Chemistry in Israel – Achievements vs. Opportunities That Have Yet to Be Actualized

For historical reasons, the State of Israel has been blessed (with vast success) in two scientific fields: computer science and chemistry. Across both of these fields, Israel ranks far higher than the global average. It’s no coincidence that all six of the Israeli scientists who’ve won Nobel prizes in the sciences, were all awarded this prize for their work in the field of chemistry: Avram Hershko, Aaron Ciechanover, Dan Shechtman, Ada Yonath, Michael Levitt, and Arieh Warshel. And it’s no coincidence that Israel’s two former presidents who were also scientists, were professors of chemistry: Haim Weizmann and Ephraim Katzir.

Each year the prestigious publication, Nature, releases charts based on quality research outputs across the globe. The updated chart for 2020 ranks Israeli science as 16th in the world. However, upon considering the size of the country’s population, Israel is actually ranked 3rd in the world, after Switzerland and Singapore.

Much like chemistry the science, chemistry-based industry fulfills a crucial and prominent role in Israel’s economy, despite there only being 400 industrial chemistry factories among the 18,000 industrial factories nationwide. 30,000 industrial chemistry workers – a tenth of all industrial employees in the country – contribute 30% of the industry’s revenues and 40% of its exports. Roughly one third of the companies represented by the TA-35, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s flagship index, are chemical manufacturers.

Israel’s chemistry-based industry operates within a vast array of fields and is one of the most advanced, efficient, and developed in the world. Israel supplies one third of the world’s bromine consumption and one sixth of the world’s potash consumption. The country is a world leader in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplements, flame retardants, agro-chemicals to improve world agriculture, and more – this is only a partial list pertaining to a country that’s poor in quarried substances and raw materials. That said the most impressive finding is that fewer than 8,000 chemists, 5,000 chemical engineers, and 700 chemistry teachers work in Israel. Without this group of approximately 13,000 chemists, the State of Israel would not look anywhere near as innovative as it does today.

No need to import minds from abroad

Unfortunately, the State of Israel’s achievements in the fields of science and technology are not due to our public education system. Rather they are in spite of the Education Ministry’s efforts. Israel’s education system is split and dispersed into many disparate tracks and sectors, each of which has become a political hotbed. Integration within the education system is fragmented, precisely because parents who are more financially established are often willing to pay for better education for their children while poorer families must make do with the education on offer by the Israeli government. And it’s not much. Israel is losing excellent human capital each year in tangible, financial terms; tens of billions of dollars down the drain.

We tend to be overly confident when talking about Israel as a “Start-up Nation” and an “innovation hub.” However, only 150,000 people work in high-tech. That’s just 1.6% of the population! Imagine what would happen if we were to double that number, if there were 300,000 Israelis employed in high-tech. We would be living in an entirely different country, a reality that exceeds our wildest dreams. To achieve this goal, there is no need to import brilliant minds from abroad. Those same 150,000 scientists, doctors, and engineers are currently be raised in Israel, in preschools and schools across the country, especially in the periphery – and their wonderful minds are currently being thrown to the curb.

Our science education is diseased

The problem has been known for years, but instead of being resolved, it’s only gone downhill. Israel ranked 25th out of 49 countries, in the 2007 TIMSS test. Even worse, 25% of those tested didn’t even pass the test’s lower threshold. As ultra-Orthodox students, who comprise just 25% of the population, did not take this test, this result reflects the fact that at least 50% of Israel’s students are completely ignorant, when it comes to the sciences. Statistics pertaining to the country’s matriculation exams indicate that the real share of science-ignorant is closer to 80%.

Science education in Israel is diseased, and not because of a lack of funding. Every teacher in Israel is burdened by bureaucracy that drives them crazy and doesn’t compensate them with a suitable salary. I’ve never been able to understand how the Israeli government (over the years) has come to terms with the fact that chemistry is only taught in 40% of the country’s high schools. Talented students who want to study chemistry are not given a chance to hear about this profession, simply because they attend a school that belongs to the other 60%. Fortunately for them, there are currently options for many of them to learn about chemistry online; an interesting way for ultra-Orthodox youth to learn chemistry “in secret.” Even within the public religious school system, the percentage of boys who study chemistry equals one third of the amount of the boys studying the field in the general (i.e. secular) public school system.

