TAU and Technion Connect With China
The life sciences figure prominently in major new collaborations between two Israeli universities and China.
Li Ka Shing, one of the wealthiest people in the world, is giving $130 million to the Technion to build a research center in China, a joint project between the Technion and Shantou University, located in Guangdong Province.
The new center, to be called the Technion Guangdong Institute of Technology (TGIT), will be located on its own 330,000 square meter campus to be built by the local government, while the Li Ka Shing Foundation (LKSF) will fund projects and programs at the new center. LKSF is the main funding arm for Shantou, providing nearly all of the school’s HK$6 billion endowment. The $130 million gift for the joint Technion-Shantou project, meanwhile, constitutes the largest gift ever to the Technion, and one of the largest to any Israeli school.
Tel Aviv University and Tsinghua University have signed an agreement to pursue strategic cooperation in innovative research and teaching. The two universities intend to co-establish a unique joint center, named the XIN Center, as an international hub for scientific and technical innovation. XIN (“new” in Chinese) will advance interdisciplinary research and initially focus on fields which enjoy accelerated development both in Israel and in China such as nanotechnology, but in time it will expand to other fields of science.
In the framework of the XIN project, an investment fund will be established to seed ventures initiated by XIN Fellows. The fund of 100 million yuan (about $16 million) will be set up by Infinity Group. Investors in the fund will include the Beijing government and alumni of Tsinghua University.
The XIN Center will aim to recruit the finest researchers and students in the two countries as well as from the rest of world. It will encourage innovation among students by giving them optimal conditions to create, develop and leverage their ideas in various areas of technology and science. The researchers will serve as instructors and mentors to the research students, and help them develop promising projects.
TAU Pres. Prof. Klafter noted that this is an exceptionally important agreement, opening new horizons for Israel and Israeli society.
President Chen of Tsinghua University expressed the readiness of his institution to work with Tel Aviv University to push forward cross-disciplinary research and explore ways to answer global challenges. The president stressed the importance of cultivating innovative future scientists and leaders.
The agreement was signed by Professor Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University, and Professor Chen Jining, President of Tsinghua University.
Participating in the signing ceremony were also Mr. Amir Gal-Or, managing partner of Infinity Group, and Dr. Chen Lichtenstein, President and CEO of China National Agrochemical Corporation (CNAC).