The Technion
In the photo (from right to left): Alfred Mann, his wife Claude and the president of the Technion, Professor Yitzhak Apluig.
The entrepreneur and philanthropist Alfred Mann signed an agreement at the end of last week for the establishment of a research institute in life sciences and biomedical engineering at the Technion, with fund funds of one hundred million dollars. The contract was signed by Mr. Mann, the Technion and the Association of Technion Applicants in the USA (ATS), at the association's office in Manhattan.
The Technion is the first university outside the US chosen by Mann to be part of his vision - the establishment of 12 Alfred Mann Institutes in the world's leading research centers. So far, only one institute has been established - at the University of Southern California; The establishment of two additional institutes is in advanced discussions.
According to the current agreement, Mr. Mann will transfer to the Technion an initial sum of 4 million dollars, for the benefit of the current expenses of the new institute in the next two years. In the future, millions of dollars will be transferred to the Technion every year, from a fund amounting to one hundred million dollars that was established for this purpose.
The Alfred Mann donation is one of the largest donations ever awarded to an Israeli institution of higher education. Mr. Mann said that the Technion's status as a leading global institution in scientific research, and its high academic ranking, were key considerations in his decision.
"The interdisciplinary nature of the Technion will enable a combination that is not possible in most universities - a combination of biomedicine and science with engineering and technology," he emphasized. "I have no doubt that this emphasis will make the institute a leading body in the field, and a place that can help cure the diseases from which humanity suffers."
12 members of the board of directors were elected to head the institute, appointing the five technical representatives in the institute; Six members of the board of directors were appointed by Mann (who will serve as chairman); Another friend is the ATS man. The institute will operate under the management of Dr. Zeev Gilkis, who was the investment manager of the Combers Investments venture capital fund.
"The foundation of the institute expresses a recognition of the Technion's power and its inherent potential for innovation and important scientific and medical developments," said Technion President Professor Yitzhak Apluig. "This step will significantly increase our ability to translate the knowledge and research originating at the Technion into products that will provide an answer to medical needs for which an adequate answer has not yet been found. We believe that the Alfred Mann Institute will be a basis for the foundation of many successful companies."
The agreement will give the Alfred Mann Institute full access to information about the Technion's intellectual property in the fields included under the institute's umbrella. The institute - which will work for the development of medical devices, medicines and processes for the production of medicines with the aim of improving the health of humanity and its well-being - will also have the right to develop and commercialize the same property.
"Al Mann's contribution to science and medicine is well known," said ATS Acting Vice President Melvin Blum. "We had the great privilege of being part of the process of turning the Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion from a vision into a reality."
Alfred Mann is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Alfred Mann Foundation, founded in 1985, and of the Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. The foundation and the institute are non-profit research institutions that dedicate themselves to the development and promotion of medical products in a wide variety of fields.
Mann is Chairman and CEO of MannKind Corporation and Advanced Bionics® Corporation; Chairman of the following companies: Second Sight, LLC, Bioness, AlleCure Corporation, Quallion, Implantable Acoustics; and former chairman of Pacesetter® System and MiniMed. All these companies were founded by Alfred Mann.
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