Speaking in Parliament, Moedas, said, "Israel's key to success is the fact that Israel's science is characterised by pioneering innovation.
"Israel's successful innovation eco system represents an inspiration and highly relevant example to look at when designing our EU research and innovation policies."
He added, "We in the EU are very impressed by the great success of Israel and believe we have much to learn from Israel in this respect.
"Like Israel, we need to do more at EU level to convert more of start-ups into innovative scale ups which will deliver the prosperity and jobs of tomorrow. We are looking forward to Israel's valuable experience in areas such as science education and personalised medicine."
The official was a keynote speaker at a meeting on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of EU-Israel cooperation in science.
The meeting also heard that the development of smartphone plug-ins for an early detection of cancer, new possibilities to enhance the quality of fresh grocery products, intensifying water-oriented research and innovation, or visualising the universe through quantum physics in the laboratory are examples of over 3000 research projects that, in the past two decades, have resulted from the European-Israeli cooperation.
Initiated in 1997, this partnership is one of the oldest and one of the most successful partnerships in Europe.
"It is a lively and inspiring dialogue, which especially points the way towards peace, reliability, and friendship. The cooperation in research is a significant addition to classic political instruments like diplomacy and foreign policy.
"It leads to tangible results, simplifies the exchange of knowledge and the teamwork between citizens of Israel and Europe," said Christian Ehler, the EPP group spokesperson on research policy and member of the industry, research, and energy committee in the Parliament.
The high-ranking conference, '20 Years of Research and Innovation Partnership' was the initiative of both Moedas and the Mission of Israel to the EU and Nato, together with members of the EPP, ALDE, and S&D groups.
Moedas, who opened the meeting, said, "Israeli research and innovation projects that have been developed in coordination with the European Union forge lifelong-enduring relationships between like-minded scientists and innovators. These projects lead the way to solving imminent societal challenges. This essentially is a win-win situation for both Israel and Europe."
A next step towards even closer cooperation and, most importantly, towards concrete results will be building bridges between the EIT and PRIMA, the largest research and innovation program for the Mediterranean.
Ehler said, "PRIMA is the future of our collaboration. The project will tackle major challenges that Israeli and European citizens face, such as food and water resources, it will deepen our cooperation, and it will bind us together through successful teamwork."