About – Racheli Kreisberg

RACHELI KREISBERG, IN A NUTSHELL

I am an experienced entrepreneur and an innovation ecosystem builder, with a lot of experience in developing and sustaining international cooperation, focusing on cutting-edge technology and on energy transition including hydrogen; very well networked globally, and knowledgeable on EU funding mechanisms (i.e., Horizon Europe and Joint Undertakings (JU)).

My skills include excellent entrepreneurship and innovation skills, very high organization skills, international cooperation and networking abilities, research capabilities and presentation and moderation skills.

Academic Background:

Possessing a very strong and inter-disciplinary academic background which includes a B.Sc. in biology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (1987-1990); a M.Sc. in chemistry at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (1990- 1993) in the field of computational biology and computer-aided three-dimensional modeling of protein structures with a thesis on the 3D structure of a viral protease, completed with the highest distinction; a Ph.D. from the department of molecular microbiology and biotechnology at the faculty of life science of Tel Aviv University (1993-1998); an executive MBA at the faculty of business administration of Tel Aviv University (2002-2004).

Working Experience:

Manager of IBEXPERTS Ltd. (2004-)

In 2004 I established my own business company IBEX, a limited enterprise which specialized in the initiation and management of European Union Framework Programmes known today as Horizon Europe. I submitted numerous collaborative interdisciplinary research projects, engaged consortium partners from New Member States and Small and Medium Enterprises, implementing Europe’s policies, and contributing to impactful research aimed at addressing pan-European challenges. The process of developing winning proposals was extremely competitive and required excellence at all levels of execution. I successfully provided professional project management to public and private organizations, such as universities, hospitals, companies, and NGOs. I set up additional project management companies in The Netherlands and in Switzerland and served as an evaluator at the European Commission in Brussels for a decade focusing on Marie Curie Fellowships.

Nowadays, I provide professional consultancy services to organizations interested in developing international projects, mainly in the field of hydrogen and renewable energy. I established the Hydrogen Israel platform.

Authorized Israeli Tour Guide (2015-)

I serve as a multilingual tour guide, with a focus on innovation-tourism in Israel. Having been born in the Netherlands and immigrated to Israel in 1977, I speak fluent Hebrew, Dutch, English, moderate German, and Basic French.

Innovation Attaché, Netherlands Embassy in Israel and Manager of Israeli Dutch Innovation Center (2016-2024)

I served as the Innovation Attaché of the Netherlands Innovation Network, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, at the Netherlands Embassy in Israel. I was responsible for developing R&D and business collaborations between Dutch and Israeli companies, universities and research institutions. Through my work I implemented Netherlands innovation policy (i.e., Dutch societal challenges, mission driven innovation policy, Key Emerging Technologies) as well as the UN societal development goals (SDGs). Since 2020, I especially focused on the hydrogen sector.

Head Bioinformatics Unit, Tel Aviv University (1998-2005)

Working experience includes seven years as the head of the Bioinformatics Unit at the faculty of life science of Tel Aviv University (1998-2005) during which I was responsible for developing and maintaining cutting edge visualization and computational research infrastructure, databases of genomes and of 3-dimensional protein structures; I developed GeneDis, a human disease search engine with a graphical user interface aimed at detecting mutations in people carrying out genetic screening. I setup seven courses with academic accreditation as well as numerous workshops in the newly emerging field of bioinformatics, some of which were commercialized, through Ramot Ltd., the technology transfer company of Tel Aviv University, to address the growing interest of the industry in applying bioinformatics and other ‘omics’ technology in fields such as drug discovery.

Social responsibility:

Commemoration of Simon Wiesenthal’s Life and Legacy and the Simon Wiesenthal Genealogy Geolocation initiative (1999-)

Since the passing of my late grandfather Simon Wiesenthal, I started commemorating his life and legacy. This commemoration effort was enriched by my over 25-year-long hobby as genealogist and led me into a world of genealogy discoveries as well as to the recent development of the Simon Wiesenthal Genealogy Geolocation initiative, also known as SWIGGI, which is accessible at https:// SimonWiesenthal-Galicia-AI.com.

Volunteering Project to support former HiTech and industry employees due to COVID19

With the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, I felt a personal urge to contribute to society in general and specifically to my hi-tech and industry colleagues and initiated, together with a colleague, the בשעה טובה volunteering project aimed at providing moral support to people who lost their job and who are eager to return to the Israeli job market.