Israel needs to have a goal; to understand today's challenges Israel has to become one of the 15 leading countries in the world in regards to the quality of life within the next 15 years.

Israel's growth in the past years has been intoxicating; nevertheless Israel does not seem to be "a step up". If we examine the net income per capita from Israel in comparison with that of the US, it seems that in the first 20 years after Israel was established, Israel hurdled leaps and bounds and covered all the gaps she was facing as opposed to how the US handled theirs. Nevertheless now that Israel stares at its 7^th decade she does not seem to be progressing at all. In different countries, for example in Ireland, and in South Korea they are reducing their gaps as opposed to how the US and Europe are currently handling theirs.

The reason why it is more important for Israel to close her gaps then it is for the richer countries is due to the mobility of three resources: people, technology and investment. These three elements "choose" to which country they are going, and therefore countries must actively compete for them. The control over these elements is essential for the future of any country, and this should be our national target.

Although it is very difficult to examine the quality of life (it is a geographical and subjective matter) there is an affinity between net income per capita and quality of life. Today Israel stands at number 28 in the world. To bring her to the 15^th place means being able to parallel countries like Holland, Canada, Finland, Singapore and New Zealand.

We need to differentiate between growing and being a "step up". Growth is gradual change in Israel's production, it does not involve vision or branch cooperation; to jump a "step up" one needs all of these things, vision, branch cooperation, and a massive shift of resources. Every country achieves these issues in its own way.

If we examine countries that jumped a "step up" we can find a common denominator: first of all they developed a measurement for identifying growth like the "Herzelia Indices"; second, growth engines where identified; third, jumping a "step up" became a national project that every citizen was involved in. In addition we can se that every country had a clear vision, the ability to set a goal and work for it, and took advantage of their potential.

Israel needs to identify its national potential and take advantage of it. For example Israel does not take advantage of its economical potential that lies within the Jews of the Diaspora. Moreover cooperation between the private market and the public one is necessary for a project like this one.

When you look at the facts, Israel's macro outlook shows that Israel's problem does not lie in its economy but rather in its government: while the private market ranks in  the 10 leading countries of the world, the public one lies at the bottom, ranking only number 29. Only in Israel is the gap between these two factors so big.

Israel is the number one country for R&D, but when companies come to the decision of developing themselves within Israel, or selling to an international company, they usually sell, just to save from the enormous hassle of dealing with the government.

To summarize there will not be a "step up" if the subject does not become a "national obsession," the goal should be to turn Israel into one of the 15 leading countries of the world in the next 15 years.