Regional Innovation Hubs
Today, more than sixty percent of all high-tech jobs in Israel are located in the greater Tel Aviv area and the center of Israel. This trend is not surprising, since high-tech companies require access to skilled human capital, and therefore they tend to locate themselves in the center of innovation activity. However, this current reality overlooks innovation resources in Israel’s other regions.
The OUI is aiming to create regional hubs of academic learning and innovation-oriented research outside of Israel’s center in order to capitalize on the human potential in the peripheral regions of the country. This will benefit both Israel’s regional economies and the entire national innovation ecosystem, and will expand the high-tech sector to additional areas across Israel.
The current geographical division between the three main regions in Israel creates a number of economic and social challenges for Israel’s economy. A significant productivity gap exists between the periphery and the center, which is reflected in salaries that are thirty percent lower in distant regions than in the center of Israel. A major cause of this gap is the fact that the high-tech and financial sectors, which are characterized by relatively high salary levels, are concentrated in the center, whereas the outlying regions attract more industry and agriculture, characterized by lower wages.
An additional challenge arises due to shortages of skilled high tech employees. According to estimates, there are currently 15,000 vacant positions in the high-tech industry. Since high tech is concentrated in the center of Israel, skilled candidates who live in outlying regions have limited access to employment opportunities, so their human capital remains unrealized.
The Open University’s nationwide study centers, advanced technological capabilities and broad STEM programs place it in a pivotal position to provide a solution. Three Open University innovation hubs are being established — in Beersheba, Haifa, and Jerusalem — which will provide STEM education and research capabilities to their surrounding area.
The OUI will create a mechanism to locate candidates in remote regions, and in line with OUI’s open admissions model will accept them without entrance obstacles. Thus, a wider human talent pool will benefit from the resources that the university currently provides at its main campuses.
The Open University’s open admission policy means that the gates of academia will be open to those who might not otherwise be accepted to traditional programs. Students will be able to begin their studies with significant academic support as they pursue core courses that will be offered online or in face-to-face sessions, according to each student’s preference. Thus, we will be able to identify students with exceptional abilities at the outset. These are often students who did not succeed optimally in their high school studies, but have great potential that can be manifested in studies at the OUI. Our innovation hubs will provide the broadest and most effective possibility for realizing the vast potential that exists in the outlying regions and has not yet been tapped.
Full accessibility are the key words for optimizing equal opportunities in the peripheral regions; and the OUI has the ability and tools to create this accessibility. Particularly at this juncture, when the OUI has begun offering doctoral degree programs, accessible higher education takes on even more importance.
As the excellence innovation incubators begin to advance projects in the periphery of the country, they will, over time, function as a significant growth engine for the north and south of Israel. This will make it possible to realize the potential of the human capital in underserved areas of the country and expand the high-tech sector to additional regions across Israel. The center of gravity of economic activity will shift, changing the trend from centralization to decentralization.
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