Israel

Israel

Close partnership with decades of history

Close collaborations with Israel, the world's leading science and research nation, are very important to the Max Planck Society the individual Institutes of which are currently involved in over 90 collaborative projects with six universities, the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), and other Israeli government research facilities. Many of these are EU-funded projects in which large international consortia collaborate. The contemporary close relations between the Max Planck Society and Israel are based on decades of interaction and information exchange.

The Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot, about 20 kilometres south of Tel Aviv is the Max Planck Society's key partner, not just because of its special historical relationship with this research Institute, but also because of its shared focus on basic research. It is no coincidence, therefore, that Professor Alon Chen, a leading member of one of the Max Planck Institutes, was elected President of the Weizmann Institute for the second time in late 2019 (after Daniel Zajfman). Other important partners for various Max Planck Institutes include the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University and the Technion in Haifa.

Multifaceted research collaboration between the two countries

2018 marked the start of two significant collaborative projects: The "Physics, Magnetism, Spintronics” partner group is hosted by the Max Planck Society and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem under the management of Professor Amir Capua, formerly of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle. The partner group develops electronic technologies that enable novel mensuration possibilities, as well as development processes, and data storage technologies. The Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids also collaborates with the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot to gain new insights into the zone between solid-state chemistry and physics and to develop crystalline materials with electrical properties through collaborative research projects at the "Topological Materials" Max Planck Lab in Israel. Dr. Binghai Yan heads up the Israel-based research groups whilst responsibility for group leadership at the Max Planck Institute in Germany lies with Yan Sun.

Two Max Planck Centres in Israel have now successfully completed their work: the first, which was conducting basic archaeological research collaboration with the Weizmann Institute, ended in 2016, and the second, which was working on neuroscience at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem ran until the end of 2019.

The Minerva Stiftung as a flagship of collaboration

The Minerva Stiftung, a non-profit limited liability company of which the Max Planck Society is the sole shareholder, exemplifies the particularly close relations between the Max Planck Society and its Israeli partners. Its objective is to promote scientific research in Germany and Israel as well as research exchanges and collaboration between researchers in both countries. The Max Planck Society would also like to strengthen relations between Germany and Israel, which is why it provides support for research projects and collaborations, research centres and individual projects in Israel and Germany through the Minerva Stiftung. [more]

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