To promote the innovate cooperation of Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence between China and Israel. The first China-Israel Joint Seminar on Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence Technology Cooperation was jointly held by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space of Israel and the Chinese Academy of Sciences on March 20 – 21. The seminar is undertaken by the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASIA). Professor Jie Zhang (the Vice President of the CAS), Mr. Ofir Akunis (Israeli Minister of Science, Technology and Space), Prof. Alexander Bligh (Chief Scientist of the Israeli Ministry of Science, Technology and Space) and Mr. Jie Xu (Associate Counsel of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China) gave remarks on the opening ceremony.
Zhang Jie started his talk by extending his welcome to the Israeli delegation for their visit to Beijing and expressing thanks to Chinese and Israeli scientists attended the seminar. He noted that Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence are the international cross-disciplinary research hotspots and frontier areas. He also introduced the work arrangements as well as future plans of Chinese government at different levels, CAS and other research institutions in brain science and innovation. In future, China will continue to increase funding for this research area. In the meantime, Chinese National Brain Science Program - "Brain Science and Brain-inspired Science Research" project is about to start, this project plans to fund related science research and continue into 2030. Zhang Jie also pointed out that China has always attached importance to openness and cooperation, Israel was known for its "innovation-oriented country" and " entrepreneurship-oriented country ". Since both countries attach importance to science and innovation, these areas have been listed as one of the key areas of cooperation by both sides. As this seminar brought together the top scientists in the above-mentioned areas of the two countries, He envisioned that both sides will take this opportunity to deeply explore the specific cooperation plans and the possibility of establishing a sustainable long-term mechanism of cooperation.
Ofir Akunis expressed that the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space of Israel had signed cooperation agreements with 25 institutions in 17 countries to promote scientific and innovative cooperation between Israeli scientists and international counterparts. And the cooperation agreement with Chinese government was one of the most important agreements. During this visit to Beijing, Chinese and Israeli Ministry of Science will also sign a new science and technology cooperation agreement on co-financing cooperation projects and building joint laboratories. It was the first time the two countries held a seminar on brain science at the government level and showed both of the governments attach great importance to cooperation in brain science. He hoped that both scientists would fully discuss and establish cooperative relations.
This seminar was one of the supporting activities of the third conference of the Joint Commission on Innovation and Cooperation, seminar brought together 14 experts from Institute of Automation, CAS, Institute of Neuroscience, CAS, Institute of Biophysics, CAS, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Tsinghua University, Ministry of Science, Technology and Space of Israel, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Assaf-Harofeh Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University to give keynote speeches on brain cognitive science, brain disease, brain intelligence, and other forefront academic areas.
After the seminar, Israel experts visited the Institute of Biophysics and Institute of Automation of CAS.
Group Photo of the Seminar
Pro. Jie Zhang Gives Remarks
Mr. Ofir Akunis Gives Remarks