From The President: 21C Technion – Where vision meets reality

Welcome to the 2021 President’s Report. This is an era in which we face unprecedented challenges to our health, the environment, and to the fundamental realities of our everyday lives. Never has the role of science in the service of humankind been more powerful. Meeting these real-world challenges is part of Technion’s unwavering mission, and the steps we take.

NOTWITHSTANDING THE PANDEMIC, THIS PAST YEAR HAS BEEN A GOOD ONE FOR TECHNION
– Prof. Uri Sivan, Technion President

Notwithstanding the pandemic, this past year has been a good one for Technion with new records: we have signed a record number of research agreements with industry; the largest number of start-up companies were launched within a year; a record number of prizes were awarded to Technion researchers; a record number of students are on campus; and a record number of new faculty were recruited.

The academic year
We began this academic year against a backdrop of dynamically changing uncertainties due to the global pandemic. The 2021/22 year opened at Technion Haifa campuses on October 24th with COVID precautions in place, reverberating with a synergy of passion for the Technion ethos, and sobriety in the gravity of unfolding daily realities. Slightly over two thousand freshmen arrived on campus, of which 44 percent were women, bringing the student population to nearly 15,000 in 17 faculties. Some 10,000 are studying towards a bachelor’s degree, while the rest are pursuing advanced degrees, among them 1,354 doctoral students. Some 160 Master’s students are studying in the Jacobs Institute on Roosevelt Island and a thousand more in GTIIT, China.

The incoming enrolment was especially drawn towards faculties that prepare students for high-tech professions – Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Data Science. The demand for Medicine remains very high. There are also signs of an emerging interest in Biotechnology and Food Engineering, the only faculty in the country which trains food engineers.

The strategic plan
During the past year, we finished drafting the strategic plan for the coming decade. The plan lays down the steps needed to maintain Technion’s global position among the top technological universities as it enters its second centennial.

Throughout the coming decade, Technion will strive to strengthen its position as an attractive and exciting university associated with leadership, innovation, and commitment to society; as a university with powerful ties with industry and government entities; and as an academic environment characterized by community, diversity, and unity.

Over the past six months, we have started to implement the plan, converting the strategy into a new reality. We developed a multi-year workplan with an action program for the coming two years. The foundations have been laid. To this end we have also shifted from a year-by-year budget to a five-year rolling budget and allocated the necessary means. The main components of the plan include education, research, and ties with industry.

Education
We are revamping our unique Technion education study program to prepare students with both scientific-engineering knowledge, and skills adapted to the 21st century. This includes revising curricula content; exploiting new digital technologies to enhance and improve instruction and learning; and strengthening the Department of Humanities to provide our students with a broad education to equip them with the tools to make informed decisions concerning societal, ethical, and environmental impact.

Training a new class of scientists and entrepreneurs for leadership roles in cutting-edge research and disruptive technologies will generate tomorrow’s leaders in science and technology. By nurturing and sustaining a relationship with our students and alumni from the beginning of their studies and throughout their careers, we will strengthen the bond between Technion and industry, and Technion and policy makers.

Integral to realizing the vision, is attracting the best students and researchers to our ranks, and to develop and cultivate leadership among them and among our graduates. Locating and recruiting top faculty is a priority while creating the atmosphere and conditions on campus required to inspire a spirit of renewal and scientific excellence.

THE TECHNION SERVED AS A CORNERSTONE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH TECH AND IN WHAT IS NOW CALLED THE STARTUP NATION.
– Angela Merkel

Research
We are shifting from investment in disciplinary research to tackling broad multidisciplinary challenges. So far, three frontiers have been identified: human health, sustainability including energy related aspects, and smart industry. To strengthen our focus on these areas, new research centers will bring together researchers from different disciplines collaborating on the same challenge but from different perspectives. These research initiatives will bring a sense of shared destiny to the faculties and help coordinate faculty recruitment.

To empower our research base, we require the recruitment of additional graduate students, research fellows, and an increase in the number of postdoctoral fellows. This expansion will be accompanied by building new laboratories and investing in advanced equipment.

These centers will leverage Technion’s capabilities in selected areas in which great resources will be invested. Where there are clear academic benefits to structural change, we will reduce fragmentation through structural changes, and by establishing thematic research centers.

FROM PURE SCIENCE TO ROBUST ENGINEERING, FROM OUTER SPACE TO QUANTUM DIMENSIONS, WE ARE HERE FOR REAL AND WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. 

Ties with industry
Today, breakthroughs in science and technology depend on multidisciplinary research and tight collaboration between academia and industry. We are creating a new ecosystem with industry, based on pioneering models for synergetic collaboration, that will best serve Israel and the world in the 21st century. Over the last year, Technion has expanded relations with industry, including signed research agreements with leading software and energy companies, and an agreement to establish the Carasso FoodTech Innovation Center. In the past two years we have resolved most IP issues to facilitate swift technology transfer from the Technion to industry. As a result, the number of startups launched annually by Technion researchers has tripled to 14 new companies a year and our portfolio has grown to over 100 companies.

Promoting Women in Academia
A committee was established and tasked with proposing ways to increase the number of women among senior faculty. The committee submitted its report with the following findings: currently 23% of senior faculty are women; there is no bias in faculty recruitment and promotion processes; there is a shortage of women applying for postdocs; there are few women in the main academic committees, and none in senior management. The committee’s recommendations have been adopted in full and as a result, the number of women in the main academic committees has already grown significantly. The lack of women representation in senior management will be rectified in the coming months when I present my candidate for the position of Vice President for Academic Affairs. Starting in January 2022, five faculties will be headed by woman deans and two out of four pan-Technion deans are women.

In three years, we will celebrate Technion’s centenary since its doors were opened for academic study. We will launch the centennial program next June, and the celebrations will culminate with the anniversary in 2024. Looking back to the humble beginnings in 1924, with a class of 17 students, we feel great pride in what we have achieved and where we are today. I truly hope to see you all in person at those festivities.

Prof. Uri Sivan,
President of the Technion