As I mentioned in the past, Israel is home to some of the worlds leading research and academic institutions.
Today I was lucky enough to be hosted at Ben Gurion University (BGU) in the Negev. I met the team leading the university's technology transfer activities (i.e. taking technologies and IP from the academic world into the industry), and several of the people behind the University's Green research.
One of the more interesting people I met, was the head of the Zuckerberg water research institute (located in Sde Boker). The institute focuses on developments across the water domain, including desalination, water treatment, membrane technologies, hydro chemistry, environmental hydrology, etc. Their team has grown significantly over the last years and currently has 22 faculty members, 16 engineers, and 62 graduate students, who come from all over the world to the desert - to find the next water innovation.
Bridging the divide:
In Greentech, much more than core IT, there is a big divide between the stage of academic research, and the stage of exporting it into the industry. There are additional stages that have to take place after the researcher finishes his work , so that the entrepreneur can start to work on it (and the VC can start to invest).
I think that one of the more encouraging takeaways i had from the day was that not only is BGU a place with significant Green innovations, but its also unique in thinking (and acting) on how to bridge this divide. For example, going beyond the pen & paper theoretical stage, and building actual testing labs for projects / products (Two such have already been built).
The meetings today showed there is a strong desire from the researchers to go beyond the "theory". To build the products, and increase their involvement with the industry.
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