On Wednesday, 10.7, we gathered at the Ambassador’s residence together with His Excellency Simon Walters and colleagues from the British Embassy, to announce the new calls for applications and the renewal of the Wohl Clean Growth Alliance.
More than 50 prominent policy makers, senior academics, technology entrepreneurs, ESG experts, investors, philanthropy leaders, and Wohl Clean Growth Alliance grantees and fellows joined us in celebration of the renewal of the programme.
Opening the evening, Country Director Alma Gadot Perez invited HMA Simon Walters to the stage after sharing the British Council’s continued commitment to fostering trust and lasting relationships. She mentioned the special synergy British and Israeli innovation and academic excellence offers as we seek solutions to critical global challenges.
His excellency, Simon Walters, focused on the importance and benefits of fostering bilateral collaborations around science, innovation, and technology. He called for growth and expansion of the alliance while thanking our core partners, Wohl Legacy and The Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology.
Iris Barner, a senior programme manager who oversees our higher education portfolio, introduced Jo Cohen, the Israel Director of Wohl Legacy. In her words, Jo shared that the impact and success of the programme – both in terms of research and technology, and in terms of relationship building, are more important than ever. Mentioning the current climate on campuses, collaborations are one important way to help people connect and open an opportunity for dialogue.
Our new programme manager, Architect Rawan Abulafi, announced the two new calls for proposals: one for short-term mobility for Early-Career researchers and another for collaborative projects.
We closed with a lively and exciting presentation of what the WCGA grants can achieve, or as the co-founder of Eco Wave Energy, Inna Braverman, said: “small grants that open large doors”. We heard how the initial collaboration grant from the WCGA fostered relationships, enhanced credibility and awareness and ended up in a follow-up grant from Innovate UK of £1.3 million!
