Research & Development at Universities
As at universities all over the
world, advancement of basic scientific knowledge is the chief objective of
researchers in Israel's universities. Publications of books and articles by Israeli authors, encompassing all
scientific fields, are a primary expression of the university sector's output; their number, relative to total world publications, is
increasing, and they have a high professional impact in the world scientific
community as measured by average citations per article. Relative to the size
of the labor force, Israel has a significantly larger number of publishing
authors in the natural sciences, engineering, agriculture and medicine than
any other country, and a higher share of the country's publications are
co-authored by Israeli scientists and those of other countries than is the
case elsewhere.
To integrate Israeli science into the international scientific community,
post-doctoral research positions and sabbaticals abroad as well as attendance
at foreign scientific conferences are encouraged, and a wide range of
exchange programs and joint projects are maintained at institute, university
and government levels with counterpart organizations overseas. Israel is also
an important center for international scientific conferences, hosting over 100 such gatherings annually.
Concomitant with their wide-ranging scientific research activities, the
universities have played an important and innovative role in Israel's
technological advancement. The Weizmann Institute of Science was among the first in the
world to set up an organization for the commercial utilization of its
research (1958); today similar organizations exist at all Israeli
universities. The establishment of science-based industrial parks adjacent to
university campuses has been pioneered with great commercial success.
Universities have also set up "spin-off" industrial firms for the
commercialization of specific products based on their research, often in
partnership with local and foreign concerns.
Interdisciplinary research and testing institutes are functioning at
universities in diverse scientific and technological fields vital to the
country's industry, serving in areas such as construction, transportation and
education as national focal points for applied R&D. In
addition, a high proportion of faculty serve industry in an advisory capacity
on technical, administrative, financial and managerial matters. The share of
research grants and contracts of universities funded by local industry is
over 9 percent as compared with 6-7 percent in the United States and
Canada.
The number of patents taken out by Israel's universities is one measure of
the effectiveness of the relationship between the universities and industry.
A recent study has shown that the universities are the country's leading
patentees both at home and abroad, and that the relative size of their
patenting activity far exceeds that of the higher education sectors in other
countries. Furthermore, in relation to their expenditures on R&D,
Israel's universities were granted more than twice as many patents as
American universities and nine times more than those in Canada.
Sources: Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs |