Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Ehud Olmert today announced the Israeli government's commitment to provide $30 million towards a $90 million research fund for the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU).
The government decision is part of a comprehensive $3.6 billion, 10-year comprehensive plan to bring development to the Negev region
The NIBN is the brainchild of Swiss banker Edgar de Picciotto, who provided the incentive, financial support and vision to found the innovative scientific research institute. Yesterday, de Picciotto declared his intention to continue investing in NIBN second stage of growth.
The NIBN, headed by Prof. Irun Cohen, has been structured to maximize its scientific and technological potential, while benefiting from the support of internationally-recognized scientists and industrialists. The NIBN was established to create a more effective academic platform for the emergence of a successful applied biotechnology industry in the Negev in particular and in Israel in general. Focused on very specific research goals, the NIBN includes an extensive system of peer review and critique to ensure standards of academic excellence and commercial viability.
The government decision follows an announcement made by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 to create the NIBN, and an announcement made by Olmert in 2005 to create the fund.
"The university applauds the government's decision to invest in excellence," said Ben-Gurion University of the Negev president Prof. Avishay Braverman. "BGU is proud to lead the technological revolution in the region."
NIBN's international advisory board includes leading global business persons and international luminaries in the field of biotechnology such as Nobel laureates Prof. Sir Aaron Klug of Cambridge University and Prof. Aaron Ciechanover of the Technion; Prof. Raymond Dwek of University of Oxford and Prof. Philip Needleman of the Washington University Medical School, and is supported by Nobel laureate Prof. Baruch Blumberg of the Fox-Chase Cancer Center; President of Scripps Research Institute Dr. Richard Lerner; and President Emeritus of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Dr. Paul Marks.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Monday, November 21, 2005