Technion as entrepreneurial university.
The Technion influence on innovative business in Israel
Sub-Theme: 5. University economic impacts
Abstract
Once Technion – Israel Institute of Technology was called "Israel's Hard Drive" in New York Times. Indeed many journalists, analysts and politicians consider Technion to be an engine of "Israel's economic miracle". However, they see the reason of such success in Technion graduates and their inventions. I suppose that estimation of Technion impact should be broader, and I try to find the grounds of graduates' achievements in a unique educational system combined with managerial culture and special startup infrastructure. This approach made Technion and its cooperation with Israeli government a great example of how triple helix theory works.
Conditions, in which Technion was established and developed, made this institute a centre of innovative creativity and business in Israel. Over the time administration of Technion was forming special infrastructure for start-ups and it has forged close links with the state government. Special organizations in Technion work with small start-ups and large industrial corporations. Cooperation between Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israeli government and industry was established many years ago by the efforts of Technion's administration and graduates. The Technion is a base of power for Israeli economic. That is why Israeli economic is science-oriented, there is the biggest number of start-ups per capita in the world and Israel is usually called Startup Nation.
I have used following methods during the research work: cultural and orientational approach historical analysis; structural and functional method; comparison method; analysis and synthesis methods.
I focused on different aspects of administrative and academic culture in Technion to find out why and how a system of work with students' start-ups and cooperation with Israeli government and industry was developed.
I emphasized several fundamental aspects which made Technion a base of innovative Israeli economic:
Interdisciplinary courses;
Practical tasks and compulsory researches;
Research for teachers is preferred more than teaching, but exam requirements are on the same high level. This leads to constrained individual study and a student gains experience of solving some extraordinary and unexpected tasks;
Network of organizations supporting startups in Technion;
Reformed managerial system, where academic and executive authorities are divided between the Senate and the Board of Governors respectively.
Intercommunion of these parts created special atmosphere where some crucial for the Israeli economic devices were invented and some branches of industry were established.
During this year I was researching interaction between Technion and innovative business in Israel. This year I am going to make more profound and research the whole system of Technion's cooperation with the government and industry.
Key words: Technion, Israel, innovative business, startups
Talovskaia Bela, National Research Tomsk State University, student
E-mail:
[email protected]
Recently the state of Israel attracts attention thanks to its high developing science-driven industries and innovative business. Many researchers try to solve a puzzle of "Israel's economic wonder". In this case Dan Senor and Saul Singer book "Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle" is of special interest. Technion – Israel's Institute of Technology is mentioned a lot of times in this publication and Israel government admits that Technion alumni, inventions and researches from Technion and start-ups opened at the institute have a large impact on Israeli economic. Once Danna Harman called Technion – Israel Institute of Technology "Israel's Hard Drive" in New York Times. Indeed many journalists, analysts and politicians consider Technion to be an engine of "Israel's economic miracle". However, they see the reason of such success in Technion's graduates and their inventions. I suppose that estimation of Technion's impact should be broader, and I try to find the grounds of graduates' achievements in a unique educational system combined with managerial culture and special startup infrastructure. This approach made Technion and its cooperation with Israeli government a great example of how triple helix theory works.
Conditions, in which Technion was established and developed, made this institute a centre of innovative creativity and business. Over the time administration of Technion was forming special infrastructure for startups and it has forged close links with the state government. Special organizations in Technion work with small startups and large industrial corporations. Cooperation between Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israeli government and industry was established many years ago by the efforts of Technion administration and graduates. The Technion is a base of power for Israeli economic. That is why Israeli economic is science-oriented, there is the biggest number of startups per capita in the world and Israel is called Startup Nation.
I have used following methods during the research work: cultural and orientational approach, historical analysis; structural and functional method; comparison method; analysis and synthesis methods.
During my research work I was looking for unique conditions and reasons why this kind of infrastructure and cooperation occurred in particular at Technion. And I concluded that the most meaningful are academic and administrative cultures. Unique systems of management and education were established under the influence of American and German universities. Academic culture forms particular scientific and creative way of thinking. After the times of changes and reforms administrative culture at Technion started to provide top-managers with an opportunity to think over strategically the development of Technion. Joint work of these parts lets Technion define large goals and achieve them.
It is worth to note the main principals of academic and administrative culture. Teaching in the Technion is based on several principals. The first one is interdisciplinarity. On the one hand, teaching is focused on creating of a domain specialist. On the other hand, a student learns how to see the world from the different points of view. A student's thinking is not focused narrowly on one type of solution. As a result interdisciplinary education teaches a student to look for different kinds of solutions for a problem. Another way of interdisciplinary teaching can be shown by special entrepreneurial training courses at Technion, which are organized by a Nobel laureate Dan Shechtman and by an economist and a co-author of "Technion Nation: Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World" Shlomo Maital. It has been working for 25 years, the core idea of the courses is a communication between students and successful start-upers (who are Technion graduates). They come to share their experience, to tell about their fails and achievements. Students write a feedback-essay as a homework after each lesson. In a such manner, many generations of Technion students were inspired ideas and creation of new projects and then they returned to these courses but as tellers of their own success stories.
The second essential principal of studying is an emphasis on applied researches. The lecturers are not theorists, but they are active participants of investigation process. Style of teaching forms new perception of science. Science for students is not an indisputable truth, it is perceived as a challenge, as a task. Undergraduates make scientific and creative approach. However, since researches for lecturers are more prioritized than teaching, the quality of teaching decreases and students have to look for a part of theory on their own.
