The Knesset marked Science Day with alarming data; The Ministry of Science marks a year for the current government and reveals its plans for 2014

Chairman of Intel Israel and Vice President of Intel Global Moli Adam: The small number of people eligible for matriculation in five mathematics units - Red Flag for Israel

The Speaker of the Knesset, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Science and Technology and the Chairman of the Science and Technology Committee all stopped their regular activities during a day full of tensions and political passions to participate in the National Science and Technology Day held today (Tuesday) at the initiative of the Science and Technology Committee. During the event, the ministers and members of the Knesset asked to express their gratitude and appreciation to a long list of young scientists who came to the event as part of the finals of the competition for young scientists and developers.

In his words, Intel's global vice president, Molly Eden, referred to the plight of science in Israel, emphasizing the lack of youth studying for five units of mathematics and physics. According to him, in the last seven years, the number of those entitled to a matriculation certificate with five units in mathematics and physics has decreased by 30 percent. To me this is a red flag.

The chairman of the science and technology committee, MK Moshe Gafni (Torah Judaism) wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to call on the Israeli government to significantly increase the budget allocated to investing in science and technology. MK Gafni pointed out that any financial investment in the matter will always pay off in the long term when it will pay for itself and also has the potential to generate profits.

The Speaker of the Knesset, MK Yuli (Yuel) Edelstein (Likud Beytenu) congratulated the young participants and said that it is neither possible nor right to stop the development of science even though there were those who misused it. The Speaker of the Knesset also added that after he was exposed to the various developments of the young scientists who reached the finals of the competition, he is sure that these are not scientists who will sit in the ivory tower in the future and hence their future developments will be aimed at advancing humanity.

The Minister of Education, MK Shai Firon (Yesh Atid) referred in his words to the centrality of science and research and the existential need to continue asking questions in order to develop and arrive at the search for truth. "I hope and believe," added the Minister of Education, "that among those sitting in the hall there are also future Nobel Prize winners."
At the end of the event, two winning teams were announced: Avi Dubovsky, Roy Shafran and Tamer Hamud who together developed a system for immediate treatment of oil spills from tankers. Along with the three, Jordan Lichtman also won for her work on the Canaanite ideology in the translation work of Yonatan Ratosh.

Activities of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space in 2013 and planned activities for 2014
Below is an overview of the ministry's activities in 2013:
1. Promotion of research in priority areas
The ministry promoted 75 new researches in the established priority areas, including: space, advanced computing and cyber, brain sciences, orphan diseases, marine sciences, social sciences, physical and human infrastructure in chemistry, engineering, alternative energy, preparing the population for earthquakes and more. The total budget allocated to all the studies amounted to approximately NIS 90 million.
2. Providing research scholarships and awards in priority areas
The ministry awarded 135 scholarships in the areas of priority, including: Ramon scholarships in the field of space, scholarships in the field of advanced computing and cyber, Levy Eshkol scholarships in the field of brain and marine sciences, scholarships in the field of alternative energy, scholarships in the field of natural sciences and exact sciences combined with humanitarian fields, dedicated scholarships For women in the fields of engineering and exact sciences, dedicated scholarships for minorities and travel scholarships to international scientific conferences. The total budget allocated to all scholarships amounted to approximately NIS 6.4 million.
3. Support for knowledge centers and the purchase of scientific equipment
The office supported the establishment and/or operation (including the purchase of scientific equipment) of 4 knowledge centers - including: tissue banks in major hospitals, nanotechnology centers in universities and the Technion, the center for international nature collections at Tel Aviv University and the center for brain sciences at Hadassah Hospital. The total budget of the office allocated to support the knowledge centers was about NIS 11 million.
4. Promotion of international relations in the field of science
The State of Israel (through the Ministry) has 17 bilateral research agreements with 13 different countries - including: Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Great Britain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. In addition, the State of Israel is active in 6 international scientific organizations - including: FP7 - the framework program for R&D of the European Union, EMBL - the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, ELIXIR - building a sustainable infrastructure for the preservation of biological databases (Europe), CERN - the European Organization For nuclear research, OECD/GSF - the Organization for Development and Economic Cooperation and SESAME - a regional project to establish an electron particle accelerator in Jordan.

