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Recently, Nanfang Daily has launched a series of reports of Guangdong Moments. World-renowned experts, scholars and businesspersons will be interviewed and present Guangdong from a global perspective. The first report is an exclusive interview to Technion President Peretz Lavie.

"In the past five years, I'm pleased that I have many opportunities to visit Guangdong and witness many changes happened in this province." It takes at least 10 hours to fly from Israel to Guangdong. Peretz Lavie, aged over 60, never counts how many times he has flown back and forth in this long journey. After acting as Technion President, he often visits Guangdong and communicates with people from political, educational and business circles. He finally contributed to the establishment of Guangdong Technion Institute of Technology (GTIIT).

"In the autumn this year, GTIIT plans to recruit 300 students from home and abroad." Lavie said, "we will try our best to support the opening of GTIIT and we hope that through GTIIT, we can bring our successful educational model and spirit of innovation to Guangdong. We want to make this institute a world-class university and cultivate competent people with innovative and enterprising spirit for Guangdong."

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Talking about the past five years of Guangdong -- cleaner, more and more modernized and vigorous

Nanfang Daily:?Which aspect of Guangdong impressed you the most in the past five years?

Peretz Lavie:?The infrastructure, especially the construction speed and quality of GTIIT campus.

"In the past few years, this place has become cleaner, more and more modernized and vigorous. For example, the modern airport, new multi-lane roads, expressways that connect north and south shore of Shantou and the high-speed railway from Xiamen to Shenzhen have brought good opportunities for the development of local economy. "

As a witness of social and economic development of Guangdong, Peretz Lavie took Shantou as an example and said:" This place changes rapidly. They have done very well in terms of infrastructure." In the meantime, he emphasized:" what impresses me and the whole team from Technion is the construction speed and quality of GTIIT campus. I cannot believe such a campus can be built within just two years. Your construction speed, construction quality and your focus on safety are exemplary. "

Lavie expressed that he feels like going back home when he visits Guangdong every time now. Looking back on the development process of GTIIT, nothing can be achieved without the strong support of Guangdong and the close family-like partnership. The reason why Technion chose to cooperate with Guangdong is because of the good foundation and environment here. We hope that we can innovate international cooperation model of higher education together, attract more excellent Chinese student resources and cultivate more competent people with innovative and enterprising spirit.??

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Talking about globalization -- we hope that there will be a trend of foreign students coming to study in Guangdong

Nanfang Daily:?Please describe Guangdong with three words.

Peretz Lavie:?Dynamic, Dedicated and Visionary.

Currently, about half of the Chinese students studying in Technion are from Guangdong, especially from Chaoshan area. When being asked to describe Guangdong with three words, "Dynamic" is the first word Lavie thought of. Guangdong not only actively brings in excellent experience and power, but also goes out dynamically through opening up.

"In the future, the innovation of science lies in working together and creating a win-win result. This is also a new world brought by globalization. This is also true in academic and educational circles." When being asked how Guangdong should position itself in the time of globalization and what roles it should play, Peretz Lavie answered:" Guangdong should give full play to GTIIT and built it into a global university."

He said:" In GTIIT, about 25% of the students will be international students. Many lecturers have international background too. We will also encourage Technion, Shantou University and other universities in the world to take part in research programs of GTIIT. We hope that there will be a trend of Israeli students and students from other countries coming to study here. In this way, they can acquire knowledge and experience of Chinese culture and economy.

Lavie also disclosed that Technion has established Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute with Cornell University, so students of GTIIT will have the opportunity to study in Israel and New York through exchange programs and even do their master degree there. "

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Talking about innovative environment -- encouraging students to think outside the box

Nanfang Daily:?How will GTIIT cultivate students' spirit of innovation?

Peretz Lavie:?There will be a technology park set up in GTIIT to attract startup companies from China and Israel. This can provide opportunities for students to make a bold trial even before graduation.

"Our alumni are the backbone that supports Israel as a Startup Nation." Peretz Lavie said proudly.?

Startup Nation, the best seller written by Dan Senor and Saul Singer explains why Israel, a resource-poor country with such a small population and small land area can become a country with the highest startup company density. The number of Nasdaq-listed company of Israel exceeds the sum total of Nasdaq-listed company in all European countries. Lavie pointed out the pivotal role of "education".

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"Technion is famous in the world for its innovative spirit and its contribution to Israeli economy. We hope that through GTIIT, we can bring this innovative spirit to Guangdong and build a excellent university like Technion in China." He said, "maybe it is hard to duplicate the elements such as national compulsory military service and cultural background, but we can learn from the educational model and philosophy."

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Guangdong has a good foundation to achieve Lavie's vision. In recent years, innovation-driven development strategy has become a core strategy in Guangdong. Technological innovation has achieved big progress. According to statistics, Guangdong's R&D expenditure accounted for 2.52% of GDP in 2016. The number of effective patents for invention has ranked first in China for seven years in a row and the number of applications for PCT international patents has also ranked first for 15 years. The production value of high technology products has increased 12%.

"We will encourage students in GTIIT to be brave in innovation and starting a business. We will also provide help and guidance for them."Lavie disclosed that there will be a technology park in GTIIT which aims to attract startups from Israel and China to the campus. In this way, the campus can be surrounded by startups and R&D center, which will promote and encourage students to innovate and even make a bold trial before graduation.

He said:"we will mobilize the best innovative resources and staff of our institute to fully support the opening of GTIIT. We are confident that we can built this institute into a world-class university and cultivate competent people with innovative and entrepreneurial ability."

In the meantime, Lavie warned that an innovative society requires not only high education quality but also special cultural atmosphere in special society environment. To become an individual with innovative spirit and entrepreneurship, one must be brave in taking risks. People should cultivate the ability to face failure and learn how to think outside the box instead of sticking to the rules.

He suggested that this kind of personality should be cultivated in childhood. "People from Guangdong educational system should consciously cultivate students these characteristics in kindergartens and primary schools. Also, they should continue to support and discover students' potential in excellent higher education."

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Interview and writing: Xiao Wenke, reporter of?Nanfang Daily

Translated by Cai Shaotian

Edited by Li Min