Many ministries of the Israeli government have a chief scientist. However, their roles, reporting structures, modes of operations, impact, and backgrounds differ greatly of each other.
In 2021 we were requested by the Israeli National Council for R&D (MOLMOP) to assess the roles of chief scientists of the government ministries, including comparison to other countries.
In our study, we highlighted the differences between “science for policy” and “policy for science”, described how those were handled in countries like the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland, and provided specific recommendations.
We presented the report to the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology (who chairs the forum of all government chief scientists), as well as to the forum of Chief Scientists.