The three-year report of the Academy of Sciences was submitted to the Science and Technology Committee and reveals large gaps in investment in science and research compared to the countries of the world, the danger of the disappearance of nuclear physics research and the deterioration from 1st place to 30th place in the ranking of scientific publications and the inevitable closing of humanities departments - among the findings of the report "H. Across the street, representatives of the Treasury and the Council for Higher Education presented a NIS 12 billion budget plan for 6 years
The Israel National Academy of Sciences submitted yesterday (Monday) to the Science and Technology Committee the "Report on the State of Science in Israel" - 2016/XNUMX. The three-year report summarizing the picture of the state of science in Israel in the sectors of national infrastructure, humanities and social sciences, research, academia and universities .
At the beginning of the discussion, the chairman of the committee, MK Uri Makalev, blessed Dr. Meir Zadok, the outgoing CEO of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, and even awarded him a prize for his work for Israeli science in general and his cooperation with him in the committee in particular.
MK Makleb: "This is a very important document that reflects what exists, what we can do and what needs to be done. The goal is the future, the report indicates the gap that exists and is well known to us between the capabilities and human capital we have and the implementation, investment and resources we allocate for this. There is a very large gap both in relation to our needs and in comparison to other places. The crisis in the humanities also speaks volumes, a field that has almost disappeared. There is something to be done, it needs to be done and our job is to act."
Prof. Neely Cohen, president of the academy: "We see that there are achievements but also needs and gaps. Simultaneously with the writing of the report and the commission on the 6-year budget plan. The program is an achievement for research. As for the humanities, they are in our soul. It is unthinkable that central research areas of Judaism and knowledge of the history of neighboring countries will disappear."
MK Yael Cohen Faran: "On the one hand, we have a lot of foreigners that we like to interweave for ourselves, but we have to remember that they are based on past investments. The report may not be firm enough, we need to invest a lot more in order to have a continuation, otherwise there will be no one sitting here in the room, certainly not in the status that exists today. The humanities is a catastrophe, we must solve it, if we lose it then where is the book?"
Later in the discussion, the report was presented by Professor Rashef Tana from the Weizmann Institute, who headed the committee that prepared the report.
The authors presented many achievements to the Israeli academy and its researchers over the years, including a series of awards in all fields, centered on the Nobel Prizes. In addition, there is an impressive increase in the participation of women in graduate studies.
On the other hand, the report pointed to growing gaps between the State of Israel and the rest of the advanced countries of the world when it comes to investment in the fields of science and research and the expensive infrastructures they require. Among other things, the report shows that there is a particularly high reliance in Israel (50 percent) on collaborations and that there has been a slowdown in the increase in the number of PhD students for about a decade.
The report also points to a drastic decrease in investment in research and development in higher education, as well as the danger of the disappearance of nuclear physics research in Israel at a time when, within 3 decades, there are only 5 academic faculty members left in Israel, compared to 40 faculty members in the 80s. In addition, the report shows a decrease from first place in the number of scientific publications per capita in the 80s, to 30th place today, as well as a decrease in the quality of Israeli publications.
According to Prof. Tana, there are deficiencies in national infrastructures. "The committee pointed out our difficulty in the State of Israel in obtaining funds for the purchase of expensive equipment required in the natural sciences, medical engineering and even in the humanities and social sciences, the price of which is 3-30 million dollars and which fall under the framework of the large facilities that the state does not finance today, which requires the researchers in these fields to use infrastructures abroad . As an example of this, Prof. Tana provided his research that requires a state-of-the-art microscope that costs 12 million dollars, which today allows one to see each and every atom in the crystal and to identify the exact chemical element that is seen in the image, which is essential for advanced research in nanotechnology. There is no such microscope in Israel and I am forced to carry out the research abroad.
Another important issue is translational research - that is, turning academic developments into industrial applications (so far called the commercialization of AB technologies), which he says should be encouraged. As an example, he provided the drug Copaxone developed by Prof. Ruth Arnon and Prof. Michael Sela, which is commercialized by Teva and sells for billions of dollars per year, Mobileye, which was founded by Prof. Amnon Shashua from the Hebrew University based on his research and today is a world leader in the field of autonomous vehicles. "If the transfer of knowledge created in universities takes years and even decades until it matures into a product, today there is applied research on a large scale in colleges, however, while universities have enough funds to establish commercializing companies, colleges do not have this ability, and neither does Rosetta, which was established as a government initiative to leverage the developed technologies In all the colleges, it was not able to take off, which is a shame because the knowledge in the colleges is much closer to implementation."
