Prof. Ephraim Katzir, former President of Israel, launched a historic venture in sharing high technology knowledge and experience.
At the invitation of New York State Senate Democratic Leader Manfred Ohrenstein, Katzir initiated a joint agreement here on high technology regions in Israel and in New York State. An internationally recognized biophysicist, Katzir visited the Center for Industrial Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, briefed legislative leaders on high technology industries in Israel, and met with RPI officials and Ohrenstein to discuss formulation of the agreement.
As a result of Katzir’s visit, he, Ohrenstein, and Tom Field, director of RPI’s Rensselaer Technology Park, agreed to proceed with step one in developing an agreement. Field and Prof. Arieh Lavie, chief scientist of the Israel Ministry of Industry and Trade and director of the planned Region 2000 high technology center in the Galilee, will jointly identify the specific areas in which the two projects will share information.
After this has been accomplished, an Israeli and an RPI expert in each of these areas will become part of a project team that will also include Katzir, Ohrenstein, Field and Lavie. The group will then meet at determined intervals to exchange information and learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
CITES MANY SIMILARITIES
“The many similarities between Israel’s plans for Region 2000 and RPI’s Center for Industrial Innovation and planned technology park lend themselves to an agreement to share ideas and solve problems,” Ohrenstein said. “Such an agreement will be beneficial to the future of high technology industries in both New York State and Israel.
Four years ago, Katzir was appointed chairman of a commission to explore the possibility of establishing a science and industry region in the Galilee that would best meet the challenges of the year 2000. This resulted in the concept for Region 2000, which will stretch from Segev in the south to Maalot in the north, with Carmiel at its center.
“We want the jobs available, educational facilities and feeling of community responsibility to attract the best professionals from within and without the country, ” Katzir said of Region 2000. “The region will have the most modern technology for communications, education and health services, plus advanced industries in which to earn a living.”
Plans for the Rensselaer Technology Park, located on 1200 acres of RPI-owned land in the Town of North Greenbush, Rensselaer County, were announced in April, 1981 by then New York State Governor Hugh Carey and RPI president George Low. RPI made a financial commitment of $3 million with the fundamental objective of enhancing the teaching and research opportunities for RPI’s faculty and students, while offering substantial economic benefits to business in New York State.
In announcing the proposed high technology park, Low said: “This is a great day in RPI history. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate a positive interaction among business, government and academe to provide a climate for research, technology and economic growth. “
In conjunction with the Technology Park, RPI’s Center for Industrial Innovation serves as an “incubator” for new high technology concepts and firms. A basic objective of these two key RPI projects is economic growth in the State of New York. Through the Urban Development Corporation, New York State will issue $30 million of non-recourse project revenue bonds to finance the development of the Center for Industrial Innovation.
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