held in August in Waterloo, Canada, which evolved into cooperation with the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN). This year, BINA was recognized as a European Digital Innovation Hub (EDIH), the only one in Israel. This nomination followed a relentless two-year deliberation with the EU that resulted in BINA’s recognition as an EDIH, allowing us to connect to the extensive pan-European network of EDIHs, operating as one-stop shops supporting companies in meeting digital challenges and becoming competitive. Being an EDIH combines the benefits of a regional presence with the opportunities available to a pan-European network, allowing us to provide services to local companies here, at home, while facilitating the exchange of best practices across hubs and provision of specialized services across countries and regions when the needed skills are not locally available. Moreover, as an EDIH, BINA is able to apply for grants intended only for EDIHs to advance the industry and to submit to the EU as a knowledge/service center. Industry Collaboration The utilization of our facilities in 2022 has recovered and showed growth in BINA’s scope of provided services and collaboration with the industry post-COVID-19. Our cleanrooms reverted to 85% utilization; the Charged-Particle Microscopy Unit suffered a major slowdown but prevailed with staffing all positions, while the Surface Analysis Unit, with its particle accelerator, maintained an exceptional volume of international projects and publications. Throughout the years, BINA has welcomed more than 300 companies to its facilities, approximately half of which use its professional teams and advanced instrumentations each year. It is an environment abundant with opportunities for advancing industries that encourage cooperation across companies and with our researchers. This year we launched a new substantial cooperation with KLA Company. We started with a joint workshop for researchers and managers of both BINA and KLA and continued with a seminar that celebrated excellence named KLA&BINA Research Excellence Day. Our collaboration with KLA is yet another example of how BINA facilitates students' exposure to companies in the real world and eases their transition into the labor market. Scholarship Recipients BINA’s highly selective program for outstanding undergraduates offers a summer scholarship to encourage students to make the field of nanotechnology the focus of their future careers. During the last academic year, the amount of BINA Nano Excellence scholarships reached 1 million NIS, distributed to 85 outstanding MSc and PhD candidates—a highly sought-after award granted in addition to the university’s other stipends. We continued to support the student excellence club, Excel@BINA, which aims to enrich the student experience through social activities such as theater, opera, a dinner etiquette workshop and preparation for the labor market, and to expose outstanding students to leading researchers and industry leaders from Israel and abroad, enabling them to realize their personal potential and their contribution to society. Outreach and Youth Programs Our youth program has a threefold path: The Nano Brain Team program, sponsored by the Ramat Gan municipality, is designed to expose the most talented high schoolers to the latest developments in nanotechnology and materials science. The program provides these young scientists with handson experience as they tackle personally supervised projects. The program concludes with a seminar where the students present their research work in lectures and posters to their parents and the city of Ramat Gan's representatives and receive a certificate of graduation. Students who complete the program are entitled to an academic credit. The program has been running with great success for 12 years. In another program, outstanding high schoolers conduct research in the experimental sciences with BINA's doctoral students to receive additional high school credits in chemistry, physics and life sciences. The third program is affiliated with the Joseph Fetter Museum of Nanotechnology and is open to students from all over the country, emphasizing middle– and high school students from the social/ geographic periphery. This program exposes its numerous participants to advanced science through the mediation and playfulness of our museum's art exhibits. 42
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