Technion Israel Institute of Technology’s Samuel Neaman Institute, which studies research infrastructures in Israel, has published a report in conjunction with the National Council for Civilian R&D (Molmop) and the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI), stating that Israel’s main nanotechnology research infrastructures, based at the Technion, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Weizmann Institute of Science, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tel Aviv University, and Bar Ilan University, are among the top such infrastructures in the world.
The report’s authors, Dr. Daphne Getz, Vered Segal , Bella Zalmanovich and Oshrat Katz Shacham, emphasize that these infrastructures are less than ten years old. They were established or updated under the INNI program, which began operating in early 2005. The first program was the establishment of the Technion’s Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), with a generous contribution of $26 million from the Russell Berrie Foundation, which was expanded by the Technion and by the Israeli government to a total of $78 million. This is the largest investment that the Israeli government has made in any single project. In September, 2006, the funding program was expanded to include five additional research universities in Israel.
The second stage of the project is currently underway. The total government contribution to date is $60 million.
The Nano Israel 2014 conference begins today, with participants from both academic institutions and industry.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 24, 2014
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