Tel Aviv University (TAU) will open the Center for Innovation Laboratories before the start of the 2021-22 school year. The center aims to advance research in various fields that could have real-world applications while consulting with experts in relevant industries in order to identify specific needs and issues within these sectors.
The university emphasized that it will continue to conduct the majority of its basic research at existing facilities, while the new center will focus on topics that are less commonly addressed in academic research, such as graphic design and supporting democracy by finding solutions to fake news and improving government-citizen relations.
The center will include laboratories for genetics, robotics, environmental sustainability, computational economics, law and more while advancing the university's long-term goals of expanding international and multidisciplinary cooperation, as well as working more closely with industries and society as a whole.
The center will also follow an unusual model for intellectual property rights, by which all participants, including the school, industry partners and researchers will receive a license granting full access to the research products.
The director of the center, Prof. David Mendlovic, is optimistic that the new department will bring together academia and industry to push the boundaries of research: "The academic freedom to create and innovate on the one hand, and the desire for research that has practical applicability on the other, has led to a center that brings together innovation labs dealing with a variety of topics and actors such as industry, hospitals and government agencies."
TAU hopes activities at the center will lead to practical, applicable solutions within three to seven years.
"The new center is an important engine that will translate research at the highest level into practical action," said TAU president Prof. Ariel Porat. "I am glad that leading companies have decided to put their trust in our new model and join the center as partner members.”