Building databases and big data for the humanities
In the field of the humanities, the report points to a great danger for the future of the humanities, when there is no escape from the unification of some fields in Israel. Government support is requested for a methodological infrastructure for the purpose of collecting large data bases on society and politics in Israel; This is through regular and ongoing surveys and metrics. Public opinion studies, social values and participation, the democracy index and social inequality index - INES U Political studies such as the Israeli election study. An important rapidly developing field, which deserves to be included in the program, is the systematic research utilization of large data files obtained from the daily activities of users from among the public in electronic systems, in all areas of life.
On the side of the recommendations, the Academy called in the field of national infrastructures, to establish a program to finance scientific research infrastructures that will provide a solution to the extent of up to NIS 100 million per year. When the emphasis is on research equipment with a particularly high cost.
Professor Tana presented that aside from international collaborations, the Binational Fund as it exists today does not allow Israel to increase ties with researchers in the US, and thus the report recommends adding up to 16 million dollars per year to expand scientific ties between Israel and the US.
MK Manuel Trachtenberg: "We also need to deepen the relationship with the academia in China and India, which invest a lot in the fields of science and research."
Peretz Vezan, Director General of the Ministry of Science: "The Indians have a great desire to strengthen cooperation in all scientific fields. We have a huge demand."
MK Makleb: "We hear about 50 percent cooperation in publications in the face of boycotts by various parties in academia, this is a statement that these boycotts will not affect research and science in Israel, science speaks a uniform language and politics is on the sidelines."
Professor Benjamin Giger, chairman of the National Science Foundation's management: "The foundation's budget has doubled and is over NIS 600 million, which has led to a very large jump. There are special programs with China, India, Canada and other policies. At the same time, compared to the USA, the investment there is twice as much."
Dr. Liat Maoz, VP of Strategy at Botafogoan: "After a year of intensive negotiations with the Treasury, last September a 6-year plan with a forward-looking view was approved. NIS 7 billion will be added, with the budget at the end of the period amounting to NIS 12 billion. These are significant amounts that can be used to plan ahead. Something of enormous importance."
Shlomo Pashkos, Budget Division at the Ministry of Finance: "The Treasury sees a clear connection between investment in academia and growth in the economy. About two billion shekels were allocated annually for research needs over 6 years. Besides that, as long as the universities do not find the humanities degrees relevant to the job market and not only to teaching, the flight of students will continue."
The Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Science, Professor Alexander Blay: "I agree with those who are concerned about the state of the infrastructure, the recipients of the Nobel Prizes in 30 years will already have to sit in the laboratories and I am not sure that the existing laboratories are suitable and appropriate. Along with this, we will be happy to initiate a joint fund with the Academy to encourage humanities".
Dr. Meir Zadok, outgoing CEO of the academy: "We in the academic system need a backbone, we don't know how to get along with the political system. Our work is professional, I see the roles of the members of the Knesset as ambassadors for this matter."
The chairman of the committee summarized the discussion: "The authors of the report were without a doubt subtle. We can't just rest on the laurels and recognition, otherwise we'll be left without this and without that. We must invest in budgets, infrastructure and human capital. We welcome the 6 year plan and hope we are headed for better years. We will hold follow-up discussions in an effort to give the necessary support to science and research."
29 תגובות
Only the Likud will come to save us - with the help of God and Rabbi Ovadia we will defeat all the Gentiles
If there is no kernel we will throw this pistachio at them
All the mumbo-jumbo of the nuclear scientists doesn't matter - it's small and you don't see it at all
Leave the university - real estate is the hit - shopping malls and towers for the rich instead of beaches
Long live the State of Israel - and anyone who claims otherwise is a Hamasnik or worse... a leftist!!!
to the death of the move
(Perhaps it is advisable to give yourself a simple Hebrew nickname so that you can be addressed easily?)
If you offer a starting salary of NIS 50,000 per month - you will immediately get all the young minds in the country. - and that means zero articles by young people new to science in general.
This thing is happening before our eyes. The salary that high tech companies give is one that draws most of the new minds to it.
It wasn't always like that. When I was young, the salary of hi-tech workers was quite high relative to the market, but only about half of what it is today. (I started with a salary of $1000 and it grew quite quickly to $3000. Today $3000 is almost a starting salary).
my father
How exactly do you think people are directed towards this or that industry?
