The Technion will establish a technology institute in China thanks to an unprecedented $130 million donation from the Li Ka-shing Foundation

This is the greatest contribution in the Technion's history and one of the greatest in the higher education system in Israel

The Technion and Shantou University will establish a joint academic-technological institute in China that symbolizes a new era in higher education, research and innovation in the fields of engineering, sciences and life sciences in China.

The new institute, which will be called "Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology" (TGIT), will be established thanks to a huge donation of 130 million dollars from the United States from the Li Ka-shing Foundation. Its establishment also reflects an unprecedented collaboration between the government of Guangdong Province (Guangdong, Shantau Municipality, the Technion and Shantau University. Guangdong Province and Shantau Municipality have allocated 900 million yuan (about 147 million dollars) for the construction of the institute and its initial operation. In addition, the institute has been allocated 330,000 m R on which the institute will be built, near Shantou University.

The donation from the Lee Ka-shing Foundation in the amount of 130 million dollars of the United States is the largest donation the Technion has received in its history and one of the most generous in the history of higher education in Israel. This donation will be dedicated to improving infrastructure and promoting the Technion's programs for the welfare of students and faculty at the campus in Haifa, which are essential for promoting the establishment of the institute in China.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the establishment of the "Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology" was signed today in a solemn ceremony in Tel Aviv by Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie and Provost (Rector) of Shantou University Professor Gu Paihua, in the presence of Foundation Chairman Mr. Li Ka-shing, Minister of Science Yaakov Perry and Governor of Guangdong Province Zhu Xiaodan (Zhu Xiaodan). The memorandum of understanding will be submitted for approval by the appropriate authorities at the Technion and in China.

From the 2014 school year, the Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology will offer bachelor's degree courses in civil and environmental engineering and computer science. The language of instruction in it will be English and the faculty who will study in it will be recruited from leading universities around the world. Next to the new technological institute in Guangdong, an innovation center will be established which will connect companies from Guangdong with Israeli technological innovation and promote the penetration of Israeli technologies into China and the joint development of innovation and entrepreneurship.

From 2014, the Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology and Shantou University will conduct joint research in the life sciences, with the aim of dealing with major challenges in the fields of society and quality of life, such as deficiencies in the health system and inaccuracies in medical diagnosis, using advanced technologies in the processing of large data bases.
By 2020, the institute will begin offering additional courses in other engineering fields, such as mechanical engineering or space engineering.

The partnership between Israel and the Li Ka-shing Foundation began in 2011, with the first visit of the foundation's representatives to the Technion and the reciprocal visit of Professor Peretz Lavie to the foundation's offices in Hong Kong. During the visit to Israel, the Horizons Fund invested - a venture capital fund owned by Lee
Ka-shing, at Waze. The foundation's profits from the sale of Waze to Google constitute part of the Li Ka-shing Foundation's contribution to the Technion.

"In the new world of dynamic borders, sometimes it seems that the ever-changing, amazing and enormous power of technology is a kind of magic wand, giving birth to new methods and new opportunities in many fields, and creating new solutions to old problems, at a speed that is difficult for us to catch up," said Mr. Li Ka-shing at the signing ceremony . "However, we all know that a magic wand never draws its power from the wizard who holds it. The magic comes from the inner abilities, not from an external force. We have the responsibility to invest in reforms in education, which will strengthen those internal abilities and enable the continued realization of human potential, the building of a knowledge-rich society and the creation of a sustainable quality of life for all."

Professor Guo Faihua said that the Technion proved to the world what the university of the future needs to do to spread values ​​of regional, national and international significance. He added that the Chinese economy and the economy of Guangdong Province are undergoing structural changes in which industrial and technological innovation play a central role. "The contribution of the Technion, its students and research staff to the advancement of the Israeli economy through research and innovation, can be an example and a model for universities in China," he emphasized. "If many universities in Guangdong and China act the way the Technion acts in Israel, an economy based on entrepreneurship and innovation will develop in China."
Professor Gu predicts that within ten years the Technion-Guangdong Institute of Technology will become the best technological school in Guangdong Province, and within twenty years - one of the best technological schools in China that will bring to the world new technologies and the start-up companies that will be developed by the students and faculty of the institute. Within 30 years, says Professor Gu, the institute's name will go beyond China's borders as an institute that excels in teaching and research, and as a center of Guangdong province's high-tech.

The president of the Technion, Professor Peretz Lavi, described the partnership as "an important breakthrough and an unusual opportunity to strengthen ties between Israel and China." According to him, "When you connect the Israeli, innovative and entrepreneurial spirit to the unimaginable size of China, a tremendous partnership is created. We hope that by combining our research methodologies with China's resources and its orders of magnitude, we will create a unique research institute of its quality, which will help not only China and Israel, but humanity as a whole. We believe in globalization and are convinced that intercultural dialogue is essential for the progress of science. The openness of the Technion and Shantou University to this dialogue is extremely important."

During the construction phase of the campus in Shantau, the institute's first students will study at the Technion for two years, and will return to Shantau in the third year, with the aim of fostering a local culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

The reaction of the Minister of Science
The Minister of Science, Technology and Space Yaakov Perry today congratulated the generous donation made by the "Li Ka Xing" Foundation to the Technion and the decision to establish a joint academic-technological institute for the Technion and "Shantao" University in China in the fields of engineering, sciences and life sciences. At the signing ceremony taking place at this time in Tel Aviv, Minister Perry said that the decision to establish the center has many implications for science, research and development in Israel: "Deepening cooperation in the fields of research and development with China is a mutual interest of national importance to the world of Israeli science and Israel's foreign relations with China."

The Technion, founded in 1912, has gained a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in many fields: nanotechnology, life sciences, stem cells, water management, sustainable energy, information technologies,
Biotechnology, materials engineering, space engineering and industrial engineering and management. The Technion is among the top 100 universities in the world according to the prestigious ranking of Shanghai University, and is one of ten universities in the world that built satellites and launched them into space. In the last nine years, three professors from the Technion won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Avraham Hershko and Aharon Chakhanover (2004) and Dan Shechtman (2011). A year ago, in partnership with Cornell University, the Technion won an international competition to establish an innovative research center in the heart of New York City.

Li Ka Shing Foundation

The foundation was founded in 1980 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Li Ka Shing. Lee refers to the foundation as his "third son", and he dedicated a third of his assets to it. To date, the foundation has allocated more than 14.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (1.86 billion US dollars) in donations, about 90% of which to support initiatives to reform education and promote medical services in the Greater China region.
The foundation supports projects that contribute to the advancement of society by expanding access to quality education, medical services and medical research, and encourages cultural diversity and community involvement. For more information

Shantou University

Shantou University was established in 1981 in Guangdong Province in Southeast China by the Ministry of Education, the Guangdong Provincial Government and the Li Ka Xing Foundation. It is one of the important universities operating within the "211 Project" in Guangdong Province. Shantou University operates ten schools and colleges, five affiliated hospitals and 21 academic departments, and offers 36 undergraduate courses, 84 master's courses and 25 doctoral courses. The university has 9,448 students, and it has already qualified more
From 70,000 graduates, working in various industries and organizations. Shantou University is the only public university in the world to receive long-term funding from the Li Ka Shing Foundation, which has contributed more than HK$6 billion to the university so far.
For more information