In the distant Middle East, there is a country that makes us feel unusually mysterious - Israel. It is a tiny country about the size of Beijing, surrounded by the hostile Arab world, with ethnic conflicts that are not cleaned up ...... These have long made us feel that Israel is a country in the desert, full of vicissitudes, and full of wars.
However, when we look at the country in depth, we will find that the real Israel is actually an economically rich, technologically advanced, environmentally beautiful modernized country, and its level of science and technology even exceeds that of Japan, Canada, China, India and other countries.
Agricultural Miracle in the Desert
Since the Middle Ages, Jews have been exiled from Europe for hundreds of years, and have long been subjected to bullying. After Hitler came to power and conquered Europe, Nazi Germany carried out a frantic genocidal policy against the Jews all over Europe, which made the Jews nearly extinct.
In 1948, the Jews established the State of Israel under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council. This nation, which had suffered years of persecution and bullying, finally had a land of its own. But the land was both desolate and barren, filled with yellow sand as far as the eye could see, with little arable land and little water, and the Israelis faced a serious challenge to their survival right from the start.
However, within a few decades, the Israelis quickly achieved self-sufficiency in food and a great variety of food, and created many agricultural miracles on this desert that amazed the world. For example, Israel is now the world's second largest flower exporter after the Netherlands, a large area of the desert has long been turned into a flower-strewn fields; here won the "European fruit basket" reputation, cultivated a wide range of varieties of high-yield, stable and non-polluting high-quality fruits and vegetables (for example, the famous "Desert Red" tomatoes) Red" tomatoes), can be sold in the European Union, the United States and other markets that adhere to the highest quality standards; In addition, Israel has truly become "a land of milk and honey", the average annual milk production of a cow is the world's highest (about 12 tons), the public per capita consumption of more than 500 grams of honey, relying entirely on domestic production. The honey is produced entirely domestically.
Israel's extremely unfavorable natural conditions for agriculture and extremely developed modern agriculture, the contrast may be the strongest in the world, then, Israel's agriculture is how to take off and rise?
Water-saving agriculture to the extreme
Israel is in an arid, high-temperature, low rainfall area, and is truly a country where water is as expensive as oil, so the Israelis have been working hard to open up water sources and develop water-saving agriculture.
In the 1950s, the Israeli government began to implement a large-scale "north-south water transfer project," with a view to transferring water from Lake Tiberias in the northeast to the drought-stricken southern desert. This was arguably the most important project in Israel's history, costing more than $100 million, and was put into operation in the early 1960s. By the 1980s, the "North-South Water Transfer Project" had been extended to about 300 kilometers in the north-south direction, and at the same time radiated outward to the water supply pipeline, connected to the regional water supply network, forming a unified water supply system for the whole country. Thanks to the "north-south water transfer", Israel was able to develop irrigation in the southern desert hundreds of kilometers away from the source of water, a large area of barren land began to turn into an oasis.
At the same time, Israel also made a revolutionary breakthrough in water-saving agriculture. 1962, an Israeli farmer, Smyrna Boras, stumbled upon a patch of plants in his garden that were growing well because the hose used to water them happened to have an extremely small break, and small droplets of water continued to seep outward, keeping the plants moist at all times. It occurred to Bolas that the small droplets of water not only helped the plants grow, but also reduced evaporation, so irrigation was naturally more effective. If you can apply this "drip irrigation" means in the barren southern desert, it is likely to create an unexpected miracle. So, Bolas conceptualized the overall layout of irrigation, the invention of the world's most advanced water-saving irrigation method - drip irrigation.
Simply put, Bolas' drip irrigation system is to lay water pipes in the soil at the root of plants, and open eyes on the side of the pipes, with micro-switches, and only let the water and fertilizer slowly drip into the roots of the crops, to achieve the effect of "giving plants water, rather than giving the soil water," the effect of saving. However, in order to let the water and fertilizer balanced seepage drip to each crop, drip irrigation needs to solve a lot of technical problems, such as plastic pipe and drip head material to ensure that in the hot sun and wind and sand attack does not block not plug, but also for example, the laying of the pipeline has to pay attention to the flow of water droplets and the concentration of fertilizer need to be reasonably controlled. However, the Israeli government discerns the gold, spare no effort to improve and promote the drip technology. So far, Israel's drip irrigation technology has been updated to the sixth generation, dripping equipment, such as proper maintenance, can be used continuously for 20 years, the computer intelligent control system has also been introduced by Israeli scientists to the entire drip irrigation system.
Facts have proved that the benefits of drip irrigation is amazing. Israel to promote drip irrigation technology, arable land from 1600 square kilometers to 4400 square kilometers, irrigated area from 300 square kilometers to expand to 2600 square kilometers, the total amount of water used in the country's agriculture to remain stable, agricultural output than the establishment of the period of amazing more than ten times.
