The Center for Educational Technology (CET) is setting up a technology incubator in the Negev town of Yeruham to encourage technological innovation and development in education. The incubator will begin operating in June.
The incubator will raise $10 million over five years for Israeli entrepreneurs in education to develop and produce technology models and solutions, and to conduct research on the link between digital culture and the education system. CET director of the Humanities Avi Warshavsky will head the incubator. He was one of the founders and developers of the digital books platform Kotar.
The incubator will have three divisions, including a garage, where entrepreneurs will work on their solutions to problems and challenges in education; a laboratory, which will link the incubator with selected schools and classrooms to identify the education system's technology needs; and an aquarium, which will serve as the first research and data center of its kind for education and technology.
CET director Gila Ben Har said, "Israel is known as a world-class high-tech and entrepreneurship powerhouse, but it is still necessary to continue to invest to bridge the digital divide between our technological capabilities and applying them in the education system."
As for the choice of setting up the incubator in Yeruham, Ben Har said, "This is a natural choice for us, as part of the goal to establish and encourage start-ups to operate in the Negev, and to share in community activities in the region and work with education institutions in Yeruham and its environs."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 21, 2012
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