By Avi Machlis
Small Times Correspondent
JERUSALEM, June 21, 2001 — Israeli universities are racing ahead to establish nanotechnology research centers, with all of the top academic institutions competing fiercely for funds to build dedicated interdisciplinary institutes.
The latest announcement was made by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), which plans to pump $40 million into a nanotechnology center and has already raised $10 million for the project. According to Menachem Magidor, president of HU, the university will have a “virtual organization” up and running as early as next year and groundbreaking for a building by 2003.
Israel, said Magidor, may not be a “nanotechnology powerhouse,” but the country has a large pool of scientists with “peripheral expertise” in physics, chemistry and biology that could help develop a nanotechnology field. He also said the existence of a strong high-tech and biotech industry could lead to partnerships between academia and the private sector for developing practical nanoapplications.
Dr. Uri Banin, an HU expert in semiconductor nanocrystals and scanning probe microscopy, said the university already has about a dozen groups of physicists, applied physicists and chemistry experts actively engaged in nanotechnology research.
“The strategy of this institute will be to bring people together from diverse fields that are interested in this broad field of nanoscience and to have them work together, think together, create together and do science together,” he said. Banin believes HU could have an edge in the “interface between chemistry and physics”.
Last year, Tel Aviv University (TAU) set up the first nanotechnology center in Israel, with a $13 million investment. It plans to raise another $7 million for its nanoscience and nanotechnology program. Yair Aharonowitz, TAU’s vice president for research and development, claims it is the first truly multidisciplinary center in Israel with 35 experts in microelectronics, physics, chemistry biotech and medicine. TAU’s advantage, he said, is that it is the only “real multifaculty university in Israel,” since the Hebrew University has no engineering departments and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, the country’s premier technology academic institution, has no medical school.
Still, the Technion is investing $30 million in its own nanotechnology center, which will focus on adopting biological and biotech approaches for developing complex nanoystems.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev launched its own nanocenter last October, while Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv has several researchers engaged in nanotechnology, mostly from the chemistry faculty, and is also considering setting up an institute. The Weizmann Institute of Science, a leading Israeli research center, is conducting substantial nanotechnology research as well.