Team:Technion-Israel/Public Engagement
Public Engagement & Education
Our sustainable "BeeFree" honey will benefit the entire eco-system by preventing the dependency on "managed" bees in the honey industry. However, the impact of our project could be even more extensive by leaving the lab and reaching out to the community. In doing so, we got the opportunity to expose the public to our project and familiarize them with its importance. In turn, we enriched our own knowledge and got new ideas from other people. We were interested in engaging various sectors of society in our project, especially those who are not ordinarily exposed to science and might be inspired by our project.
Weizmann Institute Synthetic Biology Conference
In the beginning, we considered several iGEM projects, and therefore decided to expand our research to determine which one would be the most suitable.
Staying updated and being familiar with recent tools and studies in the field can significantly improve the quality of a project. Consequently, we decided to attend the synthetic biology conference at the Weizmann Institute.
At the conference, we were exposed for the very first time to internationally renowned researchers in the field, as well as various studies and tools that were relevant to the project.
The most important thing we gained from the conference was connections with experts from around the world. Almost every researcher was thrilled to answer our questions and help us solve problems that we encountered at the beginning of the project.
In fact, as helpful as reading an article might be, we still believe that a personal, face to face, discussion could have an even greater impact. We believe that any project in the field of synthetic biology can be benefited from connections and collaborations with experts from different fields.
Raising awareness at the Tel-Aviv Vegan Festival
We have come to understand that our main target audience is, at least at first, people from the vegan community.
We wanted to interact with this community, display our project, and listen to their ideas and remarks. Therefore, we visited the Vegan Festival in Tel-Aviv, the "vegan capital of the world". There, we presented our project to the people who attended the festival. They were thrilled to hear about our project and could not wait to taste our vegan honey.
Market Research
We surveyed the people who visited the festival, attempting to develop a more precise and statistical understanding of our customer's opinions. The survey contained questions regarding the bee extinction problem, the harm of the honey industry to bees, and peoples' willingness to try our product. 124 people answered our survey, and we were pleased with the results.
We have discovered that the Israeli population is quite aware of the harm caused to bees by the honey industry and that they are willing to change their consumption habits if a suitable replacement product offered. We have also discovered that the usage of genetically engineered bacteria in our product was not a significant deterrent. These results have helped us adjust our project to meet the needs of the general population.
Hackathon/iGEMthon
Global warming and climate change are among the greatest issues facing humanity in this century.
These challenges we are facing leave us no choice but to find solutions and prepare for the unknown, which includes searching for new sources of food. Another option available in the attempt to prevent global warming, or at least minimize its effects, is to develop new applications that will lead to less pollution and waste, and will eventually reduce our ecological footprint.
While we have chosen to address the issue of the environmental risk caused by the honey industry and develop a self-sustainable way of producing honey, we have decided to also challenge young entrepreneurs to approach the environmental issue from their point of view and find creative new solutions.
Therefore, we decided to conduct the iGEMTHON – a hackathon event that focused on sustainability and the environment.
After we consulted with many Hackathon organizers, chose the location, found sponsors, recruited mentors, lecturers, and judges – we selectively chose 44 students from 10th-12th grades, from various high schools in Haifa. We invited them to a two-day hacking event, which took place on 22-23/9/19, to find solutions for the most challenging environment and sustainability issues.
The first lecturer was Professor Yoav Livney, a faculty member at the faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion. Prof. Livney talked about sustainability in the field of food science, and the reasons we need to find alternative food sources. Prof. Livney presented new and exciting sources for food, such as cultured meat, and the use of insects and seaweeds in future food. Prof. Livney also discussed interesting research he currently working on.
The second lecturer was Dr. Yoav Medan, who is an experienced entrepreneur in the biomedical engineering field. Dr. Medan had been working as one of the leading researches at IBM innovating labs for many years, and has, later on, entered into the entrepreneurship world, developing innovative technologies to treat Parkinson and Stuttering disorders.
Shahar Pollak, an experienced entrepreneur and part of Breezometer – a successful startup company that had developed an algorithm to monitor the air quality - gave the final lecture. Shahar talked about the development of "Breezometer" - where the idea came from, the difficulties along the way, their success and the effects of the company worldwide. Finally, Shahar gave tips for beginner entrepreneurs.
By the end of the lectures, Dr. Yoav Medan and Shahar Pollak joined the mentors' team who accompanied the Hackathon.
