The Technion is 40th in the world in the number of approved U.S. patents. The achievement – announced by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in the U.S. and the Intellectual Property Owners Organization (IPO) — is based on U.S. Patent Office data for 2021.
The Technion, with 63 patents last year, ranks higher than the University of Oxford, Princeton University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and other well-established and well-known universities. The other Israeli university in the ranking is Tel Aviv University, which came in at #68. First on the list is the University of California.
Prof. Jacob (Koby) Rubinstein, Technion’s Executive Vice President for Research
Professor Jacob (Koby) Rubinstein, Technion’s Executive Vice President for Research, congratulated the researchers, faculty members, and students on their impressive achievements.
“The acceleration of the commercialization of developments and the registration of patents is a target that comes from our strategic decision to tighten the relationship between academia and industry,” said Prof. Rubenstein. “The Technion invests many resources in this field, and we intend to continue this trend to translate the intellectual property created at the Technion into applications that benefit humanity.”
The commercialization and patent-registration processes are led by Technion Technology Transfer (T3) – the Technion’s commercialization arm, which maintains hundreds of collaborations within different industries, and promotes the establishment of new startup companies (about 15 per year) based on Technion knowhow. The Technion is among the world’s top 20 universities in the field of entrepreneurship and in the establishment of startups.
Prof. Peretz Lavie, former President of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, was on September 6th bestowed with the highest honor of the French Order of Academic Palms (Ordre des Palmes Académiques). The Order, founded by Napoleon in 1808, is conferred upon prominent figures from academia and the worlds of culture and education for academic excellence and significant contributions to science, education and the academic world.
His Excellency, the French Ambassador to Israel, Eric Danon, conferring the commander necklet upon Prof. Peretz Lavie
The moving ceremony was held at the Tel Aviv residence of His Excellency, the French ambassador to Israel Eric Danon and his wife Marie-Christine Dupuy-Danon. The ambassador conferred the honor upon Prof. Lavie for his contribution to the spread of scientific knowledge around the world and his involvement in French-Israeli collaborations that influenced the course of the modern history of the two countries.
His Excellency, the French Ambassador to Israel, Eric Danon
Prof. Lavie, a world-renowned expert in sleep research, is an entrepreneur and one of the founders of Itamar Medical and other biomedical engineering companies. Before his appointment as President of the Technion, he served in other Technion senior positions, including Dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Vice President for Public Relations and Resource Development.
In 2015, while serving as President of the Technion, Prof. Lavie was appointed chairman of the Committee of University Heads. Over the years, he has been a consultant and global expert in the field of sleep and was involved in several significant public decisions, including the cancellation of the early-morning “zero hour” classes in elementary schools, the introduction of Daylight Saving Time, the extension of the minimum sleep time in the Israel Defense Forces and the “Quiet Wave” radio station during the first Gulf War 31 years ago.
Prof. Peretz Lavie
Prof. Lavie currently serves as chairman of the Israel Friends of the Technion and of the National Council for Civil Research and Development.
The Technion and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have signed a partnership agreement with IBM Research to advance artificial intelligence capabilities and applications in Israel. The collaboration was announced this week at a conference held by IBM in Tel Aviv to mark 50 years since the establishment of the IBM Research Lab in Israel.
Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a role in our daily lives and is now a central growth engine in the business sector. The rapidly growing amount of data that needs to be handled demand that organizations develop advanced technological capabilities and apply AI on a large scale—a challenge that requires significant investment in R&D. In light of the fact that Israel has a severe shortage of people with advanced degrees in computer science, and given higher education’s need for funding and skills from the business world, IBM Research has decided to launch a collaboration with the Technion and the Hebrew University.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, research will be conducted to search for new solutions in AI in the following three areas: natural language processing, accelerating discoveries for new drugs, and multi-cloud computing to support decentralized AI computation. IBM will fund these studies, which will be carried out by doctoral students at the Technion and Hebrew University, totaling several million NIS.
Pictured left to right: Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research, Dr. Dario Gil; Executive Vice President for Research of the Technion, Prof. Koby Rubinstein; Vice President AI and Director of IBM Research Lab in Israel, Dr. Aya Soffer; and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Asher Cohen Credit : Daniel Elior
Prof. Asher Cohen, President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: “The combination of IBM, one of the world’s leading technological companies, and our top-notch researchers offers an optimal edge to the knowledge and computing revolutions. With growing demand for experts specializing in machine learning, algorithms, and computer science, the relationship with IBM, even from the earliest stages of research, will lead to outstanding breakthroughs in both science and medicine.”
