BGU | PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2026

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PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2026

NUR LAB The NUR (Negev Urban Research) Lab , which operates under the Office of the Vice President for Regional and Industrial Development, expanded significantly over the past year and currently has a staff of 12, including students from BGU and the Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE). The Lab is involved in the Consensus Space initiative, an interactive platform for the design of heritage spaces, in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage. In the wake of October 7, the Ministry launched a national initiative aimed at the rehabilitation, preservation, and shaping of collective memory in the region affected by Oct. 7 events. The project utilizes the interactive CityScope platform developed by the MIT Media Lab, designed to support consensus-based decision-making by enabling open dialogue and meaningful engagement among stakeholders. The platform integrates three layers: a physical model of the region; a digital layer incorporating data, events, narratives, and additional information projected onto the model; and an interactive interface that enables communities and stakeholders to participate actively in planning and decision-making processes. As a research laboratory located in the Negev, the NUR Lab focuses on desert urbanism, with particular attention to shade and heat mitigation. This year, the Lab collaborated with DeserTech, the Yazamut 360 0

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS Industry partnerships also continued to expand. The formal launch for collaboration between aviation giant Boeing and BGU’s cybersecurity laboratories, led by Prof. Yuval Elovici, was celebrated in January 2026. This collaboration will promote proactive cybersecurity research for autonomous, digital, and connected aerospace systems, including the development of advanced security systems, secure communication technologies, resilient autonomous platforms, and technologies for future aviation systems. As a research laboratory located in the Negev, the NUR Lab focuses on desert urbanism The Office of the Vice President for Regional and Industrial Development led discussion between the Municipality, the University and additional partners, to convince NVIDIA to establish its next research and development center in the Advanced Technologies Park. NVIDIA is expected to significantly expand its current Beer-Sheva R&D center, tripling its size to approximately 3,000 m 2 . The new center, expected to become fully operational by the end of the first half of 2026, will focus on artificial intelligence technologies and recruit hundreds of new employees from southern Israel.

Google visit in Dec. 2025. L-R: Orna Berry, VP Prof. Raz Jelinek, VP Prof. Dan Blumberg, Royal Hansen, Vice President for Privacy, Safety and Security Engineering at Google, and BGN CEO Josh Peleg