On Tuesday, September 24, KKL-JNF and the RAD-Bynet Group launched the KKL Tech-Red Bynet venture in Arad. The venture, a collaboration between the KKL-JNF and the RAD-Bynet Group with the support of the Arad Municipality, aims to boost settlement in the Negev. The project will train young post-army service graduates to work in high-tech, and offer incentives to non-local participants to move to Arad.
The venture was launched in the framework of Israel 2040: KKL-JNF Builds the Land of Tomorrow; a comprehensive national program spearheaded by KKL-JNF that will boost Israel’s peripheral regions by bringing 1 million people to the Negev and half a million people to the Galilee by 2040
The highlight of the event was the inauguration of the Bynet Campus in Arad, which will be used by KKL Tech-Red Bynet students for their training and ultimately serve as their workplace.
Participating in the ceremony were KKL-JNF Chairman
Daniel Atar; Arad Mayor Atty.
Nissan Ben-Hamo; project initiator and spearhead
Yehuda Zisapel, President of the Red-Bynet Group; CEO of Bynet Data Communications
Alon Ben-Tzur; and KKL-JNF Vice Chairman
Hernan Felman. Also present were high-tech industry executives, business students, and other interested parties.
The KKL Tech-RAD Bynet venture will enable young post-army graduates to attain undergraduate degrees in computer science at the Open University and guarantee their integration into one of the 20 high-tech companies of the RAD-Bynet Group and other participating high-tech companies. As part of the program, the young participants will receive vocational training and professional guidance from Bynet Data Communications – a subsidiary of the RAD-Bynet Group – during and after their studies. Each student will receive a grant for tuition and living expenses for all three years of the degree, as well as a personal computer. The program is accessible to anyone who interested and eligible to participate in the program. While currently taking place in Arad, the program plans to expand to other peripheral cities in the future.
Said KKL-JNF World Chairman
Daniel Atar: "A sober look into the future and a serious, in-depth reading of the forecasts show clearly and unequivocally that without significant strengthening of the Negev and the Galilee and creating a demographic balance between these areas and the center, the state of Israel will be left without economic and strategic resilience. In light of this, KKL-JNF, which
since its inception has worked to make the Zionist dream a reality, has established for itself a major goal for the coming years to strengthen these areas and bring them a million and a half new residents, with the high-tech field being marked as the driver of change. The KKL Tech project is a realization of this vision.”
Said RAD-Bynet Group President
Yehuda Zisapel: "I predict that the great reserve of future engineers will come from the periphery. This is a group of people with huge potential, yet they have been neglected. We need to empower these young people first of all to believe in themselves, and provide them with guidance and support as well as guaranteed work at the end of their studies. This is a national mission of the first order, and I believe and hope that more high-tech companies and multinational R&D centers in Israel will pick up the gauntlet and join us.”
Atty.
Nissan Ben Hamo, the mayor of the city of Arad, said: "As someone who began his professional career in high-tech, I know that the industry has no limits There is a strong population in the periphery that will not settle for anything less. The connection between the RAD-Bynet Group, KKL-JNF and the city of Arad is a significant step in strengthening and developing Arad and its inhabitants. Dozens of young people have found their place in this venture. We see their devotion to their studies, together with the investment of RAD-Bynet, KKL-JNF and the municipality, as securing the future of Arad.”