Prof. Koby Rubinstein, Executive Vice President for Research at the Technion: “The Technion and the IBM Research Lab in Israel have had a very close relationship for years, ever since the lab was founded. In recent years, the Technion has been home to a wide range of intensive research activities in AI. This partnership with IBM, which will be led by researchers in the field, will have a multiplier effect on AI research and development. We are delighted by this research collaboration, which will contribute much to both organizations.”
Dr. Aya Soffer, Vice President of AI Technologies and Director of IBM Research: “The Israeli high-tech industry is receiving a significant boost to its continued success. The collaboration with the Technion and Hebrew University will give rise to groundbreaking research aimed at leveraging artificial intelligence and improving our lives. I am proud that IBM Research has decided to invest in this important undertaking we have initiated here in Israel.”
A large delegation of presidents from the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities visited the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa at the end of August. They were accompanied by Israel’s Ambassador to Canada Dr. Ronen Hoffman.
The guests were welcomed by Technion President, Professor Uri Sivan and Vice President for Foreign Relations and Resource Development Professor Alon Wolf. Prof. Sivan presented the Technion’s history and the Technion’s significant contributions to the development of the State of Israel.
The U15 presidents delegation with the Technion management
“The Technion is undergoing a significant change from a field-oriented approach to a challenge-oriented approach,” Prof. Sivan told the guests. “In this process, we lower the walls between the faculties to promote fruitful and useful interdisciplinary research.”
The Technion President added “we are also working to lower the barriers between industry and academia so we can help industry in carrying out long-term research and connect through it to the main challenges facing humanity. We are proactively working to commercialize our research to impact society and the economy. This year, the Technion will establish 16 new startups based on the work of our researchers. We are also undergoing a fundamental change in the pedagogical aspect that will introduce humanistic subjects into training programs, so that students leave the Technion with a worldview that will help them understand the consequences of their professional decisions.”
Technion President, Professor Uri Sivan and Vice President for Foreign Relations and Resource Development Professor Alon Wolf with the guests
The visitors met with the management of the Technion, including Rona Samler, General Manager of T3 – Technion Technology Transfer Office, Distinguished Professor Ilan Marek, head of the Center for Sustainable Processes and Catalysis, Professor Noam Ziv, head of the Technion Human Health Initiative, Prof. Ezri Tarazi, Head of the t-Hub and Professor Shai Shen-Orr, Director at the Tech AI center. They also visited the modern Mehoudar Center for Inventors, which was inaugurated this summer.
Rona Samler, General Manager of T3 – Technion Technology Transfer Office
The heads of the following universities participated in the visit: McGill, British Columbia, Waterloo, Calgary, Montreal, Simon Fraser, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Western, York, Ottawa, Carleton, Concordia, Laval, and Dalhousie, as well as a representative of the Canadian Research Universities group.
The delegation in the Mehoudar Center with Prof. Ezri Tarazi, Head of the T-Hub and Mr. Boaz Drori, Director of the Mehoudar Center
Prof. Hossam Haick of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has won three prestigious European research grants totaling 4.2 million euros for his research group. He will also serve as chairman and coordinator of one of the projects that has 22 partners and a total funding of 14 million euros. Winning the grants was preceded by intensive work by the members of Prof. Haick’s research group — the administrative manager of the group Liat Tsuri, and Dr. Rotem Vishinkin, a scientific researcher and project manager.
This is an unprecedented achievement by Prof. Haick, a faculty member at the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI). Prof. Haick also currently serves as the Dean of Undergraduate studies at the Technion and is an expert in the field of nanotechnology and non-invasive disease diagnosis.
The grants are awarded within the framework of the Horizon Europe program, which supports consortia that produce cooperation among many entities in the European Union while focusing on practical solutions to the challenges of the time – all based on innovative technologies whose development demands extensive international cooperation.
“This is an extraordinary achievement by Prof. Hossam Haick,” said Dr. Asi Cohen-Dotan, Head of the Technion R&D Foundation’s Research Promotion Unit. “Prof. Haick continues to lead successes in very competitive tracks in the European research programs, while performing a significant organizational role.” This year, the Technion succeeded in increasing both the number of grants it receives from this program and their financial range, which has made it a noteworthy player in European activity in applied research.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas R. Nides visited the Technion as part of a tour of Haifa. The ambassador arrived on campus via the new cable car and, following a short tour of the Technion’s David and Janet Polak Visitors Center, met with Technion President Professor Uri Sivan and other senior members of the Technion’s management.
