US-Israel Binational Science Foundation Celebrates 5 Decades of Driving Scientific Excellence

Jerusalem, 19 September, 2022 (TPS) -- The US-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) celebrated its 50th-anniversary last week at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., with some of the leading policymakers in science and technology and influencers from the US and Israel.

Marking the intent to widen US-Israel scientific cooperation, a new agreement for joint research in the field of quantum was signed at the event.

The event also marks the 10-year partnership with the US National Science Foundation (NSF), which has further expanded the opportunities for meaningful binational scientific cooperation.

A statement by the BSF said that “international research collaboration is a critical driver of successful, innovative science.”

The BSF was founded in 1972 to promote “innovative, collaborative research” across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Since its inception, the BSF – whose core value is excellence through collaboration – has awarded over $1 billion to over 5,500 researchers.

“Many of these have led to important scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs that contribute to humanity and the relations between the two countries, and fuel technological development and innovation in both,” the statement said.

Through the new agreement signed on quantum research, the Israeli Ministry of Innovation will award five grants per year in the amount of NIS 1 million each for the next four years to Israeli researchers, for research projects in the quantum field that will be conducted in collaboration with scientists from the US. The grants will be administered through the BSF and the NSF will fund the US side of the collaboration.

The NSF is the American government’s largest research grant foundation in all areas of science, with an annual budget of $9 billion.

Executive Director US-Israel BSF Prof. Anton Post said that “the BSF proudly looks back at 50 years of accomplishments and is looking forward 0o advance research collaborations that advance the technologies of tomorrow.”

Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to the US at the time, brought to fruition the concept behind the BSF, which was conceived by the Israeli government.

Each of the BSF-supported research collaborations includes at least one Israeli and at least one American principal investigator. Grants are made on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis and proposals are rigorously evaluated by leading experts from the US, Israel, and around the world.  They enable early- and mid-career scientists in both countries to jump-start international collaborations and establish themselves.

Many recipients of BSF-sponsored grants have gone on to win prestigious prizes, including 48 Nobel  Laureates – among them Professors Dan Shechtman, Ada Yonath, Robert J. Aumann, Aaron  Ciechanover, and Avram Hershko – as well as numerous Turing Awards, Fields Medal, and Wolf  Prize recipients.