High-tech teach you how to farm
In addition to the rational use of water resources, the Israelis attach great importance to science and technology to develop the strategy of agriculture. Israel's farmers in the university level of education accounted for about half of the rest of at least high school education, can more quickly grasp the new agricultural technology. Israel's agricultural production in all aspects, are relying on scientific and technological forces as support, precision farming, high quality and efficiency.
First of all, breeding technology. Israel pays great attention to the cultivation of excellent crop varieties, supported by advanced biotechnology, the cultivation and production of new crop varieties in Israel is very active. Generally speaking, the life cycle of a new variety is 3 to 4 years, after which it will be replaced by another newly marketed variety, while a new variety from development to commercialization will take an average of 5 years. So, in Israel, the development of another, newer agricultural product begins before one is marketed.
The step-by-step process of pushing the boundaries has enabled Israel to breed many high-quality crops. For example, they have bred tomatoes with brilliant color and long freshness; seedless watermelons can be cultivated with individual and color-controlled cultivation according to customers' requirements; Holstein cows with the world's highest milk production are bred with genetic engineering; new varieties of flowers have benefited from bioengineering; and a variety of newly bred hybrid cottons not only have longer and stronger fibers, but also reduce the need for water, with some varieties showing a natural brown or green color. In addition, Israel has developed a variety of seeds that are resistant to disease, improve quality and yield, and require little water in hot climates, and now exports 30 million dollars worth of seeds for various crops each year.
The second is the production chain. Israel's agricultural workers account for only about 4% of the country's population, their agricultural production to a large extent to realize the automation, basically with computer management, which facilitates the Israelis will be more smashing high-tech into agricultural production. Among them, some advanced agricultural technology is both amazing and practical, quite representative. For example, in order to allow farmers to clearly see the best way to plant crops, feed poultry and the appropriate time, Israel AKOL company developed a "agricultural cloud technology" platform. Using "agricultural cloud technology", farmers need to install sensors in tree trunks, vines, crop fields, fish ponds, or attached to cows, milking systems, feed storage tanks and other suitable equipment. The data from the sensors records environmental information such as temperature, humidity, animal numbers and activity, plant and soil conditions, pest indices in the area, and so on. The data is then analyzed and used to compare it with "ideal output guidelines" before clear guidance is sent to the farmer. akol's program has already reached Israel, and has been introduced in Europe, the United States and China.
High-tech pest control and storage
In order to deal with crop pests while avoiding chemical contamination from pesticides, Israel has developed biopesticide technology. Some farms protect pumpkins, peppers, melons, tomatoes, and other crops by deploying natural enemies of pests such as grazing bugs, whiteflies, mites, and other pests such as small flower bugs, phytophthora mites (an omnivorous mite), and parasitic wasps. Other farms destroy pests by inhibiting their reproduction, such as when agricultural scientists developed a "love potion" to combat grape mealybugs (a pest that destroys grapes). The potion extracts the "pheromones" (not chemical pesticides) that female mealybugs administer before mating, and farmers release the "love potion" at a time of year when the females aren't ready to mate, so that the odor of the "pheromones" can be detected. pheromones" throughout the farmland before the female mealybugs are ready to mate. The male mealybugs smell the "pheromone" and go crazy looking for the females. However, the female mealybugs are not in mating season, so the male mealybugs keep searching for the female mealybugs, but they can never be found. Eventually, the male mealybugs will die of exhaustion. Without male mealybugs, female mealybugs can't reproduce, so the possibility of pest reproduction is eliminated.
For storing and sorting produce, the Israelis do a similarly beautiful job. At Israel's 19th International Agricultural Fair in 2015, Israel showcased the latest in technology. In order to detect flaws within produce and know the quality of the product, Eshet Eilon presented a fruit sorting machine. The machine uses infrared technology to analyze the internal parts of fresh fruit, removing rotten fruit in time to prevent cross-contamination. This technology can sort dates, apples, mangoes and citrus. Compared to traditional sampling, the fruit sorter can inspect about five tons of fruit per hour, in which every fruit is inspected. The sorter is then also able to categorize fruit according to sweetness, ripeness, and time of ripening. In this way, Israeli fruit merchants can provide more comprehensive information to buyers. Scientists at Israel's Hebrew University demonstrated a secret preservation solution that delays the aging of lettuce leaves and the loss of chlorophyll, and can be used to extend the freshness of vegetables such as celery, spinach, cabbage, kale, and broccoli. The solution, which has been patented in Israel and the United States, will soon be made into a sprayer for use in the produce section of supermarkets.
