BGU&U | SPRING 2022

Science for a Food-Secure World

L-R: BGU Rep. Alona Kushnir, VP & Director-General David Bareket; Watergen Co-CEO Michael Rutman; Rector Prof. Chaim Hames; Laura Mirilashvili; Michael Mirilashvili; President Chamovitz; UAE minister Mariam bint Mohammaed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, and Ambassador Mohamed Al Khaja. Photo: Dani Machlis

ISRAEL With the establishment of a first-of-its-kind School of Sustainability and Climate Change in March 2021, BGU sought to leverage the University’s unique expertise on living and thriving in the desert into scalable solutions for the world’s environmental crises. When, a few months later, the Israeli-Georgian businessman and philanthropist Michael Mirilashvili decided to support a center for food security research and development at the University, he took a decisive step toward moving the needle forward. Dedicated to meeting the challenge of water scarcity through innovative technologies, the center offers new hope for the two billion people around the globe who live in deserts and drylands. Named for Mirilashvili’s father, the Moshe Mirilashvili Center for Food Security in the Desert is a partnership of BGU with Mirilashvili’s agricultural-technology company Vertical Field and water-from-air technology company Watergen. The Mirilashvili Center will also collaborate with academic and industry partners in the United Arab Emirates, which

has made significant advances in solar-powered desalination in recent years. The Center will be located at the University’s Sde Boker campus, home to the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, and its development guided by world-renowned food security expert and BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz. The Center’s official launch on July 14, 2021 at BGU was attended by Michael Mirilashvili, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment H.E. Mariam bint Mohammaed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, and UAE Ambassador to Israel H.E. Mohamed Al Khaja, among others. “We need to take action because people are suffering now. They cannot wait decades for long-range plans,” said Michael Mirilashvili about the need for a collaborative center for research on food security. “What we are doing here will be an example for the region .”

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