Scientific research eroding due to lack of funds – Report

Israeli leaders boast about the country’s great scientific research and achievements, but we are largely living on the glory of what was done decades ago – because while the state of science here is ‘good’, its excellence and investment in it are eroding. This is the verdict of the 185-page, Hebrew-language report on the State of Science in Israel from the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities submitted to President Isaac Herzog, covering the years 2018-22. The report is prepared every three years, writes Judy Siegel-Itzkovich for The Jerusalem Post.

Academy President Professor David Harel; his deputy Margalit Finkelberg, an emerita professor of classics, linguist and historian at Tel Aviv University; and Professor Reshef Tenne, the chairman of the committee that was entrusted with the report’s preparation, made the presentation at the president’s residence.

In the past decade, Israel dropped from second place to 21st place among OECD countries in national spending on academic research and development as a percentage of GDP. In the last 15 years, Israel dropped to the 39th place in the growth rate of the national expenditure for academic R&D – one of the lowest in the OECD countries. Institutions of higher education are in increasing competition with the hi-tech industry for researchers and research students.
Full report on The Jerusalem Post site