Why have Israeli scientists won so many ERC grants? On 22 April a delegation from the European Union visited Israel to celebrate 25 years of research and innovation (R&I) collaboration. The event, attended by European ambassadors, Israeli government officials and R&I stakeholders, marked a quarter century of growing R&I ties that started when Israel became associated to the Fourth EU Framework Programme for Research in 1996. “Since then, about 5,000 research contracts [have been] signed as a part of Israeli participation and more than 6,000 participants and about 1,000 SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises] have joined the cooperation in these projects with a total support from the EU of €2.5 billion [US$3 billion],” Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission Signe Ratso said in a message screened at the event.