Bar-Ilan University inaugurated its new Center for Energy and Sustainability and a Multidisciplinary School for Sustainability and the Environment on Monday as part of its initiative to invest hundreds of millions of shekels in research and environmental projects in Israel and around the world over the next decade.
Bar-Ilan University’s Center for Energy and Sustainability hosts 55 research groups and will focus on research and development of renewable energy from the early stages to active technologies. In addition, the center will work to cultivate entrepreneurs and researchers within Israel’s energy industry.
“Security is energy”
"As David Ben Gurion put it, security is energy. We need a combination of different types of energy and the crisis in Europe shows that we can't give up on any of them at the moment. We must lead the world of energy and an institute like the one inaugurated at Bar-Ilan is the place from which results will emerge,” said Energy Minister Karin Elharrar, who was in attendance at the inauguration.
AI (Artificial Intelligence), storage, hydrogen, networks, current stability and high voltage are some of the topics that will be researched by Bar-Ilan's experts at the new facilities, which aim to attract leading researchers from Israel and abroad to promote research and build industry collaborations.
"We are pleased and excited to collaborate with Bar-Ilan University researchers, who are world leaders in the development of the energy and climate technologies of the future, said Roee Furman, Managing Director of Doral Energy-Tech Ventures.
“We are facing a decade of opportunities for real change in the fight against the climate crisis and we at Doral are proud to be a pioneering force in funding and supporting applied research that will place Israel at the forefront in the war on global warming," he added.
Alongside the research center, the Multidisciplinary School for Sustainability and the Environment will be the university's teaching center and will train the next generation of practitioners in these fields — critical industries that have seen a steady increase in the number of applicants for study.
"Just like during COVID-19, we are faced with an existential need that requires mobilization of the minds. This cannot be achieved without research and academia, and we have the best minds in the world here to meet this challenge," Amir Livne, Vice President of Strategy at the Israel Electric Company, declared.