Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) announced today that through its majority owned Israeli subsidiary, Nielsen Innovate Ltd., it has been awarded an Israeli government mandate to launch a technological incubator in Israel. Nielsen Innovate will be operated in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel and will nurture new businesses with a focus on marketing, consumer and advertising research technologies to fast track Nielsen’s innovation pipeline for the benefit of Nielsen’s clients worldwide.

Nielsen Innovate will be located in Israel’s Haifa region, a technology hotbed and the home of The Technion Israel Institute of Technology, one of the world’s leading science and engineering universities. Nielsen Innovate will be operated by Nielsen and Partam Hightech, an Israeli-based venture capital fund, where Nielsen has majority ownership. Through this Israeli government program, Nielsen Innovate will produce and fund new business ventures and bring them to market for Nielsen clients globally.

“We are delighted that the Israeli government granted us this award,” said Itzhak Fisher, executive vice president, Global Business Development at Nielsen. “With our presence in more than 100 countries, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to take great ideas, commercialize and globalize them.”

Nielsen announced the launch of NielsenLAB in Singapore in May, the first-of-its-kind innovation hub in Asia that develops technologies in neuroscience, shopper technology and measurement science, in alignment with the Singapore Economic Development Board’s focus on consumer insights. In early July, the Nielsen Innovation Lab was announced in the U.S., a program that will incorporate assets from across Nielsen with external resources – from clients, industry groups and academia – to enhance understanding of the value of advertising activities across media platforms.

“Nielsen Innovate is another important step in Nielsen’s innovation continuum,” said Fisher. “It further demonstrates Nielsen’s commitment to discovering, developing and delivering the latest and greatest innovations to our clients.”