American Israel Chamber of Commerce
of Minnesota and the Dakotas

An Update and an Historical Note:

The American Israel Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Minnesota Inc was established in 1982 by several prominent leaders of Minnesota Jewry and others in the broader community to promote greater levels of commercial and scientific collaborations between companies and institutions in Minnesota and their counterparts in Israel at a time when boycotts of Israel were in force in the Middle East and U.S. companies often felt obliged to conform to them.

The shorter version of our name was the American Israel Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota - known as AICCMN. We have now changed the name and will shortly re-incorporate as the American Israel Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota and the Dakotas Inc. to reflect our broader scope of activity in the Upper Midwest where for example there is much potential for collaboration in the fields of cyber security, UAVs/UAS (airborne drones), and in the realm of Med Tech. Our new acronym is AICCMNDAK. And the new website is www.AICCMNDAK.org .

Also we may in the future establish a trade style as the Israeli American Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota to conform to the general practice of many of the other bi-national chambers here in Minnesota that list the name of the foreign country first followed by the word ‘American’. That parallel phrasing convention may help to raise the visibility of the AICCMNDAK as there are five other bi-national chambers based here in Minnesota. While searching on the internet a person might expect to find an Israeli focused chamber here in the same styling framework as the person would have found for example the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota or the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota and the others.

Over the last thirty years since the Oslo Accords in 1993 and now the recent successes for normalization of trade relations resulting from the Abraham Accords in 2021 there are many examples of direct collaboration between Israel and the Far East, Europe, the U.S., and even the GCC nations of the Middle East. Major Minnesota companies such as 3M and Medtronic to name just two have active business and research programs in Israel.

The AICCMNDAK (or the Chamber) helps to promote collaboration for the $1 million BIRD Foundation grants for both business and academe. Please refer to the information found at www.BIRDF.com for an in depth understanding of the scope and process involved in making a grant application. The AICCMNDAK helps its members to find collaboration partners in Israel as well as helping Israeli companies and academic institutions to find collaboration partners in the Upper Midwest.

Please let us know if you’d like to learn more. We are a group of dedicated volunteers including several past presidents. Please feel free to contact us at www.AICCMNDAK.org or send an email message to Harlan@AICCMNDAK.org or call at 612 701 8153 or send an e-fax to 612 455 2215.

Our new website will include many of the testimonials and logos from our sponsors and those with whom we have achieved mutual goals and objectives. We also have a newsletter to bring interesting and informative developments to the attention of our members and community leaders. Please sign up by email.

Harlan T. Jacobs
Acting Executive Director
Past President 1992-1994
14 January 2022