Do you understand that in the same way they can be directed towards other areas of academic research?
Do you understand that this is a question of financial investment on the part of the state?
In my opinion, the reason is that too many high-quality people are directed to the smartphone application industry, which today is called "high-tech" for some reason.
Haimf
I try not to be drawn in... but it is impossible not to answer you. Or rather - to ask you: are you saying this because Trump defeated the corrupt delusional?
Or are you saying this to show off your son who earned NIS 27 over two or three years in high tech (while drafting a code that defines how to bypass the smartphone settings in order to push advertisements, of the entities that work with your son's employer)?
Or you just wanted to say that your son is a gifted mind. Therefore there are no articles on physics in Israel.
?
And maybe you're saying that because the mountains of butter melted on your head?
: )
In any case, it is not clear what you wanted to say, but what you said cannot be linked to the content of the article. Because there is no connection.
(So your son is greedy... what does the lack of articles in physics have to do with it? It has nothing to do with it. And the talented minds don't go to high tech, but go to places where their skills will be expressed. Maybe because your child sticks his face in a smartphone all day or plays on the computer all day and as a result From this he learned any skills in the field, so they accepted him to some hi-tech company. There are too many people like your son, Chaim P, and too few people who will study physics and really pull the world forward after them).
So why has the amount of scientific articles decreased?
The possibility of all the talented minds being pumped into high-tech or research institutes abroad should be checked.
And why is it less noticeable in other countries?
Because Israel is a high-tech power that all its brains are there. Anyone with a brain who is located by the placement companies is tempted by a salary that cannot be refused. So why should he study physics?
One of my sons started his first job in computers with a salary of 27000 per month. Suppose he is gifted in physics. Because of the salary, his chances and those of his peers to engage in science are small.
(It's a shame that there are some commenters here who think it's a talkback site for politically insane people. And other, wise commenters, let them drag them into this mud pool they love to wallow in so much)
"...convictions" - wow..
: )
Eric,
You are arguing with a person who insists that his brain is a muscle (I'm not kidding, that's what he claims 🙂 ) If I were you, I wouldn't have too high expectations.
Mr. 'Anonymous' Alek..
You're such a jerk, that's an understatement. However, the main problem is not stupidity, but convictions.
By the way, if you didn't know, the addition "... and democratic" - is at the request of the American government... dumbass.
Harik "Marx-Engels": Oh!
'anonymous'
Maybe it's your pink dream, that there won't be a democratic country here.. on your nose and your face, stupid!
Harik
The right does not know how to win? 🙂 What is this, the dying shivers of the left coming out of your holes?
Funnier was your words: "a democratic country"... 🙂 🙂
This is a Jewish country.
You leftist idiot.
anonymous
It's not the "traitors" - right-wing racists like you.
It's the extreme "rights" - who don't know how to really win, and bring about a change that benefits everyone, but only to whine and pick a fight (or just drool with foam at the mouth.. ).. for the simple reason that your ideology is crooked and doesn't fit the honest world. It's that simple. But you won't understand because that's how you were born or raised
Come on, stop slandering the country and get out of here and leave the democratic country to the normals (rightists or leftists)
You can take yourself and fly from here..
anonymous
It's not the "traitors" - right-wing racists like you.
It's the extreme "rights" - who don't know how to really win, and bring about a change that benefits everyone, but only to whine and pick a fight (or just drool with foam at the mouth.. ).. for the simple reason that your ideology is crooked and doesn't fit the honest world. It's that simple. But you won't understand because that's how you were born or raised
Come on, stop slandering the country and get out of here and leave the democratic country to the normals (rightists or leftists)
You can take yourself and fly from here..
Zvika
It's not the "baboons" who won - racist leftists like you.
It's the "leftists" - who don't know how to win.. for the simple reason that your ideology is crooked and doesn't fit the honest world. It's that simple. But you won't understand because you were born that way.
Come on, stop slandering the state and get out of here and leave the Jewish state to the Jews.
You can take Yossi "the logical genius" with you on the same plane.
Joseph,
Unfortunately, you are fighting a losing battle.
You bring orderly claims, logically constructed and with plenty of examples.
And as an answer you get unrelated slogans and without any logical argument except to throw insults at the "Left".
We have already lost this battle. The Boers have taken over the land and are doing as they please. Save your words of wisdom for those who want to listen and wait.
