"It was a challenge, it was amazing," interns told the Israeli ambassador in Prague

Anna Azari, Ambassador of the State of Israel in Prague, met the interns from the first year of the Neuron & IOCB Tech Internship in Israel scholarship programme. During their two-month internships in Israel the students pursued their own research and got to know the Israeli science ecosystem, with a focus on commercialisation and transfer, as well as life outside the university. They shared their experiences at a meeting held at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The Neuron Foundation is one of the main organisers of the study stay in Israel, which was financially supported by the IOCB Tech Foundation. "I am glad we got the project off the ground. Study stays broaden the interns' horizons and allow them to see the world from more than one angle. Including the approach to leading projects and to research itself. Contacts with people from world-class institutions, which last even after they return home, matter too," says Monika Vondráková, director and co-founder of the Neuron Foundation.

A bridge between science and business

Students from Czech universities were able to get the most out of their two-month stay in Israel thanks to being directed towards specific institutions and their professors. They rated the stay positively not only in terms of the new knowledge they will use in their further studies and research work, but also in terms of gaining contacts at top institutions and of personal development.

"It was a challenge, it was amazing," Lucie Mrázková, a student at the Faculty of Science of Charles University who went to the Weizmann Institute of Science, told the Israeli ambassador with a smile. "The stay in Israel was a great life lesson for me. I gained many contacts that I will certainly use for my next PhD project and probably for a postdoc position as well."

The intern David Ryzák from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics worked at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, which functions as a tech hub and organises hackathons and other programmes that help participants gain business experience. "The stay gave me something beyond the academic level too — I learned, for example, how a start-up is founded and how research is commercialised. For me that is a fundamental career step forward," David Ryzák said, summing up its main benefits.

For Karolína Mrzílková the scholarship stay in Israel at the Weizmann Institute of Science was her first study trip outside Europe. "I felt as though I were among my own people, not like a foreigner at all; there was always someone to turn to if we needed anything. The foundation's support was very helpful to us."

The interns' meeting with the Israeli ambassador, the director of the Neuron Foundation Monika Vondráková, the director of the IOCB Jan Konvalinka and representatives of the IOCB Tech Foundation

And now it will be the other way round! Israeli students heading to Prague?

And what, according to the interns, are the main differences between the Czech and the Israeli university environment? A lot of it is about soft skills and about a far more efficient use of resources. Because of compulsory military service, Israeli students are also much older, and that is reflected in their overall approach. "Age plays a fundamental role; they then think about everything differently, and that is exactly what opens the way to innovation for them," said Eliška Trampotová, a student at the Faculty of Science of Charles University who interned at Tel Aviv University. She added that thanks to this experience young scientists are then more independent and more responsible.

Neuron & IOCB Tech Internship in Israel

The first year of the Neuron & IOCB Tech Internship in Israel scholarship programme took place with the support of the Neuron Foundation, the IOCB Tech Foundation, the Embassy of the State of Israel and the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Tel Aviv. Eleven Czech students travelled between June and September 2023 to prestigious Israeli educational institutions, where they pursued their own research and also got to know the Israeli science ecosystem, with a focus on applied research, commercialisation and transfer. The students were able to get the most out of the two-month stay thanks to being directed towards specific institutions and their professors. A further year of the Neuron internships in Israel will depend on geopolitical developments in the country; safety comes first.