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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met this afternoon, with 10 of the winners of the “Young Scientists in Israel” competition. Education Minister Yuli Tamir and Intel representatives were among those also in attendance. In the contest, 16-18-year-olds from around the country entered their projects, inventions and research studies. There are approximately 150 entrants every year; the winners represent Israel in the international competition.
Prime Minister Olmert said: “As you know, tonight is the World Cup Final. Israel did not make it to the tournament. But in science competitions, we are a senior player far out of proportion to our relative size. This says that science is Israeli young peoples’ comparative advantage. Israelis’ achievements in initiatives and in creativity are always out of proportion. You are an international team of the highest standing and this is wonderful. You must invest everything that you can in your country and not go astray. When such as you leave the country, we lose our most important asset.” The Prime Minister called for efforts to increase the resources invested in basic and applied research despite the fact that Israel is the largest such investor in the world relative to GNP. He added that he hoped that Israel would reach the goal of investing 10% of its GNP in research.
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