“It’s a big honor to be here,” said Ambassador Nides at the meeting with President Sivan. “The Technion’s reputation precedes it. I first heard about the Technion when I was 14 – the fact that it was built before the country was founded, its extensive contribution to Israel’s development, and its role as the cradle of the Start-Up Nation. Moreover, the establishment of the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute in New York together with Cornell University generated a very positive attitude toward Israel and towards the Technion’s contribution to New York City’s economic development.”
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas R. Nides (left) with Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan
The visit focused on research collaborations with partners in the U.S. and the importance of human diversity in academia – a subject close to the ambassador’s heart. President Sivan and Professor Adi Salzberg, VP for Diversity and Inclusion at the Technion, told the ambassador about the ways that the Technion is expanding diversity and promoting an inclusive and safe atmosphere for everyone on campus regardless of their social, national, religious, or gender identities.
President Uri Sivan emphasized the importance of opening the doors of the Technion to every talented young man and woman regardless of their financial situation. “With the help of the Friends of the Technion in Israel and around the world, the Technion offers students an extensive support network through special scholarships and loans, since we are committed to ensuring that no student will stop studying due to financial difficulties. The Technion is the leading university in Israel when it comes to providing student housing and we will continue building additional dormitories for our students.”
U.S. Ambassador Nides looking at the nano-bible at the David and Janet Polak Visitors Center
President Sivan also said that “in the distant past, our research collaborations mainly involved partners in the United States, but this changed when Israel joined European research programs. To expand the scope of our collaborations with American institutions, it is important to expand the U.S. – Israel Binational Science Foundation.”
Ambassador Nides holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota. He served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources and other senior positions in the public and business sectors. He was appointed to his current position at the end of 2021.
U.S. Ambassador Nides with the Technion’s management
This year’s Annual Project Presentation Conference at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Biomedical Engineering was awarded to students Maya Almagor and Roni Baron. Under the supervision of Professor Yuval Garini, the two developed a technology for spectral imaging of cancer biopsies for precision medicine. According to the students, “Personalized medicine is a developing trend that is driving a revolution in the treatment of cancer. To develop personalized treatment protocols, biomarkers that indicate the presence of specific proteins in the tissue must be detected. In our project, we developed a novel method to efficiently identify multiple biomarkers using a spectral imaging optical system to generate a molecular profile of pathological biopsies labeled with different fluorescent dyes.” As mentioned, the technology will help to analyze cancer cells in support of personalized treatment.
Roni Baron (L) and Maya Almagor
Dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Professor Haim Azhari, said “The Project Presentation Conference is the culmination of yearlong research. While working on their projects, the students were required to carry out all stages of the process from concept to realization, starting with a particular medical problem, using their imagination and creative thinking skills to ultimately craft a practical solution. To achieve this, they had to apply the knowledge they acquired here at the Technion during their studies in all aspects of biomedical engineering. We are in no doubt that this hands-on experience exposes them to the biomedical industry as it prepares them for their career.”
Conference participants included 61 fourth-year students. They presented 30 projects to the judges – 40 faculty staff members and alumni now working in the industry. The project course was administered by staff members Dr. Firas Mawase and Associate Professor Nati Korin, and teaching assistants Merav Belenkovich and Rotem Shapira. As is the custom every year, the prizes awarded to the winning projects were donated by Dr. Doron and Liat Adler of Sanolla Medical Devices.
Second prize was presented to Gal Carmely and Noam Shalem, supervised by Dr. Alon Sinai, Assistant Professor Firas Mawase, and Dr. Lior Lev Tov – a faculty alumnus who holds a dual degree in medicine and biomedical engineering and is currently a neurosurgeon and biomedical engineer. One of the state-of-the-art methods for treating tremor in Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor patients is using noninvasive focused ultrasound that induces ablation of a specific target area in the brain. However, identifying the treatment target in the current method lacks a high spatial precision. In this project, the students used advanced methods in imaging, signal processing, and machine learning in MRI data. Then, they developed a novel and more precise method for detecting the target location.
