Koret Funds Joint TAU-Bay Area R&D

Tel Aviv University is embarking on a new initiative, funded by the Koret Foundation through a $10 million grant, that is designed to advance breakthroughs in medical and information technology.

The five-year grant will bring together leading scholars and scientists from TAU with their counterparts at University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University School of Engineering’s Department of Management Science & Engineering to conduct multidisciplinary research in the fields of bioinformatics and smart cities, respectively.

“We welcome these faculty research relationships,” said Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University. “We are deeply grateful to the Koret Foundation for supporting new joint paths toward discovery and real-world impact.”

As part of the initiative’s launch, President Klafter traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area to sign MOUs with UC Berkeley Chancellor Prof. Carol Tecla Christ and Stanford Dean of Engineering Prof. Jennifer Widom.​ 

​“We are tremendously excited to support research collaboration between leading faculty that will have practical implications for all of us around the world,” said Dr. Anita Friedman, President of the Koret Foundation. “We look forward to seeing what the pioneers of these fields from Israel and the United States can do together.”

From left: Prof. Joseph Klafter, Dr. Anita Friedman and Prof. Carol Tecla Christ. Credit: Keegan Houser

The Koret Program for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology will be run jointly by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics at TAU and the Center of Computational Biology at Berkeley. The program will harness the expertise and capabilities of TAU and Berkeley to develop computational tools that integrate patient genetic, genomic and other data for medical purposes.

The Koret Program will award joint research grants to groups at both institutions, hold annual joint workshops and seminars for the TAU and Berkeley bioinformatics communities, operate a visiting-scientist program and facilitate a joint summer research program.

The Koret Program for Smart Cities and Digital Living will fund joint research at TAU and Stanford to advance multidisciplinary, basic and applied research in data science that enhance the quality of life, safety and efficiency of cities while supporting communications across people and organizations.

The program at Stanford School of Engineering’s Department of Management Science & Engineering will award initial and bridging grants to promising big data projects to bring new ideas to the prototype and proof-of-concept stage, and will host an annual industry-oriented conference to help match industry needs to academic research.

Based in San Francisco, the Koret Foundation is committed to strengthening the Bay Area community and to supporting the US-Israel relationship and the Jewish community worldwide. Since its founding in 1979, Koret has awarded over $500 million in grants to an array of outstanding organizations doing important work in these areas.

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