That partnership started in 2012 and focuses on clean energy research and the exchange of faculty and students between the institutions for collaborations on that topic and other projects to promote sustainability.<\/p>\n
The MOU creates a framework for UConn and the Technion to translate their research into clean energy companies and strategies to transition away from fossil fuel dependence to carbon-neutral economic development. In Connecticut, the research has the potential to help the state become a regional green hydrogen hub.<\/p>\n
Maric and Daniel Weiner, UConn\u2019s vice president for global affairs, represented the University during the five-day economic development mission to Israel. They provided critical perspectives throughout the visit on ways in which UConn\u2019s role as a major research institution enhances Connecticut\u2019s attractiveness for new companies and investments.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the highlights for me was that one of the faculty members from Technion said, \u2018Governor Lamont, we choose UConn because you have one of the best universities in the world\u2019,\u201d Maric said Monday as she joined Lamont and others at Connecticut Innovations headquarters in New Haven for an overview of the mission.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said that they come to UConn because of its vision and investment in its infrastructure, equipment, and faculty,\u201d she added. \u201cTo advance technology and to address societal challenges such as clean energy, we cannot do that without a research university \u2013 and UConn is that research university.\u201d<\/p>\n Maric, Weiner, Lamont, and others spent five days following a packed schedule of key meetings and other gatherings<\/a> with Israeli business incubators and entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, leaders in higher education and government, and others focused on innovation and employment growth.<\/p>\n In addition to the Governor and UConn representatives, the delegation included companies in aerospace and healthcare; fintech company Digital Currency Group; the Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut; Connecticut Innovations; and the state Department of Economic and Community Development.<\/p>\n David Lehman, Connecticut\u2019s commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said they focused on industry areas in which Connecticut and Israel have common interests and where potential is ripe for collaboration such as fintech, biotech and life sciences, food and agriculture technology, and aerospace and defense.<\/p>\n Not by coincidence, UConn\u2019s curriculum and research also aligns strongly with the same areas, in which it has strength both in helping startup companies develop and launch; and in providing students with strong foundations to build careers and innovate in those fields after graduation.<\/p>\n During the trip\u2019s third day, Maric was an invited participant in a discussion on female-led innovation and workforce development<\/a> led by Ruth Porat, chief financial officer of Google and its multinational holding company, Alphabet Inc. Maric and representatives from Technion also led a session around their clean energy initiative.<\/p>\n Maric said that meeting people and spending time exploring ideas together was extremely valuable, and that the trip\u2019s benefits will be long-lasting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was truly a win-win: a lot of learning, a lot of building relationships, a lot of thinking about what\u2019s next in fintech, in bioengineering, in digital health, in personalized medicine, and in clean energy,\u201d she said. \u201cI see this as an important relationship for us to help advance our state to the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to their small size but strength in innovation \u2013 both \u201cpunching above our weight,\u201d Lamont joked \u2013 Connecticut and Israel also share economic and cultural concerns, including determining how to ensure that opportunities are available across the board to traditionally underserved or disadvantaged groups.<\/p>\n The themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion emerged many times in meetings throughout the visit in the gatherings, including with the Google executives and with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.<\/p>\n In each of the gatherings, the participants reiterated that Israel views their innovation, entrepreneurship, and small company formation as one important element of the process to promote peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews.<\/p>\n During the visit, Maric and Weiner also were able to share details of the UConn Abrahamic Initiative<\/a> \u2013 established before the Abraham Accords \u2013 which is successfully promoting regional academic cooperation along with peace building.<\/p>\n The latest UConn Abrahamic program is specifically focused on how universities contribute to local and regional innovation and entrepreneurship, and best practices for empowering historically marginalized populations in the process.<\/p>\n Maric and Weiner also were able to learn more about Israeli innovation in food and agricultural technology, or ag tech, including ways in which food can be produced with sustainable land and water use.<\/p>\n Officials said Monday that two of the companies they pitched to come to Connecticut work in that field, and including one that makes meat from stem cells and therefore produces no methane.<\/p>\n The interest from the Israeli companies is potentially excellent news for UConn, where the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR)<\/a> is exploring the potential to launch a food tech innovation lab, and where faculty members have already made discoveries in growing meat from stem cells.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis cultured meat and chicken (industry) is fascinating,\u201d Lamont said Monday. \u201cThese production facilities are not manufacturing \u2013 this is lab space.<\/p>\n \u201cNecessity is the mother of invention. Israel doesn\u2019t have a lot of land, they don\u2019t have a lot of water, and they like meat and chicken,\u201d he added. \u201cSo here\u2019s an opportunity to develop 10 lbs. of prime beef without water, without acres of land, without any of that environmental devastation. They\u2019ve got preliminary approvals about it, and they\u2019re very interested in Connecticut.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘It was truly a win-win: a lot of learning, a lot of building relationships, a lot of thinking about what\u2019s next’ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":182417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2224,88,2076,2235,2227,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1932],"class_list":["post-182433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cahnr","category-global-affairs","category-research","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-edu-homepage","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-27 15:45:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182433"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182440,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182433\/revisions\/182440"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/182417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182433"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=182433"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=182433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"delegation](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/048ae6d4-76b3-47ce-8b22-ff0dec6d19a6-300x200.jpeg\")
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