Industrial research partnership signed on Governor General’s Middle East visit

Vancouver, BC — Today, during the Governor General of Canada’s state visit to Israel, an agreement was signed to create opportunities for graduate students in Canada and Israel to participate in industrial research exchanges between the two countries. The agreement is between Mitacs, a Canadian not-for-profit research and training organization, and the Israel Innovation Authority through the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF).

The agreement was signed by Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director of Mitacs, and Avi Hasson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CIIRDF and the Israel Innovation Authority. 

The signing is part of a visit to the Middle East, including Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank, undertaken by the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. His Excellency is accompanied by a Canadian delegation whose purpose is to strengthen Canada’s ties with regional partners, with a particular focus on innovation, along with development, security, and humanitarian needs.

The Mitacs-CIIRDF partnership will help to foster research and technology partnerships between Canadian and Israeli companies and universities.  Through the partnership, up to 20 graduate student researchers from each country will have the opportunity to take part in 16-24 week industrial research internships in the other country.

The internships will support R&D feasibility studies in all disciplines, with a focus on water resource management, neuroscience, mobile health technologies, and cybersecurity or big data. 

The agreement is the first of its kind to foster bilateral industrial research internships for Canadian and Israeli students. It’s modelled after Mitacs’ successful domestic internship program, which pairs graduate students to solve research-based challenges in partnership with companies and not-for-profit organizations in Canada.

Quotes:

Alejandro Adem, CEO and Scientific Director, Mitacs
“Israel has long been recognized as one of Canada’s key innovation partners on the world stage. This partnership represents our shared interests to foster innovation by supporting research-based exchanges for the benefit of students and companies in both countries.”

Henri Rothschild, President, CIIRDF
“We at CIIRDF are thrilled to unite with Mitacs in building a new and strategic cooperation between Canada and Israel that will recruit some of the brightest young minds in both countries for the important task ahead. Through this accord, we will establish long lasting partnerships based on scholarship, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity.”

Quick facts:

• Within Canada, Mitacs has worked with 60 universities, over 6,000 companies, and federal and provincial governments, building partnerships that support innovation.
• To further strengthen international research collaborations, Mitacs offers two-way mobility opportunities between Canada and partner countries — Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia — for undergraduate and graduate students.
• The Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation (CIIRDF) stimulates collaborative research and development between private sector companies in both countries, with a focus on the commercialization of new technologies.
• Recognized as one of the most successful partnership models of its kind, CIIRDF-supported R&D partnerships have generated a wealth of direct and indirect economic benefits for both nations.
• CIIRDF has financed more than 90 bilateral technology partnerships that engage more than 160 Canadian and Israeli companies, generating hundreds of millions in economic value for Canadian and Israeli companies over the past decade.

Learn more:

• To learn more about the Governor General of Canada’s Official Delegation to the Middle East, see http://www.gg.ca
• For information about Mitacs’ programs, see Mitacs.ca/newsroom
• Information about CIIRDF may be found at ciirdf.ca

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Photo: Mitacs CEO Alejandro Adem and Avi Hasson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CIIRDF and the Israel Innovation Authority.