Third prize went to Ofri Vizenblit and Noga Erez, under the supervision of Assistant Professor Assaf Zinger (who is also a faculty alumnus and presently a member of the Technion staff), for the development of nanometric particles for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer – a disease which has no present effective treatment. Baraah Baryhe and Belal Awaad, supervised by Gili Kamara and Dr. Firas Mawase, took fourth place for their development of an alternative keyboard for patients with myopathic disease (myopathies are neuromuscular disorders). Fifth place was given to Ido Rachbuch and Perla Namour, supervised by Moran Levi and Prof. Nati Korin, for their investigation of microparticles for targeted treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. The Audience Favorite prize was won by Mais Hadid and Sabry Assaf, under the supervision of Noam Keidar, Galya Segal, and Associate Professor Yael Yaniv, for their development of a wearable device for epileptic seizure detection and prediction.
For the booklet of abstracts from the Conference, click here.
The August edition of our e-newsletter, ‘Technion LIVE,’ is now available: Technion ranks 83rd worldwide; AI-driven personalized medical treatments; autonomous electric cars; and more exciting news.
To read the August edition of ‘Technion LIVE,’ click here.
This year, one of Israel’s most prestigious and poignant educational programs, the Israel Scholarship Education Foundation (ISEF) mark 45 years since its establishment, unfortunately coinciding with the passing of Lily Safra, one of its key founders and the former Honorary Chair of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.
The ISEF Foundation was founded in 1977 by Edmond J. Safra z”l and his wife Lily Safra, together with Nina Weiner, cofounder and Chairwoman Emerita of the philanthropic organization. Madame Safra, a renowned philanthropist for educational, cultural, and social causes in Israel and aboard, unfortunately passed away recently.
Lily Safra Z”L. [Photo by Erez Lichtfeld].
Lily Safra received an honorary doctorate degree from the Technion in 2018 for significant charitable donations to important causes, and specifically for her support of the ISEF program that has helped hundreds of students from the Technion, as well as for her generous donations to support the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. In 2019, Weiner also received a Technion honorary doctorate degree.
Opening the doors to academic excellence for tomorrow’s scientific leaders
ISEF was established with the goal of narrowing Israel’s socioeconomic gaps by transforming Israel’s disadvantaged communities through access to higher education opportunities for underserved children. ISEF achieves this by awarding university scholarships to promising young students from a wide range of cultural and ethnic groups who share the Foundation’s values and meet the criteria for support – financial need, scholastic excellence, and leadership potential. ISEF supports students throughout their academic journey – from their B.A. through their master’s and Ph.D., and even for their postdoctoral studies.
In addition to access to academic opportunities, ISEF provides students with wraparound support and access to personal development programs that help ensure the program’s impressive graduation rate of over 95%. The program has produced 35 professors and 70 Ph.D. lecturers at Israel’s top universities, including the Technion.
Technion students shine with ISEF’s support
ISEF currently supports several Technion Ph.D. candidates taking part in breakthrough research groups:
Mor Elgarisi
Mor Elgarisi from Karmiel, a small town in Northern Israel, earned his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from a local college in his hometown, achieving summa cum laude. Mor took part in the Technion’s graduate program in Mechanical Engineering in Prof. Moran Bercovici’s Microfluidic Technologies Laboratory, entering the direct track to a Ph.D.
Israel Gabay
Israel Gabay grew up in Qiryat Shemona. He began his studies in the Technion’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering and, thanks to academic excellence, later transferred to the Mechanical Engineering Faculty, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude. During his bachelor’s degree, Israel was recognized on the Technion President’s List for Academic Achievements five times, as well as by the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence and currently he is on a direct path to a Ph.D.
Both Mor and Israel were proud to have a key role in the Fluidic Shaping experiment recently tested by Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe in space. Stibbe, who took part in the Rakia mission that was a collaboration between Axiom Space, NASA Ames Research Center, the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology, and the Ramon Foundation, successfully tested the ability to manufacture optical elements in space for the first time, creating a solid lens from liquid.
Hila Tarazi-Riess is another remarkable Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering. Hila is from Giv’at Ze’ev and her research focuses on evaluating the impact of physiologically digested carrageenan (a common food additive) on human gut microbiome. In 2018, Hila won first prize for ‘Innovative Product Development,’ led by the EIT Food Consortium in Europe.
Hila Tarazi-Riess
ISEF as a supporting pillar of the Technion’s academic excellence
Several members of Technion faculty are proud ISEF alumni:
Dr. Yaniv Romano is an Assistant Professor at the Departments of Computer Science and of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Technion. Yaniv earned his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. He received support from ISEF to conduct postdoctoral research in statistics at Stanford University.
