BGU | VISION TAKES SHAPE

COLLABORATION To the founder of BGU’s Computer Science Department, the logic is simple: If the soldiers in the IDF’s elite technology units drive Israel’s military and scientific breakthroughs, the university where they do their research will develop the innovations that change the world. When Prof. Shlomi Dolev established the department in 2000, he emphasized recruiting researchers who had studied at Israel’s other top universities. He also—in a departure from common practice—urged researchers not to hire their former students as faculty. The resulting diversity of approaches and freedom for independent thinking has helped BGU become the leading academic source for top-level jobs in innovative companies.* It has also made BGU one of the top five universities in the world to produce talent for next generation tech startups.** Now, with the construction in Beer-Sheva of the new IDF C4i Campus for its elite technological units, BGU can leverage this core strength into game-changing impact. Currently prevented by available space from educating more undergraduates, the Computer Science Department will soon take up residence in the new Helmsley Building on the North Campus. Together with the advanced classrooms in the Drahi Innovation Building, the department can absorb the influx of new students the IDF’s move south will bring. As a result, BGU won a bid from among all of Israel’s universities to provide several branches of the IDF’s elite technology soldiers with their undergraduate degrees. Many of these soldiers will naturally remain at BGU for their master’s and PhDs; this combination of Israel’s top computer-science researchers and most outstanding graduate students will result in lucrative IP, groundbreaking technologies, and companies working to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

Prof. Shlomi Dolev (far right) and his photonics-computing research group. By replacing electrons with photons (or light), researchers hope to achieve millions of times the current computing efficiency. The group included then doctoral student Nati Shaked, current chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tel Aviv University, and then-master’s student Hen Fitoussi, who is currently product manager at Israel’s Google AI.

* According to the 2022-2023 Global Employability University Ranking and Survey. **According to Lightspeed Venture Partners, June 2023.

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