The ignorance experienced by most of the Israeli population vis-à-vis chemistry has resulted in the average citizen not having a clue what chemistry is, or how it contributes to various areas of our lives. Most of the population understands chemistry in 1950s terms. According to them, chemistry is bleach, DDT, Parathion, various poisonous substances, battle gasses, sulfuric acid, carcinogenic materials, smoke-filled chimneys, and other pollutants.

Most Israel citizens are unaware that chemistry is the reason our life expectancy has doubled from 40 to 85 in the past century. Thanks to chemistry we are healthier and happier, and our lives are more interesting than those of our predecessors. Most people don’t know that solar energy, electric cars, electronic chips, efficient LED lighting, smartphones, television and computer screens, are all mostly chemistry innovations. Most don’t know that chemistry serves as the foundation for biology, medicine, material engineering, Earth sciences, agriculture, and everything that global industries produce; it’s at the root of everything we eat, wear, see around us, and touch, each and every day.

Most Israeli citizens have heard about the significant challenges humanity faces, including those pertaining to clean energy, raw material shortages, water scarcity, air pollution, the climate crisis, food security, and health. But 80% of them do not understand that chemists are the ones who will successfully meet these challenges, ensuring our children and grandchildren enjoy a more promising future.

Over the past 13 years, I have held several national and international positions. During those years, I met with nearly every Education Minister from the previous two decades, including Limor Livnat, Meir Shitrit, Yuli Tamir, Gidon Sa’ar, Shai Piron, Naftali Bennet, and Rafi Peretz.

Shai Piron, who loved to use thought-provoking expressions, once told me that one of his goals was to heal the education system from its illness: destructive politicization. He said that “one of my goals is to separate the Education Ministry from the Education Minister.” This, of course, did not actually happen. Gidon Sa’ar also acknowledged this reality. Following a discussion on creative ways to promote science education in Israel with a large group of participants, I was given the opportunity to speak with him in person. He admitted that, given the track record of short Education Minister candidacies, there’s no chance of anyone investing in long-term programs, as good as they may be, only the future Education Ministers would be the ones to bear the fruit of meaningful endeavors.

Historic opportunities

Imagine the State of Israel as the home of a new industrial development, one as large, innovative, intriguing, and rewarding as the high-tech industry. Imagine that the number of chemical technology researchers and developers would also grow to 150,000 scientists and engineers. Imagine 200 global chemistry companies establishing research and development centers across the country. Imagine all these researchers working in clean, smokestack-free glass buildings on campuses resembling the Weizmann Science Park in Rechovot, Matam in Haifa, or Har Hotzvim in Jerusalem.

All of this is possible, so long as the State of Israel stops wasting its human capital. This goal can be worked towards from today, with the help of those excellent scientists and engineers in our midst, as well as those who emigrated to other countries, who might be persuaded to return to innovative research and development centers in Israel.

Israel is one of the only countries in the world known for its dense repository of brains powering the development of innovative technologies. Over 300 large-scale global corporations have already decided to establish research and development centers in Israel; not just software and cyber companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Glassbox, Salesforce, Mellanox, Dropbox, Samsung, Apple, Facebook, and others, but automotive and aviation manufacturers as well. Over 60 of these companies have established manufacturing facilities near research and development centers, thereby creating quality places of work for Israelis.

Establishing new research and development centers

Despite the fact that Israel is a powerhouse, not just in the field of computer science, but also in chemistry, the country’s potential for developing industrial-grade chemical applications has yet to be realized. This presents a huge opportunity for the country, large-scale global corporations, and investors, of all kinds. To date, the only corporation to seize this opportunity is ChemChina, which acquired Adama and established its global research and development center in the Neot Hovav industrial zone. Anyone who was worried that the Chinese would move Adama to China, was wrong. The opposite was the case. They moved many of their projects from China to their Israel site, and with good reason. Note that teva’s Neot Hovav research and development center has also been included in the “global R&D center serving a global company” category.

