Institute (CATRIN)—Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM) of Palacký University Olomouc (UP); another partner is the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen Nürnberg (FAU). This year the entire university has been mobilized to purchase a piece of expensive equipment: an extremely advanced high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM). We hope to report the purchase next year. Yet two essential needs remain unfunded: space for new equipment and personnel and the cost of additional faculty recruitment. Both pose a major challenge that we must tackle in the coming years. Human Resources BINA is uniquely creative in how it funds the salaries of technical research and administrative personnel employed by BIU. Ten employees are financed by the university’s overall budget, and an additional 17(!) are funded by BINA’s overall budget, based on grants and service income. Owing to the professionalism, initiative and creativity of our staff, BINA receives prestigious grant funding for its involvement in research programs such as Eurostars, MAGNET and Erasmus+. Taking part in these programs expands the scope of our collaborations with industrial companies and increases revenue from the services we provide them for research purposes. BINA’s continuous involvement in such programs allows us to hire more experts in various fields, which in turn generates additional opportunities for participation in new initiatives, thereby ensuring a steady flow of income. New Initiatives BINA signed a cooperation agreement with the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM), and together we recently submitted a proposal to establish a sustainability (energy and agriculture) center of excellence at Palacký University Olomouc (UP), the Czech Republic, as part of the EU’s Teaming program mentioned above. BINA’s co-submitted proposal includes researchers from BIU’s Faculty of Law, Faculty of Life Sciences and Department of Geography. Rising to the bioconvergence global and national challenge, BINA has started taking steps to promote this new field at BIU. We have brought together for a joint workshop dozens of BIU’s and BINA’s leading life-science, electro-optic and bioengineering researchers and BlU’s big-data computer science experts—all of whom can contribute to bioconvergence-related research and programs. We have introduced the immense potential of bioconvergence research for advancing biology-based innovation and have formed five multidisciplinary task groups on topics relevant to bioconvergence, including synthetic biology and optogenetics. These groups, as well as the researchers who are already engaged in bioconvergence research projects, require new nano-bioconvergence research equipment. So we set out to locate funding and to purchase suitable machinery, such as a high resolution 3D printer (NanoScribe) and two bio-3D printers that we are purchasing with the Wolfson Foundation grant that BINA has received. Finally, yet importantly, although these years have been fraught with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have held to our mission of fusing science with art. In May this year we celebrated the reopening to the public of the Joseph Fetter Museum of Nanotechnology with a new exhibition called New Languages. We are especially delighted to see the sparkling eyes of so many school visitors, who come from all over the country to the museum’s Boeing Nanovation Lab. Experiencing the exhibits’ playfulness and joy helps these youngsters feel confident that they can succeed in their science studies. Inspired by the growing interest in the interplay of science and creativity, in June this year we began the On Stage at BINA series with an exhibition of portraits by Dr. Yossi Abulafia, to be followed by shows of works by other BINA employees. 8
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