The National Committee for Nanotechnology: Israel has managed to establish a national infrastructure with an international reputation, but the cessation of government funding for the field will stop the progress achieved in a decade of vigorous activity
In the ten years that have passed since the field of nanotechnology in Israel was declared a national priority project, there has been significant progress in the field, according to the data of the National Committee for Nanotechnology - INNI, which are published ahead of the "Nano-Israel 2016" conference, which will be held next week between the 22nd and -February 23, at Tel Aviv University. The committee even expresses concern that the cessation of government funding for the field will halt the progress achieved in a decade of vigorous activity.
About 400 million dollars (from government sources and university resources) were invested in the nanotechnology program and managed to establish in Israel a national infrastructure with a reputation at an international level: 6 nanotechnology centers were established in the academy, which cooperate among themselves and with Israeli industry, about 140 senior scientists in the fields Nanotechnology returned to Israel, about 600 patents were registered, of which about half were applied, about 130 new companies were established and the new technologies are being used in established companies. During the program, about 1000 PhD holders and about 1800 Master's degree holders, engineers and scientists, were trained, who will form the human infrastructure for further development in academia and for the application of those developments in industry.
"The nano companies that are currently registered in INNI operate in diverse fields and utilize the unique features of nanotechnology to improve existing products and enter new fields," says Dan Wilensky, a member of the National Committee for Nanotechnology and a member of the Steering Committee of the Nano Conference. "There are about 15-20 relatively large companies operating in the field, such as Elbit, Rafael, Pelsan, TAA, Applied, Intel, Vulcan, Keter and Israel Chemicals, which focus part of their activities on the nano field. The other companies, medium and small (the start-up companies) demonstrate unique capabilities in the field of nanotechnology and promote groundbreaking applications in the fields of technology they have developed or acquired. This part should grow in the coming years due to nano technologies that have reached maturity and are looking for industrial applications."
Wilensky says that although in Israel the scale of the industry is still low and estimated at a few million, the scale of the global industry is expected to reach over a trillion dollars of nano-based products and services within five years. "The State of Israel is not the only one that has recognized the potential of the nanotechnology industry, the world has also recognized the same potential and sees it as the next wave of the industrial revolution, which is why investments in this area are skyrocketing. For example, in 2012 the United States government invested about 2 billion dollars and the American industry invested another 4 billion in the field. The common market invested about 2 billion and China invested about 1.5 billion dollars. All the countries announced that they have no plans to slow down investments, this is in contrast to the State of Israel. In which government investment in the fields of nanotechnology, in 2012, amounted to approximately 56 million dollars.'
Wilensky estimates that Israel can be an important player in the development of products with high added value that will be integrated into leading global industries: "When part of this will be produced in Israel on the basis of the information and technology developed here, mainly by the research institutions that are among the leaders in the world in the field of research and development. We are on the right path to make Israel a leading nanotechnology powerhouse."
However, Wilensky says that the goals set by the program's managers a decade ago have not been fully achieved, so a national strategy that leverages the investments on the subject before the end of the program must be examined. "We have invested financial, human and personal resources in the nano program and we have not reached the goal yet. The program that is about to end raises concerns - justified - will the Israeli academy find the resources to continue the progress of the research and especially to support the infrastructure and renewal of the sophisticated and expensive equipment necessary for continued progress? The national policy makers must be creative and prepare a follow-up plan to achieve the economic goal ahead of time so as not to lose what has been built with great effort so far.'
Nanotechnology activity in Israel began in 2006 with the encouragement of the National Infrastructures for Research and Development Forum (NARF) which recognized the potential of the nanotechnology field. A financing model was built in a five-year budget of approximately 220 million dollars, 2/3 of the sources were funded from the universities' donation budget and 1/3 from the state budget. Managing the program includes setting clear goals and metrics and monitoring their implementation by an international advisory committee that reports to the program managers. In the first five years, the program mainly supported the establishment of an academic scientific infrastructure and the return to Israel of leading Israeli scientists. In addition, other government programs supported developments in the area of nanotechnology to the extent of approximately 20 million dollars per year. Following the successes in the field, after 5 years from the beginning of the program, it was decided to approve a national program for another 5 years in the amount of about 180 million dollars (from government sources and university resources) with a higher emphasis on industrial applications.