Eventually these harsh conditions prepared graduates for hard work on the leading posts in large corporations. A 2010 survey of the Technion alumni showed that:
24% of respondents hold positions of top-managers in leading companies of the world and Israel;
41% of graduates are medium-level managers;
18% of alumni work as engineers.
Concurrently the contribution of Technion engineers let create 78 000 jobs for the establishment and support of new start-ups. Estimated total of Dun & Bradstreet a contribution of Technion graduates in Israeli GDP composed $ 21 billion.
As for administrative culture it joins traits of American and German managerial systems. From 1993 till 2005 the administrative system has been undergone gradual reforming. In 2005 contemporary system has formed. There is the Board of Governors like in American universities and academic Senate, which corresponds German type of university management. The Board of Governors is engaged with the issues of funding and strategies of development. The Senate is responsible for all the academic work. These bodies control and at the same time depend on executive subdivision which is presented by a president. Such posts as vice-presidents on different areas appeared. Besides the Board of Governors an executive committee was established. It represents the Board during the intervals between its annual meetings. As a result of these changes in 1990-2000 the governing body of Technion reacts on changing conditions faster and more dynamic at the same time there is an opportunity to design long-term development.
Simultaneously with reforming of managerial system an infrastructure for new start-ups has developed. Everything started with "technological incubators" for immigrants from former Soviet Union in 1990-s. There were many engineers and scientists with some innovative ideas among these immigrants. "Technological incubators" were aimed at adaptation of repatriates and appliance of their ideas practically. For this purpose Technion Entrepreneurial Incubator Company Ltd. was established in 1991. It was first-of-a-kind start-up in Israel. In these times the institute began its cooperation with business.
Recently there is a complex of different organizations supporting start-ups on distinct levels at Technion. A joint aim of these departments is maintenance of start-ups from stage of idea to sales of a resulting product. The largest organizations among them are: Bronicа Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, Т3 Technion Technology Transfer and Knowledge Center for Innovation.
All the described situation seems to be very positive. But there are several problems which will be solved by Technion administration and alumni. One of the challenge for the institute is "short life" of start-ups of great promise. Usually these new businesses are closed because of unprofitableness or large corporations buy them before the first success. Only small part of start-ups develops into stable companies. I found out that this problem causes another: Israeli innovations and inventions often leave the state of Israel and are used in international entities.
Another huge issue has demographic aspect and long-term affect. Two social groups provide Israel with population growth. They are the Arabs and orthodox Jewish. These social categories are the least baked in a process of R&D. Most of the children from Arabian or orthodox families do not know math, IT and physics as it is required at Technion. Without this base it makes no sense to study at Technion. The question is who will create innovations in the future? It is worth to give proper respect to Technion administration. They have already made special educational programs for the Arabian youth and people from orthodox Jewish families. Nowadays the number of Arabian students at Technion reached 18%. Also there are 18-month preparation courses for orthodox Jews.
As a conclusion, I want to say, that I suppose administrative and academic cultures the most meaningful aspects of Technion development as entrepreneurial university. Of course there are several problems now and in perspective, however, the managerial system will provide the institute with affective solutions. The next year I am going to research cooperation between Technion, the government and industry.
References
Gang, Lu "Israel, the Amazing Startup Nation" http://technode.com/2013/05/26/israel-the-amazing-startup-nation/ TechNode, 26 May 2013. Web. 20 May 2014.
Senor D. and Singer S. (2011) Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, Israel.
Harman, I 2013, 'The Technion: Israel's Hard Drive', The New York Times, p. ED17, Education Life, viewed 20 March 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/education/edlife/inside-the-technion-israels-premier-technological-institute-and-cornells-global-partner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
Kirsch U.(2013) Unique Characteristics in the Development of the Technion – Academic Excellence, National Contribution, Managerial Culture. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 136 P.
Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 135 P.
Yazamut Technion BEC [Online] http://www.yazamut.technion.ac.il/ [21 May 2014] .
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Gang, Lu "Israel, the Amazing Startup Nation" http://technode.com/2013/05/26/israel-the-amazing-startup-nation/ TechNode, 26 May 2013. Web. 20 May 2014.
Senor D. and Singer S. (2011) Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, Israel.
Harman, I 2013, 'The Technion: Israel's Hard Drive', The New York Times, p. ED17, Education Life, viewed 20 March 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/education/edlife/inside-the-technion-israels-premier-technological-institute-and-cornells-global-partner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Senor D. and Singer S. (2011) Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, Israel.
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Senor D. and Singer S. (2011) Start-up Nation: the Story of Israel's Economic Miracle, Israel.
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Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, P. 69
Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, P. 87.
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Kirsch U. (2013) Unique Characteristics in the Development of the Technion – Academic Excellence, National Contribution, Managerial Culture. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, P. 78
Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, p. 46
Yazamut Technion BEC [Online] http://www.yazamut.technion.ac.il/ [21 May 2014]
T3 Technology Technion Transfer [Online] http://t3.technion.ac.il/ [21 May 2014]
Knowledge Centre for Innovation [Online] http://innovation.technion.ac.il/page.asp?id=6 [21 May 2014]
Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, p. 113
Frenkel A., Maital S, Debare I. Technion Nation. Technion's Contribution to Israel and the World. Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, p. 113
