Technion Society

of the Netherlands in 2011

July Newsletter

The Technion Society of the Netherlands in 2011

Board of Governors 2011

The Board of Governors of the Technion is the supreme authority of the Institute. It sets policy,
appoints top management, oversees operations, and is empowered to act, decide and direct in
all matters pertaining to the Institute as regulated by the Constitution and Statutes.

This year’s BOG was attended by our chairman Kobi Kurtz, accompanied at several occasions by
fellow board members Henk van Esch, Thomas Cohn, Hugo Heymans and Pim van den Dam.

While the program officially started on June 11^th, the Technion organized the Erev Shabbat Dinner
for overseas guests on the evening before. For the following five day the Technion organized a
wonderful program in which hundreds of Technion Governors and supporters from all around the
world gathered in a series of academic, cultural and social events.

The BOG 2011 was destined to be a memorable event for the Technion Society of the  
Netherlands, particularly due to its participation in the visit of Minister Maxime Verhagen, one of    
the highlights of the week.

Minister Verhagen Visits Technion

On the fourth day of the BOG, upon initiative of the Technion Society, Maxime Verhagen visited the Technion in his capacity as the Dutch Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

The Technion Society of the Netherlands had successfully nominated the Minister for an official Certificate of Appreciation for his steadfast and continuous interest and support of Israel. The certificate, in the form of a plaque was awarded to him during a festive lunch by the President of the Technion, Peretz lavie.

Prior to this, Minister Verhagen gave an interesting speech at Prof Golany’s Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management on : “ Innovation Nations Promoting Stronger Relations Between The Netherlands And Israel In A Changing Middle East”.

In this speech he advocated stronger academic and economic relations with Israel.

The minister made an inspiring statement with regard to the Technion and Technion Society of the Netherlands:

“I must say that I am envious of the number of start-up companies that emerge from this great university! And I hope that the Technion Society of the Netherlands will continue to grow”

Technion-Erasmus School of Economics

Recently the Technion Society received a letter from Prof Boaz Golany, Dean of Industrial Engineering and Management (IE&M) Faculty of the Technion in which he thanks the Technion Society for what has become a very successful collaboration with the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE).

In the past year, the Technion Society has set up and coordinated several meetings, cooperation efforts and a visit of the Dean of ESE to the Technion. As a result the Technion Society recently concluded an agreement to support specific collaboration activities between the Technion Faculty of IE&M and ESE. This provides the faculties with the (financial) means that enables them to set up collaboration efforts on three levels.

PhD Exchange: Vitalie Spinu and Amit Kothiyal, two PhD students from ESE, have been granted the opportunity to spend a full month at the Technion. From the Technion Kinneret Weiss has applied for a similar exchange to ESE in Rotterdam.

Staff exchange: The Technion Society has been evaluating the possibilities of having ESE lecturers teaching at the Technion, particularly in area of econometrics.

Joint Workshops in November: The Technion Society is currently involved in setting up a joint workshop on “Coping with Uncertainties in Operations Research and Engineering”. A group of renowned scientists from both faculties will run a program that covers the “hottest” topics in engineering and operations research. This workshop will take place in near the Dead Sea at Kibutz Ein-Gedi.

Technion-Erasmus Medical Center

With the goal of exploring possible avenues of collaboration, The Technion society arranged two visits of the Erasmus Medical Center to the Technion. This has resulted into Biomedical Engineering collaboration on Cardiovascular Ultrasound Techniques.

In this project the two institutes are complementing each other by exchanging research methods, materials, and PhD students. Assaf Hooghi, a PhD from the Biomedial Engineering group is currently spending 6 months in the Erasmus MC. He brought with him specific materials and is working in the laboratory while also giving lectures to Dutch students.

Prof Dan Adam, Dean of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty is particularly contented with the progress that has been made in such a short time:

“I would like to thank you for your initiative and support! It really made the difference between ideas/dreams – and reality. I do hope that other such activities will occur”

Prof Dan Adam, Dean Technion Biomedical Engineering Dept

Technion Executive Club

The Technion Society has finally made considerable progress with setting up the Technion Executive Club. The club has expanded with members from varying industries such as ING, Vanderlande Industries and KEMA.

The Executive Club is an exclusive club for corporate executives that have a strong affinity and interest in The Technion Israel Institute of Technology. Members pay an annual fee and enjoy several benefits the club has to offer, such as:

• Exclusive Technion Executive Club events
• Participation in the annual Board of Governors event at the Technion in Haifa
• Firsthand access to Technion relations network in Israel
• Access to research & development projects at the Technion
• VIP Access to general events organized by the Technion Society of the Netherlands

New & Resigning Board Members

Resigning Board Member

• Uri Rosenthal:

Due to his new position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Rosenthal had to resign                     
his position at Technion Society.

New board member

• Prof Hugo Heymans:

Prof Heymans is a graduate of the Technion and former chairman of Emma Children’s Hospital AMC. Prof Heymans has a strong affinity with Israel and after retirement, spending his time between Haifa and Amsterdam. 

Looking ahead: plans and events for 2011

Fall event

Our next big event will take place this fall. More information about the details will follow.

If you have any comments or questions you are more than welcome to contact us via telephone (+31-10 4531320) or email (www.technionfriends.nl).

We look forward to seeing you at the next event!

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