Looking Ahead
My first term as president of the Technion has seen especially turbulent times. The Covid-19 global pandemic that erupted five months into my term consumed extensive attention. Significant economic and political instability followed, as well as a wide-spread cyber-attack. Nevertheless, we should all look back at these years with a great deal of satisfaction and pride in what we have managed to accomplish, ensuring that our university continues to expand its research and teaching capacity, to the benefit of Israel and humanity and of education in general.
During these challenging years we have established research centers; we repositioned the Technion in the changing academic-industry ecosystem; we have set up and extended teaching and community outreach programs; recruited the best researchers; won a record number of ERC grants and prizes; and attained even higher standings in the Shanghai and other prestigious rankings.
As we are now preparing to celebrate the Technion’s 100th anniversary and as I look ahead to my next term, I envision promoting additional transformative projects. Some of these are already in motion, and all of them will enable our university to enter our second century with confidence, certainty, and determination.
NEW LEARNING AND RESEARCH CENTERS
During the past three and a half years, we established or started setting up no less than 12 new learning and research centers that will substantially stimulate the Technion’s already rich research and learning ecosystem. With an overall investment of around $250 million, some of these new centers are already transforming teaching and serve as multi-disciplinary research hubs that boost collaboration among researchers at the various faculties.
As medicine and technology continue to converge, the new André Cohen Deloro Institute for Transformative Biomedical Sciences and Engineering will house state-of-the-art research infrastructure and 28 labs covering all disciplines, while the Wolfe Center for Translational Medicine and Engineering, in collaboration with the Rambam Health Care Campus, will combine engineering and medical research to foster innovative technologies.
Even as we focus on technology, we cannot forget the patients, who remain at the heart of all our medical education. It is for this reason that we have set up the Center for Clinical Skills in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, which will position the Technion’s medical education and training at the forefront of patient-oriented treatment and promote excellence in clinical skills.
The Technion also provides faculty and students with the most advanced technologies for their work, and researchers will be able to use advanced imaging techniques to conduct multidisciplinary projects in the recently opened May-Blum-Dahl MRI Research Center. Those that require high-performance computing for their activities will benefit from the Martin and Grace Druan Rosman High-Performance Computer Data Center, construction of which will begin this summer, serving researchers from a variety of sectors, while the National Center for High Speed Flight will be housed in the Morton and Beverley Rechler Family Foundation Research Building, which will provide unique facilities to aid researchers and students in their bid to explore and advance the science and technology of hypersonic flight.
Because of the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research and development and in our daily lives, a newly set up Tech.AI Hub will provide the focus and the beating heart of all the Technion’s AI activities, while researchers and students will be able to focus on applied studies in AI in human health and medicine within the Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Healthcare, making the most of the recent major breakthroughs in the technology.
The newly-erected Zisapel Electrical and Computer Engineering Building exemplifies Technion growth and renewal as we enter a 2nd Technion Century.
Sustainability and environmental issues have been the focus of Technion researchers and students since the university’s founding some 100 years ago. These efforts will get an added boost as the university prepares to become a leading force in food technologies, to help eradicate world hunger by helping meet the challenge of a growing global population amid dwindling natural resources. The Carasso FoodTech Innovation Center, now under construction, will seek to promote innovative food technologies, while the Technion Sustainable Protein Research Center will serve as a hub for fundamental and applied research in the field of alternative proteins.
Meanwhile, the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Sustainability Center for Catalysis, which is under construction, will aim to empower faculty and students to find new ways to maintain global growth while also confronting the climate crisis and protecting the planet for future generations, while the Israel National Research Center for Electrochemical Storage, now being established jointly with Bar-Ilan University, will focus on the development of new materials and methodologies to help the world transition to alternative energy sources.
To help unleash the creativity of our students and faculty and to increase our interaction with the community, the new Mehoudar Center for Inventors will encourage the participation of innovators from all over Israel, from school children to university students and faculty members, to realize creative engineering designs, to dream and imagine.
In addition to all the initiatives underway, we are continuing to develop the Helen Diller Quantum Center, which supports research in this rapidly growing field, and we plan to establish a Research Center for Simulated Cities, that will lead groundbreaking research to help make cities more resilient and adaptable to social, economic, and environmental change.
