In the world of technological breakthroughs, two superpowers are combining forces to help each other progress, further and faster. China and Israel are partnering on a number of projects that are aimed to help both countries excel in research, both academic and practical.
In early January, representatives from large technology companies from both Israel and China will meet in Beijing for the first annual China-Israel Technology, Innovation and Investment summit. The two-day event has been designed by its creators to bring businesses, investors and researchers together under one roof, to help foster the budding partnerships that already exist between the two countries.
Major universities in Israel already share projects with large universities in China. Tel Aviv University has initiated a collaborative project with China’s Tsinghua University and are in the midst of building a $300 million nanotechnology research center in China.
Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology also recently broke ground on a new facility in a joint venture with China’s Shantou University that will be called Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology.
The Technion Spokesperson’s office told Arutz Sheva that Research Professor Aaron Ciechanover, winner of the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 2004, will oversee the new project on behalf of the Technion.
At the inauguration ceremony, which took place in the middle of December, Li Ka Shing, CEO of the Li Ka Shing Foundation that is helping fund the project, said that “no one doubts that an integral part of any country’s ability to amass mutual wealth is technological advancement. It is the key to personal growth as well. Creativity is the engine of our time, it propels us into the future.”
It is the hope of summit organizers, that the summit will spark more collaborative efforts between the two countries, and enable investors to profit from such efforts as well.
Israel is currently ranked number five in the Bloomberg Innovation Index for 2015. This puts them one spot ahead of the U.S. (6), five ahead of England (10) and seventeen spots ahead of China (22).
Trade between the two countries has gone from what some sources estimate as $50 million in 1992 to more than $10 billion in 2013. More than 50 Israeli companies will be represented at the summit which starts on January 4. It is expected that more than 1,000 entrepreneurs will be in attendance.
