The delegation will arrive at the Nano-Israel 2012 conference that will be held this month in Tel Aviv (on March 26-27), to examine possibilities for cooperation and information exchange
After a financial protocol worth over a billion shekels was signed about two weeks ago for the export of Israeli water technologies to China, the Chinese are now targeting the field of nanotechnology in Israel: a high-level Chinese delegation will arrive at the Nano Israel 2012 conference that will be held this month in Tel Aviv (on March 26-27), To examine cooperation and information exchange options. The delegation, headed by Prof. Chunli Bai, president of the Chinese National Academy of Sciences (CAS) and a world-renowned nano researcher, expresses interest in cooperation with Israeli academic and government bodies, in the fields of nano. Among the members of the delegation will also be representatives of the Chinese space industry, who will come to hear Haim Russo from Elbit, Dan Ziv from Plsan, Prof. Leah Bam from the aerospace industry, and Dr. Ami Debrat from Rafael, on the issues of the uses of nano in the defense industry, in space and on the battlefield.
CAS is an academic institution specializing in development in the fields of science and technology in China, which also serves as a body that advises the Chinese government authorities in decisions involving the fields of science and technology. As a central part of its activity in recent years, CAS has devoted great importance to international collaborations.
"Asia is a rising power in the field of nano and China is a good example of this," says Nava Seversky-Sofer, an international consultant in the field of technology commercialization and co-chair of the Nano conference. "The very honorable delegation that will arrive from China and take an active part in the conference, will even dedicate two days the next day to the 'Israel-China Conference', a satellite activity of the main conference, during which they will meet with representatives of academia and industry. You have to remember," says Seversky-Sofer, "that China and India are huge markets, many times the size of the US markets. These are countries whose development is accelerating, and which have decided at the governmental level to advance and specialize in the fields of science and technology. Nanotechnology, which is seen as a young science, only benefits from this situation. Israeli researchers and companies are now looking eastward, both at the scientific level and at the level of business collaborations."
According to Prof. Rashef Tana, from the Weizmann Institute, and the chairman of the scientific committee of "Nano-Israel 2012", China has been investing a lot of resources in recent years in the fields of nano. "In China, the field is seen as a direction with great potential and it is a national priority there. From my visits to China and meetings with researchers and industry people, it is clear to me that they are aligning themselves - and quickly - with many western developed countries, when they see Israel and its research and industry in the fields of nano as a model for evaluation and imitation." The delegation will be officially hosted by Prof. Ruth Arnon, President of the National Academy of Science and Prof. Haim Gerti, Vice President of the Weizmann Institute.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Yuval Steinitz, signed about a week ago in Beijing with the Chinese Minister of Finance, Xia Shu Ran, a financial protocol in the amount of over one billion shekels. The Chinese Minister of Finance, Xia Shu Ran, said at the signing ceremony that China is very satisfied with the economic cooperation with Israel and that they are now examining how to further promote the scope of trade between the two countries in the future. "The economic relations between Israel and China are growing and growing rapidly to our satisfaction and we intend to take further steps to strengthen this trend. The implementation of many projects in the field of technology, in which Israeli companies are involved, are very important for our economic relations."