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY MEGA FRONTIERS
We have repeatedly seen that a multi-disciplinary approach, with researchers from different sectors working in close collaboration to develop joint solutions, is needed to tackle the massive challenges of the 21st century. This gives a considerable advantage to the Technion, as the university has on its campuses experts in a wide variety of fields, including engineering, science, medicine, architecture, and education. To further maximize this advantage, we have constructed an innovative model, called the “Technion-Wide Frontier,” that brings together a broad spectrum of relevant stakeholders.
Two Technion-Wide Frontier models have already been created: one for Human Health and one for Sustainability. Each of them embraces a variety of academic departments that benefit from managerial support to conduct multi-disciplinary ideation, establish joint research projects and centers, set up infrastructure centers, develop pedagogy, and many other initiatives.
This unique concept was crystallized over a two-year period, with the Human Health Frontier serving as a pilot project. Based on my experience in establishing and managing the Technion’s Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI), I knew it was essential to connect not only researchers but also academic departments. However, the kind of structure that would work best for our first Frontier was not initially evident. It took a lengthy process of trial and error to attain a conceptual breakthrough, devising a model most suitable for dealing with large-scale multi-disciplinary challenges.
To date, 14 academic departments have already joined the Human Health Frontier. Building on the lessons we learned from the Human Health pilot, the Sustainability Frontier started its activities three months ago.
ADAPTING TO THE CHANGING ACADEMIA-INDUSTRY ECOSYSTEM
One of the major priorities during our first term was to cultivate strategic collaborations with top companies from the private sector. We did this by encouraging firms to move their R&D centers to our campus and by creating a research fellowship for leading industry researchers.
The U.S. design tools company PTC recently moved its R&D center, along with 100 researchers, to the Gutwirth Industrial Park on the Technion campus. Its researchers are today integrated into academic activities on campus. PTC is now establishing an R&D center that will serve the entire Technion community.
Other examples of recent collaborations with industry include agreements with Verily, the research arm of Alphabet Inc. focused on precision health, semiconductor giant Intel Corp., pharma firm Pfizer, renewable energy firm Doral Group, and others.
To further foster the Technion’s close collaboration with corporations, we created the new position of Research Fellow from Industry. The idea is to help integrate scientists from the private sector into academic research, teaching, and mentoring students. Research Fellows from Industry spend one day a week at the Technion and take part in academic activities. The new position has proven to be a success: some 35 researchers have already joined the ranks of the Technion via this path. In addition, we encourage our faculty members to provide consulting services to local industry.
The Technion has also invested substantial resources to improve the commercialization process of ideas developed by the university’s innovators and entrepreneurs. As a result, the number of new startup companies emanating from the Technion has tripled; from an average of four companies a year to 14 new companies last year. We plan to further improve our approach to IP commercialization.
UPGRADING EDUCATION AND STUDENT WELFARE
During my first term, we focused intensively on improving academic education and training throughout the Technion. We have dramatically increased our investment in setting up and upgrading teaching labs; bolstered the Center for Promoting Learning and Teaching; opened a studio for digital teaching; developed the Schulich Leaders Entrepreneurship Program for outstanding undergraduate students; promoted tech entrepreneurship and innovation education through our t-hub Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center; established the Mehoudar Center for Inventors and expanded the Social Hub, a flagship social engagement program that facilitates the interaction of faculty members, teachers, and students with local communities.
Recently, we began designing a new state-of-the-art building for the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and an additional new building for the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science.
To bolster creativity and produce well-rounded students equipped with the variety of talents necessary to tackle global challenges, the Technion is in the process of upgrading the Department of Humanities and Arts to expand its activities to research in addition to teaching. We are also boosting artistic activities on campus. As part of this push, we have expanded the presence of artists and art on campus and launched the Sonia Marschak Artist in Residence program, which aims to combine the arts with humanities, sciences, technology, and engineering professions, and create a dialogue between these fields.
Another key priority is to improve the well-being of our students. To do so, we have been working closely with our university deans and the Technion Student Association to make sure our students have easy access to the services they need to promote their physical, social, and mental wellbeing.
We have also expanded the emotional and psychological support services we provide for all students and have opened a new learning center for students with learning disabilities and students that do reserve army duty – Fischer Center for Reservists and Students with Learning Disabilities.
