Israel is building a cross-government research network that will allow ministries to analyze each other’s data without exposing personal records, after the Finance Ministry and the National Digital Agency selected MDClone to operate the new system.
For more stories from The Media Line go to themedialine.org
The project, called RAKMA (Network for the Advancement of Data Science), is designed to solve a problem that has long limited government research: valuable datasets have been locked inside individual agencies, making it nearly impossible to study issues that cut across health, welfare, education, taxation, and infrastructure.
The new virtual research environment will link those silos through a secure, distributed platform where researchers can run joint analyses using synthetic, fully de-identified data.
Officials say the system will let data scientists examine complex national questions across multiple ministries while preserving strict privacy protections and information security controls. The platform is built to allow large-scale cross-referencing of sensitive public information without identifying individuals.
The tender stems from a 2022 partnership between Accountant General Yahli Rothenberg and National Digital Agency Director General Shira Lev Ami aimed at removing longstanding barriers to responsible data sharing across government. A special committee chaired by Senior Deputy Accountant General Evyatar Peretz, together with Lev Ami and Merav Peretz-Belinski, Deputy Director General for Data and Artificial Intelligence at the agency, oversaw the selection process.
Platform to revolutionize governmental data transfer
Rothenberg said the initiative changes how the government uses data. “We are building a national infrastructure that enables cross-government research and broader decision-making while fully safeguarding citizens’ privacy,” he said.
The move is central to improving public services, according to Lev Ami, who added: “Embedding data sharing as a core value across government, while maintaining public trust and high privacy standards, is critical to building a smarter and more effective public sector.”
Peretz-Belinsky said the challenge now shifts to implementation and measuring impact. He added that the project’s success will be judged by how it improves real research outcomes across ministries.
Officials expect the platform to support more coordinated, evidence-based policymaking as agencies begin working from shared, privacy-protected data rather than isolated information streams.