The Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion
The Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion, AMIT became fully operational in 2007 as the second Alfred Mann Institute.
Mrs. Claude Mann, Alfred Mann's wife, who was born in a Nazi concentration camp to parents who were political prisoners due to her family’s activity in the French resistance during World War II, was an avid supporter of the establishment of an AMI outside of the USA. A floor in her honor at the Alfred Mann Institute at the Technion was inaugurated on June '07.
Key Elements of AMIT Operation
AMIT operates under the common control of the Technion, the American Technion Society and the Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering.
AMIT has a multidisciplinary core team of employees and consultants, led by it’s Managing Director, a former investment manager and a Board of Directors member of several start-up companies. Among AMIT's growing staff are a senior consultant with more than 18 years in biomedical product development and commercialization, a senior nephrologist skillful in drug development, an experienced entrepreneur and a Marketing Manager.
At least twice a year promising projects are brought to the approval of the AMIT Board of Directors which includes equal representation from the Technion senior management and from the Alfred Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering. The major portion of their activity is devoted to screening, review and approval of new potential projects and to operating and managing the five projects that are currently running.
The AMIT offices and laboratories complex is housed in one of the Technion buildings and includes approximately 6,000 sq. feet on two floors with scheduled expansion of an additional 2,500 sq. feet in 2008.
Project Screening
Almost a 100 different projects reached AMIT during the first 16 months, most of which arrived through the Technion Technology Transfer Office. The breakdown of the projects shows that most were rejected for lack of fit with the AMIT mission, many are under watch and evaluation and several are approved and operational.
Projects Operation
Due to the large variety of medical domains of the different projects and the necessity for various specific specialties, AMIT used the assistance of over 80 professional experts and facilities in different fields.
The essence of their project operation philosophy is the joint, collaborative work of the principal investigators, their research teams, the AMIT core team and consultants and external experts and facilities. A collective decision-making method is being practiced with great success.
