Above: Australian Assistant Minister for Defence the Hon Stuart Robert MP (left) with BGU VP and Dean, R&D (Elect) Prof. Dan Blumberg on Sunday at BGU.
The Australian Assistant Minister for Defence, the Hon Stuart Robert MP, led a delegation of business and academic leaders to BGU on Sunday under the auspices of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce. The visit focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and defense, including the role of BGU in fostering the development of the high tech industry in the Negev.
“I am leading a science and technology delegation here to learn about Israel as a nation that encourages innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, especially the way government, academia and industry cooperate to develop and commercialise new technologies,” said Mr. Robert. “There are a lot of similarities between Australia and Israel – the small population, the entrepreneurial, innovative and energetic people. “We have leading representatives of industry, commerce, finance, law, and some of our top academics here today,” he added. Mr. Robert is the Federal Member for Fadden. He served in the military and had a career as an entrepreneur before entering politics.
The delegation met with Netta Cohen, CEO of BGN Technologies, the University’s technology transfer company as well as researchers from the Telekom Innovation Laboratories at BGU who focus on cybersecurity. They also met with Prof. Dan Blumberg, VP and Dean, R&D (elect) and head of the Homeland Security Institute and visited the Autonomous Robotics Laboratory of Prof. Hugo Guterman.
The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce delegation includes representatives of Deakin, La Trobe, Melbourne, Monash, New South Wales and RMIT Universities, Cisco Systems, Dimension Data, CB Aerospace, KACOM, Allens, Georgina Pastoral and DJ Capital.
The mission of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce is to encourage business-to-business networking within Australia and bilateral trade between Australia and Israel, which it has successfully been doing since 1970.The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) is Australia's pre-eminent international Chamber of Commerce and one of the country's most prestigious and active national business organisations. The AICC's national membership exceeds 1,000 leading Australian companies across a broad range of industry sectors. Fifteen of the top 25 companies in Australia are currently members or sponsors of the AICC.
BGU aspires to fulfill the vision of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. He believed that Israel's future lay in the development of the Negev. Today, at its campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat, close to 20,000 students are enrolled. Its scientists and researchers are at the forefront in diverse fields such as arid zone research, cyber security, biotechnology, nanotechnology, biomedical technology, Hebrew Literature, Jewish Thought, History, Psychology and more.
Above: The delegation led by the Hon Stuart Robert MP (second from right) visiting the Autonomous Robotics Laboratory at BGU on Sunday. The photo is taken from within an autonomous vehicle.
