Inspired by UC Berkeley, Israel infuses campuses with innovation

TEL AVIV, July 18 – Though Israel is well-known as the Start-up Nation fueled by a culture of entrepreneurship and built on world-changing high-tech innovation, its academic institutions do not focus on those values.

But Israel’s Council for Higher Education (CHE), the government agency overseeing colleges and universities, is seeking to change that. The council this week unveiled The New Campus Vision, which aims to expose students and faculty from all disciplines to the worlds of entrepreneurship and innovation. The initiative also intends to position Israel’s campuses on par with other nations, especially the U.S., where many colleges and universities have long established centers for entrepreneurship and innovation.

As part of the initiative, the CHE plans, in cooperation with academic institutions in Israel, to maintain contact with leading U.S. universities including University of California, Berkeley and its Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation to examine ways of collaborating and promoting entrepreneurship and innovation centers on Israeli campuses.

The Israeli plan intends to change the face of the Israeli campus, to one which fosters an Innovative work environment of creativity and collaboration; breaks down barriers across all disciplines and between students and faculty, so that students become active, entrepreneurial learners; and promotes multidisciplinary brainstorming and collaboration between students and researchers.

The $27.7 million New Campus Vision will be put into place over five years at 10 select colleges and universities from Israel’s north to south, including Hebrew University, the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and Azrieli College of Engineering, all in Jerusalem; Tel Aviv University, Shenkar College of Engineering. Design. Art, and Afeka Academic College of Engineering, in Tel Aviv; The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa University, in Haifa; ORT Brauda College of Engineering, in Karmiel; Tel Hai College in the Galilee; the Holon Institute of Technology in Holon; Bar Ilan University, in Ramat Gan; Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva; Sapir Academic College, in Sderot; and Ariel University in Ariel.

“The New Campus vision seeks to promote the concept of innovation, create an entrepreneurial culture, and change the face of the academic campus,” said Chairperson of the CHE’s Planning and Budgeting Committee, Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats.

The new centers will bring in Israel’s leading researchers from across multiple businesses and industries and feature cutting-edge gatherings like hackathons and meet-ups to stimulate collaboration and creativity. Students from all parts of campus will be trained in entrepreneurship and will work with lecturers and researchers, as well as with professional mentors, to create meaningful projects and impact society.

Ultimately, the goal will be to turn Israeli colleges and universities into entrepreneurial ecosystems involving students, researchers and leading business professionals, CHE officials said, where talented, curious young people who hunger for creativity and knowledge, join lecturer-researchers, who are the best minds in many fields, to initiate and promote trailblazing ideas.

“The goal is to promote vibrant, inspirational, entrepreneurial centers that will encourage students to be active and think innovatively, together with the best researchers the academic institution has to offer. Rapid changes in technology require that academia make the necessary adjustments and integrate the world of innovation and entrepreneurial thought into every academic institution in Israel,” Zilbershats said.

The first centers will be organized and go into effect starting in the coming 2019-2020 academic year.

About Israel’s CHE:
The Council for Higher Education (CHE) is a statutory corporation established by Israel’s 1958 Higher Education Law. The council designs policy and is responsible for Israel’s higher education system.