Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

The U.S. and Israel share a similar concern: while the two countries produce some of the world’s most innovative technologies, both have underachieving school systems and growing inequality.

That is why when Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin Wednesday to mark the opening of a new research center, they found common ground in talking not about new gadgets, but about struggling schools and equal opportunity.

“True innovation can only result from full access to education for all,” Rivlin told Cook in Jerusalem, as he noted that one of Apple’s senior employees, Johny Srouji, hails from an Israeli-Arab community, where schools normally underperform the rest of the country. “Imagine what the world would be like with another five Johny Sroujis.”

Rivlin’s remarks are a reminder that while Israel and the U.S. outpace the world in terms of startups and patents per capita, inequality and dysfunctional schools are a growing challenge to the sustainability of the countries’ high-tech industries. In both nations, debate has intensified in recent years about how to reduce income disparity and education gaps.

“We are huge believers in education, and always felt that education is the great equalizer,” Cook told Rivlin. “We are working hard to bring schools that have underserved children to a much higher level.”

R&D Centers

Israel, an embattled country with a dearth of natural resources, has always put a high premium on intellectual property that can be sold outside the region. The country’s brightest minds often gain technical experience in elite army units and go on to study at its prestigious universities such as the Technion, the Israeli equivalent of MIT. Many then go on to found startups or work in R&D centers such as Apple’s new facility in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

Apple has made at least two key acquisitions of Israeli startups in the past five years, gaining capabilities to fold into its products. In 2012, the Cupertino, California-based company paid about $390 million for Anobit Technologies Ltd., a maker of a flash-memory drive part for the iPhone. A year later it bought PrimeSense Ltd., a motion-tracking chip technology maker, for $350 million.

While Israel is known as “Startup Nation,” as it was dubbed in a popular 2009 book, leaders from Central Bank Governor Karnit Flug to former Education Minister Shai Piron worry that a growing chunk of the country’s children aren’t being given the skills to join the global economy.

Human Capital

Almost half of Israel’s elementary-school pupils study in ultra-Orthodox schools that often don’t equip students with academic skills needed to enter the workforce, or in underfunded schools serving the country’s 20 percent Arab minority, according to the Taub Center for Social Studies.

“Israel’s future depends solely on its ability to develop human capital,” said Don Futterman, director of the Israel Center for Educational Innovation, based in Kfar Saba, which works to improve education in underachieving elementary schools. “It’s crucial to close the gap in achievement.”

Fifteen-year-old Israeli math students ranked 41 of 64 in international tests in 2012, and performed below the mean score in reading and science. The U.S. ranked just five places ahead of Israel.

President Barack Obama has made improving access to education a key part of his efforts to boost economic growth and narrow income inequality in the U.S. In January, he proposed making two years of community college education free for students who maintain academic standards.

Cook has supported helping schools in disadvantaged communities and Apple has pledged to help 120 schools across the U.S., he said.