The France-Israel Foundation held its first ever excellence award for scientific research ceremony on Wednesday, spotlighting the work of two scientists in France and two in Israel. The ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
With scientific and diplomatic figures on the stand and approximately 200 mostly researchers in the public, the four award winners gave highly technical presentations in their two fields of work.
The award winners included Technion Institute senior lecturer Dr. Shulamit Levenberg and INSERM researcher Dr. Michel Pucéat for their stem cell work, and Dr. Hossam Haick from the Technion and Dr. Christian Muchardt from INSERM for cancer research.
They were each given awards of 3000 euros.
“We need more young researchers,” said French Minister Higher Education and Research Valérie Pécresse, “and the Foundation is facilitating intellectual, cultural and scientific exchanges between France and Israel.”
With the ceremony on the sidelines of the visit by Israeli President Shimon Peres to Paris, Ms. Pécresse noted, “it is symbolic of a long-standing friendship between the two countries that the first official state visit for President Sarkozy since taking office is from Israel.”
Foundation President Jacques Huntzinger was much more precise about the future of cooperation with Israel. “We must change the rhythm of cooperation here in France because the French system is much slower and unwieldy to work with than the Anglo-Saxon system,” he said from the podium, “and Israel is much closer to the Anglo-Saxon system.”
In France, international cooperation in scientific research takes place in public, state-financed and run centers such as INSERM and the CNRS. In Israel, research is done in university centers such as the Technion, the Weizmann Institute and Ben-Gurion University, with close cooperation and financing from private industry and the state. Compared perhaps with other international awards, 3000 euros is not a lot of money. The Foundation has no relations with private industry or high-tech poles, hence the modest amount of award money, though it was not said outright.
“Germany, Japan and Canada, not to mention the US, have more fluid research arrangements with Israel than France,” Huntzinger told the gathering. “And this must change.”
After the ceremony, which was organized by Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO David Kornbluth and Technion France delegate Muriel Touaty, among others, Foundation head Huntzinger said, “We must attract private investment to the Foundation. This kind of arrangement is simply not a French tradition, and it is a handicap for us.”
Professor Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, the 1997 Nobel Prize winner in physics, and who presided over the award ceremony, noted, “Israel has both government participation in research and business development and private investment. We must do this here in France. For example, tax structures must be amended to favor private investment in research.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 16, 2008
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