Guangdong Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) Commencement for Bachelor Degree Graduates 2022 was held at the Gym of GTIIT South Campus on the afternoon of July 11. Mr. Peleg Lewi, Consul General of Israel in Guangzhou, addressed a speech on the ceremony. 

This is the second time that Mr. Peleg Lewi attended the commencement of GTIIT. He said that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Israel diplomatic relations, and GTIIT is the best witness of this friendship. He expressed his gratitude to students and parents for choosing GTIIT, and encouraged graduates to not be afraid of making mistakes, learn from mistakes, think outside the box, and pursue a bright and splendid future.

Hello. Shalom.

Honorable Chancellor Gong, honorable leaders, ladies and gentlemen, dear students I am so proud of you and especially the families,

It’s my honor to be invited to GTIIT’s graduation ceremony again, it’s the second year to attend, and this ceremony represents especially the success and continuity of GTIIT. We are here to stay.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Israel-China diplomatic relations, and the GTIIT is the best example of this friendly and deep relations.

The Technion are one of the pillars of Israeli technology and innovation. In a few minutes, please allow me to demonstrate you some facts about Israel Innovation Echo System.

As you can see in the numbers are quite amazing, and we are a very small country, only 9.5 million citizens, but we produce a lot of scientific papers, numbers of employees in high tech. The R&D investment is the highest in the GDP meaning that education is the best investment in the future. So, the future is here in this room, the future of China and the future of Israel.

But not only academy is enough for a fruitful ecosystem of innovation. We have to combine everybody, the governmental support. And we are very happy that the Guangdong government and the Shantou government are assisting a quality academy. This is the best example of quality academy that we have a lot of startups. Students, don't go to work in big companies, create your own company, be your own boss, be your own entrepreneurs if you can.

We need a lot of money also. So, we have the angels and the VC. In Israel, we have a lot of immigration and educated HR which is the case also in China, internal immigration. This is things that we need.

Another example is the international cooperation. This is the best example. How many of you are going to study abroad and bring back knowledge, take knowledge? With all of these things together, we can have an innovation ecosystem like we have in Israel and like in China exist.

To be a good scientist, you have to be a good businessman, you have to be an entrepreneur to think outside of the box, to innovate, not to say “I cannot do it”. To knock on every door, to try everything, and most importantly, to learn from mistake. It's okay to make mistakes. Everybody does it, but we learn from them, and we continue. So, this is the DNA of the Israeli entrepreneurship and companies.

And the most important is the human resource, the talent—you. You don't have to be very rich; you don't have a lot of gold. The important thing is what we have inside our head. And the human resources are the most important resources that any country have.

Our late president Shimon Peres said that in Israel, we only have the sun, the desert, the human brain in the endless dreaming. And this is also what we have here in Shantou. We don't have desert, we have a beautiful sea, beautiful scenery, but the dreams are coming through. This is what unites Israel, what unites China, and together we are building a better future.

I want to take this occasion before ending to thank especially the parents, the family. As Dr. Danino said you took a bold decision a few years ago to trust GTIIT. I promise you that this decision is what you will never regret. To our dear students, wish you a bright and prosperous future, I wish you all the best and most importantly I hope to see you in Israel as scholars or visitors.

Xie xie. Thank you very much. Toda aba.