Israelis are leading the world in the thoroughness of research in all areas of agriculture and the depth of high-tech involvement in agriculture, and it is the perfect combination of these factors and high-quality manpower that has helped Israel realize the agricultural miracle of "letting the desert bloom with flowers.
The power behind innovation
Innovation results affect the world
Israel can be in the harsh natural conditions, "against the odds" as an agricultural powerhouse, thanks in large part to its strong scientific and technological innovation. So, how developed is the Israeli science and technology? Let's take a look at some data to know. 2015, Israel's per capita gross domestic product has reached 35,000 U.S. dollars, ranking 23rd in the world, in which the contribution rate of science and technology to GDP more than 90% (in China, science and technology to the contribution rate of GDP is only 40% or so); Israel's average of every 10,000 people have nearly 150 scientists and engineers, the world's highest percentage; Israel People per capita read 64 books per year, ranking first in the world (China per capita reads 4 books per year); the average number of papers published in international scientific journals per 10,000 people is the highest in the world; Israel per capita has the number of innovative enterprises in the world's first.
With such a strong scientific research strength, Israel's scientific and technological achievements are in full bloom, and have long been silently penetrated into the lives of ordinary people.
Every day when you get up to eat breakfast, you may have been and Israeli scientific and technological achievements have the first close contact. The milk you drink is probably produced using milking technology developed by Israel's Afimilk, a company founded in 1977 and a global leader in modern dairy farms and herd management systems, which is used by most of the world's dairies for milking. At work, it's hard to get away from Israeli technology whenever you use a computer. The flash drive (flash memory technology) that is used all over the world today was invented by the Israeli company M-Systems. Whether you are organizing documents, watching movies, listening to music or looking at photos, you can not do without all kinds of compressed files. These compressed files are related to an algorithm called "Lempel-Ziv-Welch Encoding", which was created by scientists at the Haifa Institute of Technology in Israel in 1978, and later improved by American scientists in 1984. The QQ chat program you use is also based on ICQ, which was invented in 1996 by the Israeli company Mirabillis and later improved by Tencent. In addition, when traveling, you may use "Google Waze" mapping software, a mobile application developed by Israelis and later acquired by Google at a high price of 1.1 billion dollars, and is now used in more than 190 countries; when injured, you may also use Israeli bandages... ...and the list goes on and on.
So how has Israel been able to achieve such impressive technological success?
Harsh environment drives technological innovation
As mentioned earlier, the harshness of the natural conditions prompted the Israelis to develop high technology in agriculture. On the other hand, Israel's birth was besieged by a coalition of neighboring Arab states, and the political environment was equally hostile, which in turn forced the Israelis to develop top-notch military industries and pay attention to the construction of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). However, instead of being militaristic like the Soviet Union, Israel invested a high percentage of its limited resources in the development of military-industrial technology. It then converts the military technology to civilian use and in the process develops young technological talent and potential high-tech entrepreneurs.
It has been proved that Israel's unique "military-industrial state" policy determines the high-tech genes of Israel's innovative enterprises, and it is not difficult to find the shadow of military-industrial technology in many of Israel's innovative technologies.
For example, the famous "Israeli bandage" (also known as the initial protection emergency bandage) was invented in the Israeli army. This bandage with embedded pressure device is different from ordinary bandages, it can quickly apply pressure to the injured area, the first time to stop the bleeding, maximizing the chance of rescue alive. Nowadays, it is not only used in the worldwide military battlefield, but also widely used by the civilian medical community. Another example is that VR, the hottest virtual reality technology nowadays, has actually been used as a simulation training by the Israeli Defense Forces in the past decades, and it is mainly used for projects that are very expensive or even dangerous on real systems. There is the famous Given Imaging company, which invented the compact capsule gastroscope, not only easy to operate, safe, but also able to greatly reduce gastroenterology patients to do gastroscopy when the pain, and the company's founder Gabriel Idan was once a missile engineer of the Israel Defense Forces, specializing in the development of top optoelectronic components, with these components, missiles in order to "See" their own targets. After retiring from the military, Idan envisioned using the latest miniaturization technology in missiles to develop a pill-sized camera that could transmit images from inside the human body. Eventually, he developed a capsule gastroscope for medical use, which became a commercial success.
Now, Israel has world-advanced technology in the fields of military science and technology, electronics, communications, computer software, medical devices, biotech engineering, agriculture, and aviation. These are all areas that happen to be closely related to the issues of "military research" or "combating the harshness of the natural environment".
Leveraging the U.S. to create a "Middle East Silicon Valley"
Reviewing the history of Israel since the founding of the country, it is easy to find that Israel and the U.S. have a close relationship. Many of the Jews here are introduced from the United States mainland, and they are inextricably linked with the United States political circle, business circle. Therefore, for a long time, the U.S. government has given Israel sizable economic support and the latest technical support, and the Jews in the U.S. high-tech enterprises have also spared no effort to help Israel.