Dr. Yaniv Romano
Today, Dr. Romano works to advance theories and practices of modern machine learning systems, focusing on uncertainty quantification, explainability, and robustness.
Dr. Shenhav Cohen
Dr. Shenhav Cohen is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Biology and head of a lab deciphering the molecular mechanisms that regulate muscle size. Shenhav earned her B.Sc. in Life Science and Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology and Cancer at Bar Ilan University before taking part in an ISEF International Fellowship at Harvard Medical School in 2006-2011. In 2013, Dr. Cohen joined the Technion’s Faculty of Biology, enabling her to complete her research on muscular atrophy, which has been published in prestigious medical and scientific journals.
Dr. Eitan Yaakobi is an Associate Professor at the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, was an ISEF International Postdoc Fellow in Electrical and
Dr. Eitan Yaakobi
Computer Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. fellow at the University of California San Diego. Raised in Qiryat Shemona, Eitan became an ISEF scholar in 2002, earning his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science at the Technion. As an ISEF fellow at UC-San Diego, Eitan conducted his Ph.D. research in “error correcting coding for flash drives,” earning him the 2009 Marconi Society’s Young Scholar Award, akin to the Nobel Prize in his field of study. He was awarded the Intel Ph.D. Fellowship Award in 2011 for his research in data storage. Dr. Yaakobi is the current head of the Technion’s Excellence Program.
“This collaboration, fueled by philanthropy, brings together two world-class institutions, Technion and Cincinnati Children’s, and two leading laboratories, each with complementary skills and assets, to improve pediatric medicine on a global scale.”
–Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology are working together to improve pediatric medicine on a global scale by establishing a collaborative data-driven research program to utilize big data in novel ways.
Through this collaboration, experts within each institution will train a core group of investigators skilled in biomedical informatics, which uses large data sets to help clinicians, researchers and scientists improve precision medicine, discover treatments, and deliver the best possible healthcare.
These highly trained researchers will support collaborative studies between Cincinnati Children’s and the Technion. The goal: to elevate pediatric medicine on a global scale by leveraging Cincinnati Children’s expertise in patient care, basic research, and translational research with Technion’s excellence in computer science and bioinformatics.
The collaboration, called the “Cincinnati Children’s–Technion Bridge to Next-Gen Medicine,” includes joint workshops, online lectures, faculty/student exchange visits, and research projects. To date, Cincinnati Children’s and Technion have co-sponsored joint academic symposia to exchange expertise between faculty and students, supported postdoctoral training and launched joint research in multiple areas of medicine. This work has already led to early findings published in the scientific literature—but this is just the beginning.
The Cincinnati Children’s–Technion Bridge to Next-Gen Medicine recently announced the first joint bioinformatics research grants, totaling $200,000 and funded through philanthropy. The selected projects for funding will be awarded $50,000 each, and were selected through a joint review process, involving representatives from both institutions. Funded projects include:
Developing Artificial Intelligence Approaches for Diagnostics and Predicting Treatment Efficacy in Eosinophilic Esophagitis. Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD and Yoni Savir, PhD
Deep Learning in Point of Care Ultrasound: Applications in Pediatric Oral and Maxillofacial Emergency Visits for Improving Diagnostic Clinical Workflow. Patrick Ruck, DDS; Sarat Thikkurissy, DDS, MS; Surya Prasath, PhD; Omri Emodi, MD, DMD; and Jiriys Ginini, MSc, DMD
Resolving Hematopoietic Stem Cell Heterogeneity from Highly Quantitative Long-read Single-cell RNA-Sequencing. Nathan Salomonis, PhD and Yael Mandel-Gutfreund, PhD
Using Eye-Tracking and Machine Learning Technology to Quantify Joint Attention and Shared Reading Quality in Children with from Disadvantaged Backgrounds and with Medical Complexity. John S. Hutton, MD, MS and Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus, PhD
Michelle Kohn, Cincinnati Children’s Global Director for Israel, noted that Cincinnati Children’s–Technion Bridge to Next-Gen Medicine is one of several flagship collaborations in the medical center’s Israel Exchange Program.
“The goal of the Israel Exchange Program is to leverage the complementary strengths of Cincinnati Children’s and Israel to improve clinical care for children worldwide, expertly train pediatric providers and scientists, achieve breakthrough discoveries, and invent and commercialize products to improve children’s health globally,” Kohn said.
