The first Czech Scientific and R&D diplomat in Israel
Delana Mikolášová was appointed to become the very first Czech Scientific, R&D and Innovation diplomat to Israel in June 2015. She started her mission in Tel Aviv in October 2015. Her office is located at the premises of the Czech Embassy to Israel.
In Israel, Ms. Mikolášová supports activities focused on connecting Czech and Israeli innovative ecosystems. Her main role is to enhance interactions between scientists, academia representatives, businessmen and state administration representatives on both sides. She actively assists to develop strategic partnerships between Israeli and Czech universities and various research institutions. In this regard, she has helped to initiate strategic cooperation between the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Rehovot, ranked among top 10 research institutions in the world, and the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS). As a result of this cooperation, a Postdoctoral WIS-CAS Joint Fellowship Program was introduced in June 2017 to provide financial support for outstanding Czech young researchers to spend their Postdoc studies at the Weizmann Institute.
Among Czech and Israeli scientific community, there is a huge interest in mutual research cooperation. During the year 2017, more than 100 scientific mobility projects were conducted between the researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences and various academic institutions in Israel, bringing together unprecedented number of 150 scholars across all scientific fields.
Over the last two years, Ms. Mikolášová has been also organizing scientific delegations of Czech experts to Israel. She assisted to bring Czech scientific and business delegations to Cybertech conference, NanoIsrael, Biomed, International Tech-Transfer Conference ITTN and many other international events which take place in Israel on a regular basis. In 2017, she also initiated a scientific mission of Israeli researchers from the Technion, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Tel Aviv University to the ICCB international conference on organic chemistry hosted by the Masaryk University in Brno.
Among other agenda, Ms. Mikolášová concentrates namely on the following sectors: biotechnology, organic chemistry, nanotechnology, IT and automotive. For Czech-Israeli cooperation in industrial research, a bilateral financial scheme named “VES18ISRAEL” (former GESHER/MOST) is available through the Czech Ministry of Youth and Science and Israeli Innovation Authority. Due to vibrant Israeli start-up ecosystem and research in the field of car mobility and cybersecurity, Škoda Auto DigiLab opened their innovative platform in Israel in January 2018 to scout the best Israeli technologies, ideas and visions in this booming area.
Ms. Mikolášová was selected in an open selection procedure by a board consisting of representatives of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in summer 2015. She is a career diplomat. Prior to her mission to Israel, she had been heading the Israel-Palestine Desk at the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 3 years. She also worked for the Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Den Haag, the Netherlands, and at the EU Delegation to Israel. She speaks Czech, English, Spanish and Hebrew.
