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QUALCOMM Founder Names Graduate School at Israel’s Technion

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As a former university professor and co-founder of wireless technology giant QUALCOMM Incorporated, Dr. Irwin M. Jacobs understands the link between universities and business. So when it came time for him and wife Joan to expand their philanthropy in Israel, they gave $30 million to establish the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Graduate School at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

“We are proud to have our chief legacy in Israel at the Technion,” said Irwin Jacobs, whose companies have employed hundreds of the university’s graduates over the years. “Technion graduate students are the next generation of leaders in science and technology-based industries upon which Israel’s economy is built.”

The $30 million gift, made to the American Technion Society (ATS), helped the fund-raising organization eclipse its 10-year campaign goal of raising $750 million for the Technion.

QUALCOMM established operations near the Technion campus in 1993, and many Technion graduates are employed there.

The university is known as the breeding ground for Israel’s technological prowess. The gift from the Jacobs will mean more – and larger – fellowships for graduate students. It will also establish unique, multi-disciplinary research programs between Technion graduate students and QUALCOMM scientists.

“Coming from someone with Irwin Jacobs’ background, this gift is a clear endorsement of the Technion and its importance to Israel and the world,” said Technion President Professor Yitzhak Apeloig.

“We’re privileged to be able to play a role in this gift that will enable the Technion to maintain its place at the forefront of worldwide research,” said Joan Seidel, ATS president.

Irwin Jacobs is co-founder and chairman of the board of QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology. QUALCOMM Incorporated is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. The company is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a FORTUNE 500® company. Jacobs served as chief executive officer of QUALCOMM until July 2005. His long list of honors and achievements include election to the National Academy of Engineering and award of the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the Dorothy I. Height Chair’s Award of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Financial Times. Dr. Jacobs is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) and the IEEE. He is the recipient of four honorary doctorates, including one from the Technion in 2000. He is incoming chairman of the board of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California.

Irwin and Joan Jacobs are especially well known for their philanthropic giving. According to Business Week magazine, they were the 22^nd most generous U.S. philanthropists in 2004.

The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology is Israel's leading science and technology university. Home to the country’s only winners of the Nobel Prize in science, it commands a worldwide reputation for its pioneering work in computer science, nanotechnology, biotechnology, water-resource management, materials engineering, aerospace and medicine. The majority of the founders and managers of Israel's high-tech companies are alumni. Based in New York City, the American Technion Society is the leading American organization supporting higher education in Israel, with 17 offices around the U.S.

Contact

American Technion Society

Kevin Hattori, 212-407-6319

Kevin@ats.org