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The Technion In China
L
ast month, we and our wives, Eleanor
(Jackier) and Susie (Leemaster), had
the honor and privilege to be a part of
the American Technion Society delegation
to Shantou, China, for the groundbreaking
of the Guangdong Technion Israel Institute
of Technology (GTIIT). What an amazing
tribute to our community that four of the 10
Americans present were
from Detroit. We were
grateful to participate
in this moment of high
drama and to witness the
enthusiastic recognition
of the Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology as
a world-leading institu-
Lawrence S.
tion with extraordinary
Jackier
prestige and stature.
The GTIIT will be the
first campus of an Israeli
university on Chinese
soil, and the historic
partnership between the
Technion and Shantou
University promises to
usher in a new era of
cooperative research
Scott
Leemaster
between Israel and China
in science, engineering
and the life sciences. The initial class of
students is planned for 2016 with an initial
enrollment plan of 100 students for chemi-
cal engineering. At full build, the GTIIT is
expected to enroll some 5,000 students made
up of 4,000 undergraduate and 1,000 gradu-
ate students.
Things are already moving along at a rapid
rate. We were astounded by the pace of con-
struction and development of the campus.
Who would have ever imagined that
the Technion would be overseeing the
building of a high-tech and engineering
university in Shantou, China, to repli-
cate the type of institution the Technion is in
Haifa, Israel?
And who would have imagined that the
project would be funded by a charitable
foundation created by Li Ka Shing, one of the
wealthiest individuals in China and, at 87, an
incredible visionary?
Mr. Li, as he is commonly referred to,
is infatuated by and deeply committed to
the State of Israel. Like so many others, he
believes in Israel as the “Startup Nation” and
has invested in more than 50 Israeli startup
companies to date.
Mr. Li isn’t the only believer. The building
of a Technion replica in Shantou is also fully
supported by the governments of both China
and Israel. For China, having Chinese engi-
neers being trained in their own country and
developing skill sets at the high level of the
standards set by the Technion will provide a
huge boost to the Chinese economy and help
build a more talented middle class.
There are a myriad of other benefits for
China. Like others around the world, the
country’s leaders are actively looking to
build strategic partnerships with Israel. They
see how Israel has become a powerhouse
of science and technology, attracting more
venture capital and launching more startups
per capita than anywhere else on the planet.
The GTIIT will bring to China the Technion’s
expertise on creating a topnotch technologi-
cal institute and a strong dose of Israeli-style
entrepreneurialism on a strategic level.
For the Technion, being the first Israeli
university to have a campus in China means
Arthur M. Horwitz
Publisher / Executive Editor
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
increased global reach and stature. The deep
investment in the collaboration will also ben-
efit the research facilities and infrastructure
at the Technion’s Haifa campus and form
an anchor in the Far East that complements
the Technion’s partnership with Cornell
University at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell
Institute at Cornell Tech in New York City.
Additionally, an industrial park planned for
the GTIIT campus will serve as a foothold
for Israeli companies to crack key markets in
the U.S. and China.
For the State of Israel, the establishment
of a Technion campus in China is more
proof of how Israeli innovation is breaking
down geographic borders. China is already
one of Israel’s major partners in technol-
ogy and high-tech (more than 1,000 Israeli
companies are active in China), and the
building and development of the GTIIT is
surely another step toward a far deeper and
more extensive relationship between the two
countries.
Senior government officials from China
and Israel who were on hand lauded the tre-
mendous significance of this moment, and
we heard again and again from those who
participated in the groundbreaking that “this
is only the beginning.” The beginning, no
doubt, of the next chapters in the now inexo-
rably tied histories of Israel, the Technion,
China and the world.
*
Bloomfield Hills resident Lawrence S. Jackier is the
chairman of the Technion Board of Governors. Scott
Leemaster of Franklin is the chairman of the board
of the American Technion Society.
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Detroit Jewry Steps Up To Crisis In Flint
W
ater: It’s integral to life. But
its amount and purity matter.
Too little, too much or too
impure makes water a threat. People in the
city of Flint have discovered all too well the
impact of contaminated water, whatever the
cause of the poison.
The water crisis there prompted the
Detroit Jewish community to rally with
donations of cash and bottled water to help
stem not having enough potable H2O.
Detroit Jewry’s quick response after
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in January
declared a state of emergency in Flint is
just another example of how we as a Jewish
community rise to tikkun olam, repair of the
world, when the going gets tough for others.
Dangerous levels of lead were found in
Flint’s water system after the city, under
state financial management, changed from
Detroit water to Flint River water in a 2014
6 February 4 • 2016
cost-saving move. The city was reconnected
to Detroit water last fall, but the infrastruc-
ture of Flint’s water system already had fallen
into disrepair. A federal probe is seeking to
pinpoint what caused the massive system
failure.
The state clearly was slow in reacting to
contamination fears. It later designated $10.6
million not only to reconnect to Detroit
water, but also to provide testing, filters
and other monitoring. Federal aid also was
sought as the crisis garnered national head-
lines.
The JN article “Water For Flint” (Jan.
28, page 14) outlines how Metro Detroit
Jews reacted to the clarion call for help.
Synagogues, day school students, Jewish
organizations and the business community
banded together to spur donations. And the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit set
up a fund to help the Flint Jewish Federation
As a community, we’ve
proven caring, responsive
and generous.
and the United Way of Genesee County-led
Flint Child Health & Development Fund in
their work on behalf of victims of the cri-
sis. As a community, we’ve proven caring,
responsive and generous.
It’s no coincidence that Judaism consid-
ers water a metaphor for Torah, the belief
that Torah is as vital to Jews as water is to
humans. Jews apply many Torah lessons
to why it’s paramount to watch over water
purity and usability.
In Flint’s case, a practical lesson is never
losing sight of how a water source affects
lead in aging pipes that are part of a munici-
pal water supply.
For its part, the Detroit Jewish community
can rest assured it is extending a vital collec-
tive hand to the people of Flint in their des-
perate pursuit of drinkable water.
*
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