Within the framework of the bilateral research agreements, the ministry and its counterparts in the various countries promoted 80 joint studies in the fields determined together with the various countries - including: atmospheric research and life sciences, cancer, water technologies, advanced materials, food and water security and resistance to pathogens, advanced computing, marine sciences, intelligence Artificial Neurosciences and Life Sciences.
The total budget allocated to all the binational studies amounted to approximately NIS 43 million. While the State of Israel provided approximately NIS 9.5 million of the aforementioned amount, the portion allocated to the Israeli researchers was approximately NIS 21 million.
In addition, the ministry had a number of notable achievements in 2013 to expand the international relations of the State of Israel, including: the State of Israel joining "Horizon 2020", the State of Israel joining as a full member of "CERN", the doubling of the joint program with China to 2 million dollars for two years, Expanding the activity with Japan to 5.4 million dollars for 3 years, opening a joint research program with Ukraine, signing a memorandum of understanding with Poland and agreeing on a joint program with Canada in the field of medical research, in cooperation with the National Science Foundation.
5. Promotion of the civil space sector
The Israel Space Agency operates in the office, which is in charge of promoting and developing space in the State of Israel in the civilian field, and in doing so it initiates and executes projects in the fields of space based on international collaborations of the space community in academic institutions and the space industry in the State of Israel.
In 2013 and 2014, a total of approximately NIS 189 million was allocated to the space program, with approximately NIS 65 million of which is intended for strengthening research and development in collaboration with industry, and approximately NIS 90 million of which is designated for joint international projects in the field of space with various countries and space agencies, including: building Satellites of different types and with different capabilities and launched into space, development of sensors dedicated to space, development of navigation and electric drive systems for satellites, development of space computer components and more. In 2013, the Space Agency carried out or started projects totaling approximately NIS 85 million.
The space agency had a number of notable achievements in 2013, including: the launch of the "Amos 4" communications satellite, the Italy-Israel space industries meeting, the annual Ilan Ramon space gathering and the Israeli Space Week, the placement of the Israeli satellite model in the UN building in Vienna, Austria and the election of Jerusalem As the host of the 2015 World Space Summit.
6. Promotion of research and development in the periphery
The ministry supported 8 regional research and development centers scattered throughout the country - from Kiryat Shmona and the Golan in the north to the Arava in the south, where about 300 research workers work, including about 80 full-time researchers. The total support of the Ministry to all research and development centers in 2013 was about NIS 25 million. In addition, about 50 research grants totaling about 15 million NIS were awarded to the researchers at the research centers.
7. Exposing science to the community
As part of increasing the exposure of science to the community, the office operated on two levels: the first level concerned making science accessible to youth. In this field, the office has implemented various initiatives, including: science classes, science camps, mentoring projects, operation of computer centers and the "future sciences" project, which includes providing guidance for about 3 years to outstanding female students who have chosen a science course. About 6,000 youth participated in all of the above initiatives in over 100 settlements and the total budget allocated for their benefit was about NIS 8 million. The second level concerns making science accessible to the general public. In this area, several activities took place - including: the Night of the Scientists, the International Space Week, the Ramon Conference, the Israeli Space Week, the National Science Day and a live broadcast from the space station, in which more than 100,000 people participated and with a total budget provided by the Ministry of approximately 1.5 million NIS.
Below are the main actions that the office intends to carry out during 2014:
1. Summary of a multi-year plan to increase the scope of government investment in research and development
2. The establishment of the National Fund for Scientific-Applied and Engineering Research and its operation
3. Increasing the number of active bilateral scientific cooperation agreements
4. Increasing the number of open projects/products in the field of space funded by the Ministry
5. Increasing the number of settlements in the periphery where activity takes place in the fields of science and technology, funded by the Ministry
6. Examining the establishment of two applied research institutes, as a pilot, in order to bridge the gap between basic research in academia and industrial research.

The article is based on press releases of the Science Committee of the Knesset and the Ministry of Science.