Of course, establishing new research and development centers is a lengthy process, but it is one that can be shortened by upgrading and converting existing infrastructure at several sites, across the country. For example, the Tami campus in the Haifa Gulf area is home to a large concentration of ICL Group’s research and development activities. The campus is outfitted with advanced infrastructure, including research laboratories, expensive equipment, and proximity to research and technological innovation institutions, such as the Technion, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa University, the Yokneam Industrial Park, Matam, and the Rafael facilities.

A unique opportunity has presented itself to the Bazan Group, also located in the Haifa Gulf area. Presently, over 400 scientists and engineers, and over 600 practical engineers, all work for Bazan. This is a huge show of engineering-technological force, one that embodies 83 years of synergy. These employees have access to advanced equipment, semi-industrial pilot facilities, research infrastructure, and international capabilities. This enables them to plan each large-scale engineering project, establish it, bring it to production, and even maintain it across the production process, without any external aid. This is a force that can serve as the nucleus of a large-scale knowledge base, one that can transform their entire Bazan facility into a global research and development center specializing in chemical technologies and artificial intelligence, across the production line. According to the hundreds of precedents pertaining to the establishment of research and development centers by global companies (mainly those in the computer science field), Bazan can enter into research partnerships with global chemistry corporations, in addition to their independent technology development endeavors.

Currently, there are approximately 1,500 employees who work at Bazan’s 2 million square meter facility. They provide gainful employment, through second and third tier opportunities, to roughly 15,000 families in the Haifa Bay area. That’s less than one employee per 1,000 square meters! For comparison’s sake, the technology sites at Matam, Weizmann Park, and Har Hotzvim employ 20-30 workers per 1,000 square meters. Considering the fact that chemical technology research and development centers require tons of experimental equipment and facilities, the Bazan facilities can “only” reach a future capacity of 10-20 employees per 1,000 square meters. If this space does, indeed, fill up with 40,000 top-quality employees, it will become a leading technology empire that provides jobs to 400,000 families from the north of the country, changing the face of Israel as we know it.

In doing so, Bazan will acquire immunity against being evacuated from the facility by various real estate entrepreneurs. In Israel just like in other countries, a basic principle prevails: brainpower that innovates new technologies is the recipient of unmatched immunity and public support, even when they’re sitting on highly-coveted real estate.

Brains powering the production of national treasures

Binyamin Netanyahu and his emissaries did not understand this principle, throughout 2014-2016. We all remember statements made by former Minister Uri Ariel and Prof. Avi Simchon that they would evacuate the Volcani Institute and Agriculture Department in Rechovot, and hand the land over to real estate developers. This hot topic served as fantastic media fodder, but both of these institutions remained in their locations, and there’s no chance of anyone moving them anywhere. Both institutions are repositories of tremendous brainpower that produce essential technologies and national assets. As such, they are immune to political manipulations. For the same reason, no one can move the Weizmann Science Park campus, the Har Hotzvim Science Park, or Matam. No politician can gamble away the fate of the IAI, Rafael, Adama, or teva, nor can they move Israel’s university research campuses.

Predictions for the establishment of chemistry research and development centers, at a rate similar to the establishment of similar sites for the Israeli high-tech industry, sounds insane, especially to those who can only think of the future in terms of the past. That said, similar “insane” predictions made 50 years ago barely scratch the surface of the reality that is 21st Century Israel. Israel’s high-tech industry empowers and is nourished by its university computer science and electrical engineering departments. In the same vein, expanding Israel’s chemistry research will strengthen the country’s chemistry, chemical engineering, and material science departments, across all of its universities and colleges. These activities will also affect the next generation, motivating high school students to apply to STEM programs, thereby strengthening the country’s human capital.

The goal of this magazine is to convince readers that the State of Israel is closer to realizing this vision than most of us might believe.

The author is President of the Israel Chemical Society, Chairman of the Education Ministry’s Chemistry Subject Committee, a board member of various European and Asian chemistry organizations, and President-elect of IUPAC.