Whether you鈥檙e halfway across campus or halfway around the world, you never quite know what connections you鈥檒l find just by asking someone what their interests are.
Take, for example, the recent Nova Scotia trade mission to Israel, which Dalhousie Vice-President Research Martha Crago was a part of. She was sitting beside Premier Darrell Dexter at a meeting with the Israeli minister of science and technology when she learned, surprisingly, that the department鈥檚 latest strategic area of focus is marine science.
鈥淭he premier and I practically leaped at being able to discuss what we鈥檙e doing here in Nova Scotia with Dalhousie and the Halifax Marine Research Institute,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hat they鈥檙e also working to bring together a consortium of federal labs and universities to strengthen their capacity in marine science...it meant that we had a touchpoint there that I don鈥檛 think any of us had expected.鈥�
Based on that discovery, Dr. Crago rearranged her travel plans and made the trip to the University of Haifa, where she met with its president, Aaron Ben Ze鈥檈v. In addition to sharing ideas about marine consortia, they discussed the possibility of Prof. Ben Ze'ev coming to Halifax.
And less than two weeks after their first meeting, Prof. Ben Ze鈥檈v鈥檚 did, indeed, arrive in Canada. Last week, he and two of his accomplished junior research scientists visited Dalhousie to meet with marine scientists and university staff. While at Dal they discussed arranging for a professor and some graduate students to travel to Haifa in the spring, as well as the idea of setting up a field course at the Interuniversity Institute for Marine Biology in Eliat on the Red Sea. It鈥檚 hopefully the start of a longer relationship between the two schools.
鈥淎ll universities can contribute to each other,鈥� said Prof. Ben Ze鈥檈v as he toured the Aquatron. 鈥淎nytime global, research-intensive universities come together and collaborate, there鈥檚 opportunity to learn.鈥�
Learning from Israeli鈥檚 commercialization leadership
It鈥檚 that opportunity to learn that brought Dr. Crago, Assistant Vice-President Industry Liaison Stephen Hartlen and several other university leaders, business people and provincial representatives to Israel last month.
Why Israel? Because, according to Mr. Hartlen, Israel has been one of the world鈥檚 most innovative countries in the world in terms of taking technology from university to industry. Without many natural resources to call their own, they鈥檝e built an economy heavily dependent on knowledge and technology.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e driving down between Haifa and Tel Aviv, you鈥檙e going to pass a business park with Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intuit...it鈥檚 like driving through Silicon Valley,鈥� he explains. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e all there because their universities do great R&D and commercialize a lot of it with large multinational companies. And they create a lot of spin-off companies themselves.鈥�
The trip was organized by Nova Scotia Business Inc. Others on the trip with Dalhousie connections were Ivar Mendez and Lorne Ferguson of the university鈥檚 Brain Repair Centre, and Jim Spatz, who is presently chair of Dalhousie鈥檚 Board of Governors.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 extremely important that universities go on these sorts of trade missions,鈥� says Dr. Crago. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a moment where universities, industry and government can explore the potential that can come from crafting new relationships together, as a team.鈥�
While in Israel Dr. Crago, on behalf of Dalhousie, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The delegation also visited the Naval Yard in Haifa鈥攖imely, considering that the trip鈥檚 departure coincided with the Halifax Shipyards announcement鈥� as well as the headquarters of Elbit, one of the country鈥檚 largest defence companies (and one which, it turns out, has 20 employees in Halifax as part of Lockheed Martin鈥檚 frigate retrofit program).
Read also: "Dalhousie talks partnership with Hebrew University of Jerusalem"
鈥淭hese things aren鈥檛 vacations - they鈥檙e a lot of work,鈥� says Mr. Hartlen. 鈥淭he trick is that you鈥檙e in the country for a very short period of time, you have to talk to as many people as you possibly can and seize where the connections might be.鈥�
That said, the delegation still was able to take in some of Israel鈥檚 culture and heritage, including visits to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Park for a tree planting by the premier.
Forging new relationships in Palestine
And they also spent time building new relationships in the Palestinian territories. In the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, the delegation visited with business leaders before meeting the president, VP academic and faculty members at Berzeit University.
鈥淭his is a unversity that doesn鈥檛 have a lot of graduate studies just yet, so we discussed how Dalhousie could help in providing opportunities for postdoc or PhD studies for their academic staff,鈥� explains Dr. Crago. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be following up to see if we can put together some arrangements that suit them and are of interest to Dalhousie professors, for example, in law and in government relations and foreign policy." 聽
They also visited St. Augustine Hospital, set up by the Lutheran Foundation to treat people who live in the Palestinian territories. Dr. Mendez and Mr. Ferguson were along for this part of the visit, and a good deal of the discussion was about how telemedicine might work there, considering the difficulty in getting patients through military checkpoints.
鈥淵ou go on these trips and realize that, all of a sudden, there鈥檚 a connection that nobody had been aware of,鈥� says Dr. Crago. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes them so exciting.鈥