To further boost the wellbeing of our students, we have expanded initiatives and launched a number of new ones: the new Soft-Landing program helps new students adjust to academic life, the highly popular mathematics camp ensures new students arrive better prepared for their demanding first-year classes, and the newly-inaugurated “Broshim” Dormitory has helped house an additional 500 students. We are also gradually renovating the other student dorms, thus enabling the university to provide comfortable homes for 4,600 students, the largest number of students living on campus at any of Israel’s universities.
The Technion has also increased its budget for scholarships and financial aid and has expanded its support for cultural and social activities, including for international students.
IMPROVED SUPPORT FOR FACULTY
The Technion recently launched a series of initiatives aimed at improving support of our researchers, including a pilot program to help reduce the time needed to set up laboratories for new faculty members.
We have shortened and simplified the faculty promotion process and set up a fund with our growing profits from commercialization, which will help us provide our researchers with cutting-edge infrastructure facilities. We have also raised significant funds to establish the Crown Vanguard Award for Science and Technology Fund, which grants our leading mid-career researchers the resources they need to launch new research directions, and we established the Campus Leaders Program, which cultivates managerial leadership among faculty and administrative staff.
I am especially proud of the committee we formed to increase the representation of women in the Technion’s faculty and academic management positions. We have implemented the committee’s recommendations in full, including the creation of a new position: VP for Diversity and Inclusion. This has led to a significant rise in the number of women on committees, management and key positions, however we are still struggling to boost the number of women among the senior faculty.
FUNDRAISING
After experiencing a drop in donations during the first year of Covid, annual income from donations over the past two years has returned to previous levels and 2023 looks promising.
During our first term we succeeded in securing several transformative donations for the university, an especially gratifying experience given the unfavorable global economy and the difficulties we encountered in meeting donors in person during the pandemic.
LOOKING AHEAD TO MY NEXT TERM
During my first term as president of the Technion, we set out and started implementing a long-term strategic development plan for the university.
The heart of our multi-year program lies in resolving the Technion’s fragmented structure and creating an organizational culture based on partnership and a sense of belonging. Indeed, the Technion’s unusual organizational structure tends to create a gap in planning between the departments and the senior management. We must thus find ways to better integrate the faculty deans and program heads into the key planning and decision-making processes.
The transition to a five-year planning and budgeting program executed now constitutes an important step in that direction. Each department is preparing a five-year academic development plan which includes personnel requirements, academic positions, teaching, and research infrastructure needs. These plans will be combined to produce a five-year plan for the Technion, enabling it to utilize its resources more efficiently by creating synergies between departments and facilitating better management support.
Looking ahead, I intend to focus on nurturing the Technion’s human resources, and especially the administrative and support staff available to researchers and departments. We will also continue developing the campus infrastructure, building labs for new faculty members, expanding computer services, and more.
The Technion-Wide Frontiers now make up a central element in building multi-disciplinary research communities in the fields of human health and sustainability. In the near future we plan to establish a third Frontier focusing on Engineering.
In the next four years, we intend to continue strengthening the academic–industry cooperation ecosystem; including resolving remaining IP issues, creating more collaborations with companies, and helping found new startups.
All these plans require significant resources, and I believe that the Technion’s 100th anniversary presents us with an ideal opportunity to raise the necessary funds. Together with our many friends we are already laying the groundwork for this campaign and I am convinced that we will succeed in conducting large-scale fundraising efforts during the university’s centennial year. The need to do so is especially pressing given the expected government budget cuts in higher education.
I cannot end withoutexpressing my deep gratitude to my long-time colleagues in management, and to the faculty and Technion deans, the department heads, center directors, vice-presidents, administrative heads, the hundreds of academic and administrative staff members, the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Technion Student Association, and our remarkably committed societies of friends around the world without whom the challenging tasks involved in achieving the goals described above could not have been realized.
Last but not least, none of these achievements would have been possible without our many friends and partners around the world. Their commitment and dedication are what enabled the Technion to successfully tackle and weather the crises and to continue developing despite the objective difficulties. Together, we embark on the Technion’s second century better prepared, more agile, and more resilient than before.
Prof. Uri Sivan
President of the Technion