Science as Diplomacy of Trust

The German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology 2008 is being launched on the initiative of the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Dr Annette Schavan, and the Israeli Minister of Science, Culture and Sports, Galeb Majadle.

Its aim is to extend and intensify Germany and Israel's bilateral cooperation in science and research, which began almost 50 years ago.

The German-Israeli Year of Science kicked off with a concert in the glass courtyard of the Jewish Museum in Berlin on 7 April. On the following day, the two ministers opened the Year of Science in the Leibniz hall of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Berlin. After speeches by Federal Minister Schavan and Minister Majadle, there was a symposium on "Science as a Diplomacy of Trust", which is the motto of the German-Israeli Year of Science, featuring 20 young scientists from each country who specialize in different scientific fields.

The German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology has the aim of highlighting the diversity and excellence of our bilateral cooperation in the field of science. A further objective is to raise awareness of Germany as a key location of research among Israelis. Special emphasis will be put on cooperation between young scientists from both countries, to ensure that the outstanding research partnership between Germany and Israel will continue in the next generation. For the first time, a Young Scientist Prize will be awarded in the course of the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology 2008.

However, we want to go beyond the tried and tested approaches and initiate new developments. While current projects focus on cooperation between scientific institutions in Germany and Israel, the Year of Science will also encourage application-oriented collaborations in research and development. A further aim is to strengthen the humanities and social sciences. The new Minerva Centre for the Humanities and Social Sciences will be an important milestone in these efforts. The call will be announced in 2008. Medical sciences, security research and environmental research are further priority areas of the Year of Science and Technology.

A number of events will take place in Germany and Israel throughout the Year of Science. They will mainly be organized by the BMBF and by BMBF-funded pillars of cooperation such as Minerva, BMBF-MOITAL-MOST, the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), and the German-Israeli Project Cooperation in Future-Oriented Fields (DIP).

Further events will be carried out by the research and science organizations that are active in German-Israeli cooperation: the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (HGF), the Max Planck Society (MPG), the Fraunhofer Society (FhG) and the German Research Association (DFG). Organizations for the support of science, such as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), as well as the German Länder will also be involved in the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology, which will officially be concluded in Israel in November 2008, on the anniversary of the foundation of GIF. 

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  Opening address by Minister Galeb Majadle

  I am very pleased to be here today at this official ceremony to open the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology together with my friend Dr Annette Schavan, the German Federal Minister of Education and Research. The decision of carrying out a special series of events to honour scientific cooperation between our two countries is based on our desire to draw public attention to, and to strengthen, this important area of the partnership between Germany and Israel.
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  Opening Address by Federal Minister Dr. Annette Schavan

  Our science systems are becoming increasingly international, and the number of international research collaborations is growing. German-Israeli research cooperation in particular has developed excellently over the past years. As a high-tech country with the world's largest density of researchers and engineers, Israel is an attractive partner for Germany in research and industry collaborations.
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  Highlights

  This category provides information about the activities - symposiums, panel discussions, workshops, lectures etc. - taking place under the umbrella of the German-Israeli Year of Science and Technology 2008.
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