Canadian delegation explores how universities support Israel's engine of research and innovation

Tel Aviv University. Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Weitzmann Institute of Science. Palestine Technical University. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. 

Leading universities were on the itinerary as a delegation from Universities Canada — including University of Calgary President Elizabeth Cannon — visited Israel from Dec. 10 to 13, 2017.

Israel is a world leader in producing startup companies and attracting venture capital investment. The Canadian delegation’s goals: deepen and broaden research linkages, understand how universities support the country’s ecosystem of innovation, and explore how Israeli universities work to make higher education more inclusive of all segments of society.

UToday interviewed President Cannon, past chair of Universities Canada, about the highlights of her trip and future opportunities for the University of Calgary.

Q: Why was it important to visit Israel as the president of a Canadian university?

A: It’s important, in general, to visit universities in other countries to understand how the higher education ecosystem is organized in those jurisdictions, what some of the challenges and opportunities are, and then to actually meet representatives from institutions where you may have synergies, mutual interests, and opportunities for collaboration.

Throughout my presidency, I’ve found that there is a lot to learn by visiting other universities in other countries. I’ve taken a lot back with me — it gives me lots to think about, and in many cases we’ve built some very tangible collaborative opportunities to move forward.

Q: What do Israel and Canada have in common in innovation and higher education?

A: We’re organized somewhat differently, but both countries have very strong higher education sectors. Israel is renowned for some of its research-intensive universities that are really leaders in their fields worldwide, so there’s a lot to learn from there. In terms of innovation, some of the discussions they are having there are very similar to Canada. How do we get universities to be more innovative in terms of knowledge translation, whether it’s driving new policy or commercializing technology? How do we engage more students in entrepreneurial thinking and the innovation ecosystem? How do we get universities to collaborate with one another? How do we work more with business? All of these conversations are very familiar, although they might be approached differently. I would say that there is quite a bit in common between the two countries, although Israel clearly has a very strong reputation as a Start-up Nation.

Q: In what areas do you see Israeli universities as world leaders in research and innovation?

A: Their focus on excellence and how they incentivize excellence are very strong. They have an ability to hire great people, to support those people, and to build partnerships and ecosystems where they can truly be successful as researchers and scholars. In terms of specific areas where we saw strength in research? These were areas such as neuroscience, cybersecurity, and water, which are key issues for their country, and clearly the whole high-tech sector, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. They are very strong at building a culture around startups, nurturing them, spinning them off from universities, engaging their students in these ventures, and building a strong economy.

Q: Are there opportunities for collaboration with the University of Calgary?

A: We have a number of existing relationships with institutions in Israel. For example, we have the Canada First Research Excellence Fund, $75 million from the Government of Canada to do research in clean energy. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a partner in that proposal. Our faculty have met and are doing collaborative research in that space. 

We also have some relationships in the neuroscience area with some Israeli institutions. Some of this is at the individual faculty member level, but we’re really looking to scale that up, so there’s a lot of interest from Tel Aviv University in getting our researchers together in joint workshops.

Our new International Microbiome Centre — the germ-free facility that recently opened in the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases — was extremely compelling to institutions I met with as a platform for collaboration as well. So there are a number of areas to follow up on.

Q: What do you think is at stake for Canada’s business and industry sectors?

A: What you see in Israel is a very strong fluidity between the higher education sector and the business community; there is a real synergy between the two. In Canada, we have some of that, but it could be strengthened. The concept of industry working collaboratively with universities in different models is something just developing here. The concept of work-integrated learning — more practical hands-on learning as part of their university and student experience overall — is something that’s expanding. Israel does those things very well.

In Israel, the notion of the value of a research university, in terms of talent, ideas, and innovation, is very well understood. I think in Canada there is still some room to have those conversations and strengthen our partnerships.

Q: What were your strongest personal impressions during the visit?

A: I think that when you visit any country, you have your knowledge and perceptions as someone who lives in another country. When you go visit that country, and particularly when you meet the thought leaders — not only from the academic sector but also from government and business — it recalibrates your knowledge and your perceptions. That was certainly the case in Israel.

One of the themes of this trip was inclusive innovation. We talk about that in Canada: How do we harness an innovation ecosystem for everyone so they want to be involved? That’s being discussed in Israel too. They have a number of minority groups they would like to engage in higher education in innovation and the whole Start-up Nation concept. We were exposed to different models and different opportunities that they have leveraged with some success. They say they don’t have this all figured out either, that they’re still learning and they’re trying to strengthen and deepen their participation in what Israel can really do to the benefit of all citizens and residents of the country. That, to me, was something that I found very interesting and gave me some ideas to think about what we can do back here.

We not only visited with leaders of Israeli higher education institutions — we also had the opportunity to meet with an academic president, Professor Marwan Awartani of the Palestine Technical University in the West Bank. We met with him in East Jerusalem, and it was very important to understand the tensions in that part of the world and to be able to speak to leaders in Israel and to leaders in the West Bank. They provided a fuller picture on the ground of what some of the challenges are and what some of the opportunities are for the future, as well as how the University of Calgary can be involved.

It was a fantastic opportunity. We had the pleasure of meeting with the Canadian ambassador in Israel, Deborah Lyons, and she hosted an event where we met some of the leaders in Israel across different sectors. It was a great opportunity as a delegation to see Israel first-hand and to really see how we at the University of Calgary can leverage that for our future.