Israeli innovative enterprises mostly have a strong international vision, entrepreneurs from the beginning of the business is thinking about how to invent new technologies to solve the world's large-scale problems. Among them, the most representative of the new technology is drip irrigation technology, desalination technology, sewage treatment technology, solar energy technology - these are a collection of Israeli high-tech "signature areas", its technology and products can be recognized by the international market, coupled with the United States With the support of the United States as a superpower, it is very convenient for Israeli companies to explore the international market.
In addition, the Israeli government has formulated a variety of policies to promote scientific and technological innovation, and is committed to turning the country into the "Silicon Valley of the Middle East". For example, Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city, hosts a number of annual science and technology conferences every year. In Tel Aviv's Rothschild Street and Herzel District, there are a large number of technology and innovation companies. These companies open their doors to the public free of charge during the annual conference and exhibit many new and innovative products, so that investors can find their favorite projects at this time. The government also offers a number of incentives to entrepreneurs, such as a 50 percent tax break for start-ups. In addition, Israel has introduced "start-up visas" to facilitate the movement of talented individuals from other parts of the world to Tel Aviv to start innovative businesses. Thanks to the efforts of the Israeli government, many of the world's leading companies have established research and development bases in Israel, such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel, IBM, Motorola, Microsoft and Siemens. Israeli technicians have improved their technical level by working in the research bases of foreign companies, and are also accumulating capital for self-employment, which is exactly where the bottom line is that Israel can become a scientific and technological powerhouse.
Excellent cultural tradition and advanced education
Finally, we have to admire the Jews' cultural tradition of emphasizing wisdom and virtue. In the book "The Land of Entrepreneurship: Insights from Israel's Economic Miracle," co-authored by U.S. foreign policy expert Dan Senor and Israeli columnist Saul Singer, the authors cite Jewish cultural traditions as the most important factor in Israel's emergence as a powerhouse of science, technology and innovation.
These excellent cultural traditions include: the Jews in more than 2,000 years of upheaval in the life of the gradual formation of the tradition of learning from others; so that the Jewish people close unity to survive and revitalization of the collective consciousness; in the extremely difficult conditions of the construction of the country, the creation of miracles in the most need for the spirit of self-strengthening the struggle, and so on.
Based on these cultural traditions, the Israelis have developed a very successful educational system. For example, the Israelis do not believe in authority and do not raise "good" children, but rather children who have ideas and can think independently. They believe that it is more important for children to be able to ask questions than to be able to solve problems. In Israel's secondary school curriculum, teachers often require students to independently design problems and provide solutions. After such a basic education, challenge the conventions and get rid of the boundaries of thinking has become a habit of young Israelis. According to Israeli experts, "It used to be that Jewish mothers wanted their children to become lawyers, but now every mother wants her child to start a business."
Israel pays special attention to the cultivation of entrepreneurship and innovation ability of students in universities, and supports each university to set up its own science and technology incubator and financial support, in addition to the establishment of commercialization centers for scientific research results in universities. University institutions are also very active in the business community, the laboratory developed technology results, knowledge patents for sale, or commercialization operations. In university education, Israeli colleges and universities emphasize combining science, technology and innovation with commerce and management, economics, law, literature, history and philosophy, reflecting a comprehensive, systematic and integrated strength. When a school looks at a project, it organizes interdisciplinary experts to conduct a comprehensive inspection and evaluation. Of course, not all projects are successful. For example, the Hebrew University's venture capital program, the failure rate is about 30%. However, Israeli universities have both policy initiatives to encourage innovation and a cultural atmosphere that tolerates failure, allowing teachers and students to try boldly and make mistakes. Israel's education *** knowledge is: innovation itself comes with risks and setbacks, so it is important to promote a culture of understanding failure, a little more tolerant of failures in order to enable them to make breakthroughs.
In addition to higher education, Israel also vigorously develops adult amateur education to promote innovation for all, and encourages adult students to take high-tech courses that are urgently needed for social development. As Israel's high-tech startups continue to rise and thousands of new jobs are created in the high-tech industry each year, the government has opened up a wide range of avenues for older employees to fill high-tech vacancies by teaching them the latest technology courses for free. There are now numerous examples of middle-aged, older, retired people in Israel achieving innovative results, and lifelong learning has become the norm. A steady stream of talent provides a steady stream of innovative power, thus ensuring the further continuation of national prosperity and the country's prosperity.
This article from the big science and technology * encyclopedia of new say ?2016, the 11th issue of the magazine article, welcome readers to pay attention to our big science and technology micro-signal: hdkj1997