This paper focuses on the role played by the Israeli military (IDF) in creating and sustaining the highly innovative Israeli software industry. The IDF is often credited with a large role in the creation and sustained success of the Israeli high-tech industry.
The paper analyze the activities and history of the IDF’s central computer unit, especially the School for Computer Related Professions, the main programming, software engineering, and computer users training unit in the IDF. I argue that while the IDF indeed helped the industry through skilled-labor creation and through fostering spin-offs, concentrating solely on those obscures the much more important role the IDF played in supplying a semi-public good.
