BGU Student Innovation Streamlines Public Services

A student initiative from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev aims to enhance document verification processes at the Population and Immigration Authority using cloud technology and artificial intelligence.

The Population and Immigration Authority, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration presented challenges to students from the 360 Entrepreneurship Center at Ben-Gurion University, seeking to improve public services in Israel. Four teams rose to the challenge and reached the finals of the competition, a collaboration between Google, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the National Digital Bureau.

“Students Think Innovation” is a prestigious program designed to develop cloud-based technological projects that enhance public services in Israel. It serves as an incubator for developing ideas through information technology and innovative thinking. Each year, around 150 candidates apply to the program, but only 40 are selected to participate.

This year, the winning project, IntelliDocs, addressed the challenge of document verification at the Population and Immigration Authority. Currently, the process of submitting an application to the authority is time-consuming from start to finish, slowing down the workflow of the office staff. Utilizing Google’s cloud and AI tools, IntelliDocs automates the process by summarizing and verifying submitted documents, significantly increasing the efficiency of the procedure.

Natalie Or Hen, Deputy Director of the Population Authority, stated, "The Population and Immigration Authority is proud to be at the forefront of technology, integrating innovative tools, including artificial intelligence, into our operations. Our goal is to improve application processing times, thereby enhancing response times and appointment availability for status requests in Israel. We intend to implement the IntelliDocs project to streamline the application process for our citizens."

Other projects that reached the finals include:

ShabbatShalom - This initiative tackles the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration's challenge by strengthening the connection between new (and veteran) immigrants and the Israeli community. The platform facilitates shared Shabbat meals between immigrants and Israelis, addressing a real need and aiding the acclimatization process through new connections and a sense of home and community. ShabbatShalom will soon be integrated into the Ministry's Aliyapp application.

Shalev - "Shalev" is the name of a friendly AI chatbot that consolidates accessible health services for citizens, offering personalized, convenient, and anonymous services. Additionally, Shalev informs users of their health rights, making essential information readily available to Israeli citizens. This initiative was developed in response to a challenge from the Ministry of Health.

Empatech - This project addresses the Ministry of Health's challenge to make psychological and mental health services accessible to the entire population. The initiative aims to encourage citizens in need of mental support to take the first step in seeking assistance and to outline their entitled rights. The proposed solution is an AI-based platform that facilitates access to and utilization of mental health services.

Over the past decade, 56 innovative projects have been created by 453 students, alumni of the "Students Think Innovation" program, developing technological solutions for governmental challenges. The program connects public sector needs identified by government ministries with budding entrepreneurs, who are guided by professionals from academia and industry. For instance, projects like “Where’s Dafi?”—a social defibrillator mapping initiative—and “Desite”, a model predicting the success rate of patients weaning off ventilators, have emerged from this program.

Shila Cohanim, Program Director, stated, "Government ministry CEOs have already begun collaborating with the winning teams to integrate the projects into their offices, which was the ultimate goal of the program. This year, students managed to perform despite military reserve duties, attending meetings from the field, and in a significantly shorter program cycle than previous years. The high achievements of this year's teams are a testament to the strength of the students, supported by the right experts."

Dana Gavish Fridman, Director of the 360 Entrepreneurship Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, commented, "The wonderful students demonstrated to us all that the true resilience of society lies in the ability to innovate even in times of difficulty. Warm congratulations to all participants and, of course, to the winning team, whose development will enable faster and more efficient service from the Population and Immigration Authority for all citizens."

Omri Ben Horin, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy at Google, remarked, "The collaboration between government, industry, and academia has proven itself for the tenth consecutive year. We are proud of our long-standing partnership with the National Digital Bureau and Ben-Gurion University, and we are excited each time to see the creative and high-quality solutions students develop to improve public service."

Keren Katzir Shtibel, Head of Sustainable Business Development and Corporate Responsibility at the National Digital Bureau, added, "At the National Digital Bureau, we believe in partnerships between civil society and the government to find the most precise solutions. We witness the fresh and creative minds of university students tackling complex challenges like privacy, data collection, and document diversity, transforming them into tools that can shorten processes from days to hours and advance public service significantly. We have benefited from the accurate outputs of this program for a decade and are grateful for our collaboration with the 360 Entrepreneurship Center at Ben-Gurion University and our partners at Google."

Winning team members Bar Avraham, Ofir Ben Moshe, and Rom Amsili shared, "We are thrilled with the opportunity to impact, change, and shape the future. We believe this is just the beginning. IntelliDocs is a groundbreaking system that can revolutionize document handling and verification. We thank the university's entrepreneurship center, Google, and the Population Authority representatives for helping us realize our vision. This is only the start."

The judging panel included: Omri Ben Horin, Director of Government Relations and Public Policy at Google; Keren Katzir Shtibel, Head of Sustainable Business Development and Corporate Responsibility at the National Digital Bureau; Professor Dan Blumberg, Vice President for Regional Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; Dana Gavish Friedman, Director of the 360 Entrepreneurship Center; Michal Rotem Hovav, Director of the TLE Fund at Scientific Accelerators; and Michael Anav, Marketing Director of the 360 Entrepreneurship Center.