboration with the Mitzpe Ramon Local Council, JNF-USA, the Mirage Foundation, and the American investment fund CreationsVC.
The third round of the EXPAND acceleration program is currently underway in Mitzpe Ramon, which includes investment commitments of $3 million each year to Israeli startups from the CreationsVC Foundation, combined with a professional envelope from the NVIDIA Inception program. The program also partners with the Mirage Israel Foundation, JNF-USA, the McNess Foundation of the Jewish Federation of Metro-West New Jersey, the Dezer-Tech Innovation Center, Synergy7, 8200 Architects, PwC, the Dead Sea-Arava R&D Center, the Meitar Law Firm, and the Mitzpe Ramon Local Council.
Minister of Economy and Industry, MK Nir Barkat, said: "The inauguration of the campus is a historic and exciting moment for the Negev, which is part of a much larger puzzle that we at the Ministry of Economy and Industry are building for growth in the State of Israel and the Negev in particular. The Ministry of Economy and Industry, under my leadership, led an investment of over 14 million shekels in the project, and together with Creation-Space, we are today bringing tremendous news of groundbreaking innovation and local pride. Through the Growth Directorate and the Investment Authority and while implementing the regional cluster model, we are turning Mitzpe Ramon's comparative advantage into a tremendous economic growth driver. This move could not have happened without the strategic vision and in-depth process that we led in the ministry over the past three years, laying infrastructure for growth and investing hundreds of millions of shekels in the comparative advantages of the State of Israel."
Elia Winter, head of the Mitzpe Ramon Council, said: "I congratulate Creation-Space and thank the Innovation Authority, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and my friends Minister Nir Barkat and Minister Gila Gamliel for helping to make Mitzpe Ramon not only Israel's space city, but Israel's gateway to space."
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