Two set off to Israel in effort to lure clean-tech companies to Phila.

Randy Schulz and Brett Goldman will head to Tel Aviv next month to try to lure Israeli clean-technology companies to the Philadelphia region.

Enabling their trip is a collaboration among the state, a local economic-development marketing agency, and an airline in an effort unique enough that participants decided Monday to break the secrecy characteristic of such business scouting missions.

"We don't always broadcast what we're doing," said Tom Morr, president and chief executive of Select Greater Philadelphia, which markets the region elsewhere. "This was one case . . . we thought we ought to."

The $10,000 initiative started with a $3,407 Regional Investment Marketing Grant from Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development that Select Greater Philadelphia has matched.

US Airways has agreed to provide round-trip tickets for Schulz and Goldman to attend the highly regarded International Water, Renewable Energy, and Environmental Protection Trade Fair in Tel Aviv the week of Nov. 14.

Schulz and Goldman are associates at American Israel Business Lab, a business-development and marketing-services company that set up shop at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June to provide office space and other support to businesses looking to expand there or nearby.

"There's a significant gap between the needs of the foreign companies that want to locate in the region and the private-sector services that can help them do that," said Schulz, American Israel's general manager. "We're building a network of collaborators, both corporate and public, to provide support."

Morr said 70 percent of Select's active leads are from overseas companies, up from 55 percent in recent years. He attributed the increase to the European Union's economic turmoil.

Select helped recruit American Israel to the Navy Yard, he said, and is confident Schulz and Goldman will "represent the community well" at the clean-tech conference.

When they return, Morr said, "we'll get together and talk about follow-up."