Educating Israel's Next Start-Up Nation Generation

RISHON LEZION, Israel, June 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

During the recent Technology Fair at the Computer Science School at The College of Management-Academic Studies (COMAS), Israel's high-tech and venture capital executives were searching for the most innovative new technologies among the seventy-two projects on display.

Known outside Israel to all the most astute watchers of the high-tech scene, and located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the city of Rishon LeZion, the school has become a breeding-ground of technological breakthroughs.  

Exports are the chief economic engine driving the Israeli economy, and are mainly propelled by high tech, particularly in the software sector. This sector is in need of thousands of computer science graduates.  With 1,200 students in its Bachelor of Science program, COMAS hosts Israel's largest computer science school, supplying the nation and its industry with professionals who have both cutting-edge theoretical and practical knowledge.  

Along with its strong ties to Israel's thriving high-tech business community, the computer science school at COMAS has strong connections to the Israel Defense Forces. Over 60% of its students participate in unique programs established in cooperation with the IDF.  They include the AVATZ Program where military officers serve as software developers completing their academic education while serving in the army.  Similarly, the ALATZ Program is based on gifted high school students starting their academic studies in Computer Science, specializing in Cyber Warfare.  This is done in conjunction with their high school studies, after which they are drafted into the military at 19 having already obtained a BA in Computer Science. These students then enter advanced IDF high-tech units.  

A number of the schools' 1,800 alumni, have established successful startups, mainly in the field of Cyber Warfare.

According to Prof. Samuel Itzikowitz, who founded the School of Computer Science in 1998, "most high-tech developments in Israel are initiated by military needs and that is why our main interest is to cooperate with the IDF.  However, we are also training students to gain experience with industrial standards in developing many software products. While we engage the students in Israel security and defense related studies we also seek to improve quality of life in general and health care in particular."

The school's R&D Institute for Computational Medicine conducts research and development of technological solutions for health care. One of its main objectives is to develop technological solutions for diagnosis, monitoring, and management of various diseases of ageing such as dementia and Parkinson's.

Laura Kam, +972-54-806-8613, [email protected]

SOURCE College of Management-Academic Studies