Main Points of the National Program to Advance Data Science in the Israeli Higher Education System:

• Supporting the establishment/foundation of umbrella research centers at universities
• Establishment of a network to synchronize the activities of institutional research centers with industry and public entities
• A program for research grants in data science based on databases generated by public entities that is expected to contribute to Israeli society by understanding the processes that take place in Israeli society, improving the relationship between the establishment and its citizens, and streamlining those services provided to them
• Funding scholarships for outstanding doctoral and postdoctoral students in the field

The purpose of the program is the advancement of innovative and breakthrough research in the field of data science which will also directly contribute to Israeli society through understanding its internal processes, improve the relationship between the establishment and its citizenry, and streamline the services provided to them.

The program focuses on research that takes advantage of data accumulated during the course of regular operations by public authorities and governmental ministries, whose results have the potential to impact the public’s welfare. The program will be broad in terms of research topics and will include facets such as social and economic processes as well as use of data for individual welfare. The offering will encourage development or relevant technologies. The research program must demonstrate a combination of scientific excellence and direct relevance to Israeli society.

Chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee, Prof. Yaffa Zilbershats: “The national program for data science will advance innovative and breakthrough research that will directly impact the quality of life of Israeli citizens. Data science touches on almost all fields of academia and possess potential for breakthrough innovation not only in the exact sciences but rather in social sciences and the humanities as well. The advancement of the field will result in a leap in academic ranking in terms of instruction and research in a large number of disciplines and will contribute to Israel’s national resilience in the areas of economy and defense.”

Background:

In its multiyear plan for higher education (2017-2022), the PBC set the field of data science as one of its three flagship initiatives in the advancement of research in Israel, together with quantum technology and personalized medicine. In the PBC’s decision, it determined that a significant and consistent investment at the national level in development of the field of data science is expected to bring about a leap in Israeli research abilities and Israel’s status at the forefront of global knowledge.

In light of this, during the course of 2018, a steering committee was established, headed by Prof. Yoav Benjamini of the Tel Aviv University, alongside the leading experts in the field. The committee reviewed the matter carefully and submitted its recommendations to the PBC, which approved the program with a multiyear budget of approximately 150 million shekels.

The field of data science refers to the collection, management, processing, analysis, and visualization of data associated with a wide range of academic disciplines and commercial applications, as well as analyzing significance, reaching conclusions, and developing tools based on the data collected while addressing the ethical facets of their use. In the last several years, the field has experienced increased and accelerated growth stemming from the primary elements:

• The significant increase in the quantity and availability of data generated around the world (to the point of using the expression “big data”)
• Continuous development of methodologies, algorithms, and available technologies for working with this data
• Developments in dedicated communications hardware, storage, and processing of data

Data science touches on almost all fields of academia and possess potential for breakthrough innovation not only in the exact sciences but rather in social sciences and the humanities as well. Developments in data science are also at the center of the current growth in artificial intelligence and its great importance to the expected advancements in computer systems. Involvement in data science is interdisciplinary and at its core, includes the fields of computer science as well as computer learning, statistics, and practical mathematics. Israel has islands of excellence at the international level in these fields but the number of researchers who operate primarily in the field is small (less than two hundred) and the competition for their skills as well as their students in the high-tech industries is high. There is no doubt that the advancement of the field will result in a leap in academic ranking in terms of instruction and research in a large number of disciplines and will contribute to Israel’s national resilience in the areas of economy and defense.

 The national plan at length:

 Supporting the establishment/foundation of umbrella research centers at universities

The goal of supporting institutional umbrella centers is to advance the field and to broaden the circle of those engaged in it by creating an expanse in which the various disciplines communicate and cooperate among themselves: those at the core of data science, those in the outer envelope of the field, and other disciplines that rely in part on data analysis, while increasing the use of advanced approaches and tools in data science in many fields.

Purpose of the Research Sectors:

1. Expanding and deepening high-quality research in core data science fields
2. Supporting the expansion of the abilities of data scientists, a significant portion of whose work is in other fields, including encouraging and supporting new interdisciplinary collaborations in the outskirts of the field and outside of it
3. Encouraging and supporting collaborations with public entities (such as governmental ministries, the National Insurance Institute, national authorities, etc.) as well as with industry
4. Technical support: Infrastructures, computational, professional, and managerial
5. Supporting teaching and instruction in the field of data science
6. Basic collection and organization of accessible data Establishment of a network to synchronize the activities of institutional research centers and leveraging international collaborations and collaborations with industry and public entities (IDSI – The Israel Data Science Initiative)

Parallel to supporting the establishment of umbrella research centers at universities, a national network will be established, the IDSI: Israel Data Science Initiative, which will be a broad forum whose purpose is to bring together and to synchronize the activities of university research centers. Similarly, the IDSI will be the national representative entity on the matter of data science both for industry as well as public entities, and for leveraging international collaborations.

• Funding scholarships for outstanding doctoral and postdoctoral students in the field of data science

The purpose of the program is to increase the level of academic interaction with industry such that it will be possible to ensure a reserve of academic staff at research universities.

• A program for research grants in data science based on databases generated by public entities

Studies in the field of data science will be financed through the National Science Fund while using databases created by public entities during the course of their regular operations, jointly financed by the PBC and the Digital Israel Headquarters at the Ministry of Social Equality. The purpose of the scholarship program is to advance innovative and breakthrough research in the field of data science whose results will contribute directly to Israeli society through an understanding of its internal processes, improving the relationship between the establishment and its citizenry, and streamlining those services provided to them.

Goals

• Advancing data intensive research in the field of society and government in Israel;
• Encouraging collaborations between researchers at institutions of higher education in Israel and researchers and knowledge centers in the public and private sector, governmental ministries, and other governmental entities such as municipalities, local authorities, the Israel Police, etc.;
• Encouraging multidisciplinary collaborations (such as between researchers in the field of computer science, machine learning, statistics, information systems, artificial intelligence, psychology, sociology, etc.);
• Understanding long-term social processes and the factors that can influence them;
• Development and perfection of innovative analytical and computational approaches and methodologies to advance data intensive research including data with characteristics unique to Israel (such as an analysis of transcripts written in Hebrew).