Collaborating for Innovation

 

 

 

On Monday, May 5th, 2015, delegates from the National University of General San Martín in Argentina visited HIT. San Martín (UNSAM) is a relatively young university (est. 1992), which has succeeded in a short time in becoming one of Argentina’s leading universities in terms of academic studies, research and development. It is ranked 12th in Argentina in knowledge production and 2nd in publications in prestigious journals. San Martín enjoys extensive working relationships with different universities around the world, especially in the US and Europe.

 

The visit to the Holon Institute of Technology was arranged in accordance with the university’s working strategy of expanding international collaboration, and with the hope of establishing the foundations for cooperation between HIT and San Martín in innovative fields of study and research.

 

 

The San Martín delegates were met first by Prof. Motti Haridim, HIT’s Vice President of Academic Development, and Dr. Refael Barkan, head of HIT’s Research, Development and External Relations Authority, who presented the Institute’s study and research interests, its labs, research centers, and current collaborative relationships with academic institutions and industries in Israel and abroad. Special emphasis was laid on multi-disciplinary fields, combining Engineering, Exact Sciences, and Health Sciences – fields in which UNSAM is particularly interested in collaborating. Accordingly, the visit included a tour to Dr. Alla Zak’s Nanomaterials Center, and the new Bio-engineering Center for Excellence, which was presented by Dr. Dror Lederman. During this tour and their entire visit, the UNSAM delegates were shown several innovative and potentially ground-breaking studies and research products, with emphasis on possibilities for collaboration in these fields.

 

Dr. Guy Yoskovitz, Deputy Head of HIT’s Research, Development and External Relations Authority, presented to the guests HIT’s projects involving schools and teenagers, which include academic programs and the education towards excellence and innovation from an early age.

 

 

UNSAM’s Rector, Prof. Carlos Ruta, and the Head of its Research Authority, Prof. Aníbal Gattone, presented the fields that are studied and researched at UNSAM, focusing on possible areas of collaboration, especially those that were represented by Prof. Galo Soler, Dean of the Institute of Nanosystems, Prof. Jorge Fernandez Niello, of the Research Institute for Environmental Engineering, and Prof. Mariano Man, head of the System Networks and Communication. Prof. Gattone noted that he attaches great importance also to collaborating with HIT through faculty and student exchange programs, and working together to design new academic and research programs.