"Only in 2020 will the Technion recover from the lost decade of the Israeli academy"

This is what the president of the Technion, Prof. Peretz Lavi, said at the opening of the 2016 session of the Curatorion (Board of Trustees) 

"Only in 2020 will the Technion recover from the lost decade of the Israeli academy," noted Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavi at the opening of the 2016 session of the Cortorion (the Technion's board of trustees). During the "lost decade" of the Israeli academy, the government made a sharp cut in university budgets, a move that harmed research And led to a steep decline in the number of faculty members." In the last four decades, Israel's population grew by 142%, the GNP grew by 98%, the number of students studying in universities jumped by 240%, and only the number of academic faculty members dropped by about 20%. At the Technion, the number of faculty members dropped from 642 in 2000 to 527 in 2010."

The president of the Technion warned that without academic research "Israel will lose its position at the forefront of technology and scientific research, therefore the main task facing the Technion in the coming years is the recruitment of new faculty members. In the last year, 32 new faculty members were recruited and in the last five years - 137 new faculty members, which make up 25% of the total number of faculty members at the Technion. In 2020, the young faculty members - those who have been at the Technion ten years or less - will make up 50% of the faculty members. In other words, it will be a new Technion. Meanwhile, we must take care of continuing to increase the number of women and the number of minorities in the Technion faculty."

Prof. Lavie added that despite the consequences of the lost decade, the Technion recorded an impressive jump in the amount of scientific publications - from 1,600 in 2000 to 2,900 in 2015.

Referring to future trends, Prof. Lavi noted that the fourth industrial revolution and the transformations it is expected to bring about in everyday life and the labor market, require special preparation in the fields of study and research. "According to various estimates, about half of the students who finish the first grade this year will in due course engage in professions that do not yet exist today, and the universities must prepare for this now."

This year, more than 200 representatives from around the world came to the courtroom seat - a record number of participants in its history - and they will participate in events that will last until this Wednesday. The Chairman of the Curatorium Lawrence (Larry) Jacqueir stated that the slogan of the Curatorium this year is "Technion without borders", referring to both the geographical aspect - the Technion as a global university - and demographically, that is, the wide variety of students at the Technion.

A new statue at the Technion

In the opening session it was also revealed that a new sculpture designed by Danny Karvan will be placed in the Technion. The sculpture, "Song of the Virtues", is an 18 meter high spiral stainless steel sculpture, designed by Karvan especially for the Technion. It will be placed in the square next to the new student dormitory buildings being built on campus.
Caravan, who received an honorary doctorate from the Technion in 2009, explains that he decided on the spiral shape of the sculpture "both because of the shape and because of what it symbolizes. In the heart of the spiral I placed four 'ladders' made of blue neon lines and together form a kind of scaffolding. I check the possibility that the light will go all the way up in them again and again. In addition, from the ends of the ladders, four laser beams should come out upwards." Led by Karvan, students from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion built a model of the statue, especially for the opening of the Cortorium events today. The model is displayed in the Taub Faculty of Computer Science building.
According to Prof. Gabi Goldschmidt from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the Technion, "This work is unique in the body of work of Karvan, most of his works are environmental and are not defined as sculptures. It is a great privilege for the Technion that on its campus a work of one of the most important artists working in Israel today will be placed."

Azilact: a scientific-medical breakthrough

The Cortorium events opened yesterday (Saturday night) with the festive reception of the Technion President Prof. Lavi and his wife Dr. Lina Lavi in ​​honor of the hundreds of participants. The event was attended by Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Technion Executive Committee Chairman Gideon Frank, Technion graduate entrepreneur Dr. Yossi Vardi, Molly Aden, formerly Senior Vice President of Intel Global and President of Intel Israel and currently Senior Advisor to Bank Hapoalim, CEO of the Medical Center Rambam Prof. Rafi Biar, Broadcom Vice President Dr. Shlomo Markel, 2015 Harvey Prize winners Professors Emmanuel Bloch and Mark Kirchner, businessman and philanthropist Norman Seiden, members of the Technion's management and executive committee, the Technion's presidents for generations, the deans of the faculties and many others.

At the center of the opening evening was a special honoring event for the developers of the "Azilact" drug for Parkinson's disease, Prof. Emeritus Musa Vihim and Prof. Emeritus John Feinberg. In the seventies, the two developed a drug called "rasagiline", which was found to be effective in preventing the death of neurons in the brain. This development led to the development of the drug "Azilact" by the Teva company. Erez Vigodman, President and CEO of Teva, sent the two a special letter of appreciation in which he wrote: "The event taking place tonight is appropriate, in its importance and prestige, for the magnitude of the achievement that you are celebrating. Prof. Vimim and Prof. Finberg, you should be proud of your work, which eased the suffering of many patients and gave good days to thousands of people living in the shadow of the disease. The success of drugs such as Azilact and Copaxone indicates the enormous potential inherent in courageous relations between academia and industry. Combining forces and focusing on the task before us gives us the power to change the course of history."

"Each university has its own hall of fame of groundbreaking research and significant discoveries. Azilect has a place of honor in the Technion's Hall of Fame," noted Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavi, who presented the two with a special certificate of appreciation from the Technion in recognition of their work.