Marking 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel, a new Israel Centre was launched at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) on Sunday.
Inaugurating the Centre, Israeli Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said that it would lead to the upgrading of academic collaboration between the nations to make the countries and economies stronger and better.
“One must find academic partners who are like-minded in the pursuit of knowledge, but on the other hand, with a different worldview to contribute to fruitful academic dialogue,” he said drawing references to the Israel Centre at IIMB.
Elaborating specifically on the industrial environment of Bengaluru and comparing it to that of Israel, he added that the new Centre would implicate a “merger of the ecosystems” even at the international level. Urging more academic collaboration between institutes of the two nations, the Ambassador said, “We need to continue to encourage more student exchanges between India and Israel which will lead to us witnessing the fruits of labour in the years to come,” he added.
According to senior IIMB faculty and chairperson of the Centre Prof Abhoy K. Ojha, the Centre marks the beginning of a new academic relationship between the nations, which in turn would lead to deeper engagement.
Addressing the audience, IIMB Director Prof G. Raghuram said the Centre is the consolidation of the Israel-centric work at the Institute over the years. “The Centre will be used as a launch pad to do more along the lines in depth and in breadth collaborations between academia of the two countries,” he said.
IIMB has been continuing research collaborations and student exchange programmes with Tel Aviv University, one among the major varsities situated at Israel, for the past four years.
Scholars from Israel visiting the institute were also highlighted by Prof Raghuram as another aspect of the bilateral academia relations at the campus. “India’s strong aspirational entrepreneurial spirit stands to gain from Israel’s vibrant technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Israel’s aim for market scale up would be aided by India’s large market with innovative opportunities,” he explained. Ajay Vipin Nanavati, Chairman of Syndicate Bank and former CEO of 3M Israel and 3M India, threw light on what Indians could learn from the Israeli system. “Israel has learnt to operate outside silos – academia, government and industry work together with aiming always to reach the goal.
The pace of decision-making, the candour they possess, focus on technology and the healthy disrespect for hierarchy they follow are from what we can study a lot from,” he said. Consul General of Israel in Bengaluru Dana Krush was also present.