I, for example, will not respond to any baboon that jumps on my response. He has already "won" and removed me from what I was once proud to call my country. When his victory is complete, and everyone in their right mind will run away, only then will he realize that it was a Pyrrhic victory.
Joseph
What are you, were you born yesterday?
Are you not aware that your opinions are determined by the capitalists?
In recent years, the left-wing elite controls the media and dictates to those who do not have an opinion - their opinion.
All this is going to change in the near future (starting on January 20th 🙂)
By the way, the same Landau you mentioned worked with my late grandfather. My grandfather was chief engineer and Landau and several other engineering scientists worked under him. A brilliant man.
I do not accept my incitement, for example, against another faction. This form of incitement has become characteristic. And it doesn't matter what nonsense he said - he may be saying nonsense. I don't care if he is left-wing or right-wing - what does that have to do with scientific thinking. I also do not accept the filtering of the answers done here for things that are not too bold, but irritate some readers.
For example, that without the humanities scientists can grow who are capable of doing bad things to others, for example that one of the world's leading scientists from Israel is an Arab. Until recently, the site was free for a variety of opinions. Lately - content has been filtered that is a criticism of what we are becoming: rhinoceroses. It also became a political matter - if you have broader horizons you are a leftist and a traitor even if you are right-wing like Benny Begin and Reuven Rivlin. There is no doubt that such a process can collapse the magnificent scientific branch that grew in this small country. It is not fundamentally different from what was done in the Soviet Union in the past. If you are a scientist or an artist you should be politically affiliated with the party. In this way, the best scientists were filtered out: Sakharov, Liv Davidovich Landau. Smart scientists like Pontreygin tried to prevent Russian Jewish scientists from receiving awards from the US - purely ego matters.
Joseph
Precisely from the responses of at least one of the commenters here on the website (names are not important - but he claims to be a type of scientist who works with surgeons...) - it is easy to understand why the country has deteriorated to such a level... 'Thanks' to a crooked and leftist education like him....
Philosophy, history and literature - the humanities, this is the cradle of Western culture. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Our prophets in the same row, Spinoza, Rambam (Teacher of the perplexed).
At the head of the massacre that exterminated 1.5 million Jews in Europe was Dr. Yam. Mangala was Dr. Without the humanities scientists can commit crimes and be exemplary family men and they won't have a light bulb. An entire nation can silently support the commission of genocide. Yeshayahu Leibovitz according to what is said here is unnecessary, a Hebrew encyclopedia was unnecessary,
Yehezkel Kuipman's books "The History of the Israeli Faith" and "Exile and Distinct" from 1961 which succeeded in changing the dominant world view from the Wallhuizen school to the Kuipman Wallhuizen schools: the Israeli faith was a single process in ancient history - all this is unnecessary. Bialik Agnon AB Yehoshua Amos Oz Yehoshua Kenz Chaim Gori Sabtai Tevet Hiruki Murakami are redundant. The world is going global where education is an international language. Not just an education with a certificate, Zvi Yanai - an important award is named after him. No matter who you are, you are understood.
Because of comments like you are always right - we will become a herd of unwise people without insulting.
The truth is that I'm quite afraid to say what I think. It will be dangerous to express much less left-wing opinions in the country.
This is probably the saddest and most important news that has ever been published here.
Again the question arises which is better:
"Tails to lions or heads to foxes"?
When my parents arrived in Israel, the "people of the book" were considered the people of the wise
A situation that caused a lot of antagonism
And maybe it is partly a source of anti-Semitism,
It turns out that we are increasingly outmaneuvering the geographical environment
More and more the pursuit of knowledge and science become beliefs and religion,
If in the past it was acceptable in Jewish society to promote scholars in all fields
After all, nowadays the promotion is getting reduced to limited areas
And the result is that in each generation the number of ignorant people increases,
It was clear to my parents' generation that we aspire to be like the Europeans
Today, the desire for the cultural, social, and educational "East" is increasing,
Again and again surveys are published that compare us to the West
It's time for pollsters to understand that geography and the origin of the residents
brings us closer to the stern of the "Mizrah",
It turns out that we didn't just leave the Lions group
But we are getting close behind the foxes.
The humanities don't add anything to us, I don't understand why they are even called "sciences" there is no need for this group of quacks
The academy, especially in the humanities, has long since become a hotbed for lecturers whose only interest is to eliminate Israel.
Only good will happen to the country if they close the universities,
Their threat is terrible 🙁