This is according to the data of the National Committee for Nanotechnology - INNI, which summarizes five years of support for nanotechnology as a national project, in preparation for the opening of the Israel Nano Conference today in Tel Aviv
According to the data of the National Committee for Nanotechnology - INNI, collected in preparation for the Israel Nano Conference 2012, which will open tomorrow, in the five years that have passed since the field of nanotechnology was declared a national priority project, the industry has recorded considerable achievements, among them: the absorption of new immigrant scientists, success stories of young companies , hundreds of patents registered in the field and hundreds of successful collaborations between academia and industry. In light of the success of the program, it was decided in the relevant government offices to continue funding the program for another five years. The Nano-Israel conference will open tomorrow (Monday, March 26) at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv, with the speech of the country's president, Shimon Peres, in the presence of 1500 participants from Israel and the world.
According to Dan Wilensky, a member of the committee, 88 world-renowned scientists from nano-related fields immigrated to Israel in the last five years and were accepted as faculty members at the various universities. The financial aspects are also impressive: 101 million dollars were invested in the last five years in basic equipment, this is in addition to 45 million dollars invested in new infrastructures and facilities. During these years, 625 collaborations were carried out between the Israeli Academy and Industry (local and foreign), 170 "success stories" were registered in the form of new start-up companies and licensed patents, and 704 patents were submitted for registration.
In 2007, it was decided to establish the nano field in Israel as a national priority project whose mission is to establish the research and physical infrastructure in the universities where the research will be carried out on which the industry based on nanotechnology in Israel will be built. A program was established that was managed by the chief scientist at the Ministry of Science and Technology, the head of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the chief scientist at the Ministry of Science and Technology, based on triple support, from the government (one third), university sources (one third) and donations (one third). The government support comes from the budgets of the program managers and the Ministry of Finance.
With the beginning of the implementation of the program, six nano centers were established in the "Area", as part of the universities. According to INNI data, after five years of activity, the number of junior scientists in the field (including post-doctorates) is 320. The number of doctoral students is approximately 800 and the number of master's degree students is over 900 people. In these years, over 6000 scientific articles were published and about 1170 of them resulted from inter-university collaboration.
"I believe we are on the right path to make Israel a leading nanotechnology powerhouse," says Wilensky. "The achievements of the program prove: that the scientific infrastructure existing in the academy constitutes an impressive potential for the establishment of an industry based on nanotechnology. When a national program is managed according to high management standards, the result is an efficient use of public funds and cooperation between government ministries, academia and industry, which yields an outstanding return on investment."
In light of the program's achievements in the first five years, the government ministries - the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (the Ministry of the Chief Scientist), the Ministry of Finance, Science and Technology, and the Treasury - decided to continue funding the program for another five years, when the weight will change from a program designed to build the research-applied infrastructure in nanoscience and technology The academy and industry will be based on it, for a program that is more focused on R&D that can be applied industrially within a reasonable time.
In addition, in order to speed up the establishment of industrial activity based on nanotechnology, the nano centers at the universities began to employ industrialists/entrepreneurs, whose role it is to identify the opportunities that develop in the nano centers in the initial stages, to identify strategic partners and to place them in the industry.
The "Nano-Israel 2012" conference and the related exhibition will focus this year on innovations and business opportunities in the fields of energy, water, environment, nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, nanophotonics, nanobio and nanomedicine. The event (which will be held between March 26 and 27, 2012 at the David Intercontinental Hotel in Tel Aviv) is expected to attract 1500 participants from Israel and the world, including venture capitalists, private funds, institutional and corporate investors, regulatory, technology and development personnel, government decision makers, as well as Academics, scientists and researchers.
"Nano-Israel 2012" was held in collaboration with INNI - the Israeli National Nanotechnology Initiative - and the nanotechnology centers at the various universities and was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Website: http://www.kenes.com/nano
One response
Well done to all the scientists who bring home
It is clear that every shekel "wasted" on them will return much more later, there is no doubt, but..
I would be happy if there was some program where each of the returning scientists would dedicate a month or two a year to help schools in the periphery and Arab villages