The mentors' team was composed of 21 talented and experienced people who are experts in various fields. The mentors' goal was to assist the competing groups, to refine their ideas, and to help them build their final presentation.
After two days, each group was requested to present their developed product, as well as their business model. The judging team consisted of Prof. Roee Amit, a member at the faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering in the Technion and the academic leader of iGEM Technion, Dr. Georgi Maikov from RTM-consult (a startup consulting company) and Kiril Dadol, CEO of the Sowillo Energy startup. The judges evaluated each group's presentation and work according to several factors, presented in the judging-form below.
By the end of the presentation, the judges convened and discussed the performance of each group, choosing their top three teams.
"The Green Choice"
By Yael Bar, Yael Rothschild, Nir Repter and Shai Oskatz
"Super Synthesis"
By Gilad Riss, Sapir Cohen, Idan Zehavi and Roee Cohen
"GreenSand"
By Itay Cohen, Eran Ashkenazi, Roee Ohayon and Gali Mizrahi
It was very inspiring to meet all the young entrepreneurs, eager to learn and develop something that will affect the world. It has encouraged us to continue and improve our project, and to dare to think outside the box.
This led us to think about our next goal….
Excellence conference in Haifa municipality
We noticed that during the past years, there was only one high school iGEM team in Haifa. Therefore, we set ourselves a goal to change that, and encourage the local municipality to invest in the future generation and support future high school iGEM teams. After our first collaboration with Haifa Municipality, we have scheduled a set of meetings with the head of excellence in education department. The goal is to introduce the iGEM contest for high schools and examine the possibility of regulating and encouraging their participation in future iGEM contests. We aim to build a complete program, including instructions on how to choose mentors, handle bureaucracy, and budget the project.
We were invited to the Haifa municipality excellence conference to present iGEM to the local education system. During the meeting, we conversed with many high school managers and excellence representatives about iGEM, interviewed with Haifa publishers and answered their questions. We believe we have succeeded in creating interest in the contest and in influencing school managers to support a team and participate in future iGEM contests.
Public Speaking
Meeting with the Technion's new students
We have met with a group of first-year undergraduate students from the Technion, aiming to inspire them to become the next Technion iGEM participants and explained to them how their introductry studies could assist them as iGEM team members and as future scientists and engineers. We explained that motivation is required while struggling through the first year's courses of chemistry, physics, biology, and mathematics. The students were thrilled to learn about our project and the way those fundamental science courses are aiding us now. They were motivated to learn and to become the next iGEM-Technion members.
Enosh association Lecture
Enosh (in Hebrew: human being) is a non-profit organization that operates community centers for mentally-challenged people. The organization provides them with a safe place to socialize, as well as listen to lectures and take part in activities that are meant to enrich their inner world and expand their horizons. The Haifa branch managers (link to page)were kind enough to let us present, lecture, and discuss the core elements of our projects: the benefits of honey, the bees' problem and how our synthetic system is meant to work.
We discussed the production of honey and let the people who attended the lecture play a "game" in which they assembled the ingredients of honey by playing the role of the enzymes involved. It was a great privilege for us to engage with these people, who are sometimes neglected by society and to hear their views and ideas. It was both moving and inspiring for us.
*The peoples' faces could not be published due to medical confidentiality.
Social Media
One-Minute iGEM Challenge
Over the years, many iGEM teams have established hundreds of magnificent projects. We believe that a lot of them may change not only the scientific field of synthetic biology but also the every-day lives of people around the world. Such creative ideas, if presented not only to scientists, could raise awareness for important issues and inspire many people who are less likely to be exposed to those projects in a scientific article or a conference. Therefore, a video explaining an idea in a short, simple manner could easily make those projects more accessible.
That is why we have launched the One Minute iGEM ChallengeFacebook page. After posting our first video, we invited other iGEM teams from around the world to send us a one-minute video that explains their project. The videos are available on Facebook, where they can be watched by any person who has access to a computer or smartphone. This way, even people who have never heard of iGEM can learn about various iGEM projects, and hopefully, get inspired by those videos. We would like to thank all the iGEM groups who have participated in the challenge for their wonderful ideas and the will to collaborate with us, and hope the next iGEM teams will take this legacy and maintain the page for the next contests. For more details, visit our collaboration page.
