Participants at the DLD Tel Aviv Digital Conference, Israel’s largest international high-tech gathering, held at the Old Train Station complex in Tel Aviv on Sept. 6, 2017. Photo: Miriam Alster/Flash90.

CTech – The Israel Innovation Authority, the government’s tech investment arm, will invest NIS 15 million ($4.3 million) to promote investments by Israeli institutional investors in Israel’s tech industry, the authority announced Wednesday. Under the program, Israeli institutional investors, including mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance companies, will be eligible for a grant of up to $1 million (approximately NIS 3.5 million) over the span of five years to establish a team of investors specializing in Israeli tech companies.

The goal of the investment is not to flood the local tech scene with additional money, but rather to build capabilities and new technologies that could eventually turn into new investments, Sagi Dagan, head of the growth division at Israel Innovation Authority, said in a Wednesday interview with Calcalist.

“There is a difference between long-term and short-term thinking. Institutionals won’t spill one billion dollars here in a year. We are all in euphoria today over the local tech scene, but it is also volatile, and I do not know if this volatility will manifest within a year or two,” he added.