Israel Active

Israel’s Innovation Authority (IIA) has issued grants of up to NIS 1 million to the winners of its “Grand Challenges Israel” program.  Hargol, Senecio, OKO, Soapy Care, Jacob’s Well, Amaizz, Farmster, ZZappMalaria and Sharp Mentoring have all taken on humanitarian and health challenges.

Every year, the editorial team of Red Herring magazine / news service selects the 100 most promising tech and life-sciences companies for the United States, Europe and Asia.  18 Israeli companies made the Top 100 Europe list for 2019.

China has now bypassed the U.K. as Israel's second largest export market. $2.6 billion worth of electronic components were shipped from Israel to China over the past year – 80% more than in 2017. Intel exports most of its Israel-manufactured components to China.

Jerusalem’s Biohouse hosted a delegation of business leaders from Global New York, visiting Israeli technology advances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beersheva. Meanwhile, JVP hosted the Forbes Under 30 Global Women's Summit, highlighting technological growth in Israel’s North.

To commemorate the Moon mission of SpaceIL’s Beresheet spaceship, you can now buy SpaceIL merchandise. T-shirts, baseball caps, and a baby overall that says, “I love you to the Moon and back”. Meanwhile Beresheet has just photographed the far side of the Moon, not visible from Earth.

I reported previously on Israel’s Mapi and its long-lasting Glatiramer Acetate treatment for Multiple Sclerosis patients. Mapi is now building a production plant in Jerusalem for the product, called GA-Depot, which will compete with Copaxone from Israel’s Teva.

Israel’s Priority Software has acquired Belgium-based Optimize Group as part of its European expansion. Priority develops enterprise resource planning software for 75,000 companies in 40 countries. Optimize provides IT services for the steel and beverage industries.

Ryanair will launch a 4-flights per week service from Tel Aviv to Budapest and 2-flights per week to Nuremberg – both starting in late October. Ryanair already operates 17 routes between Tel Aviv and Europe plus 15 routes from Eilat to European destinations including to Budapest.

Isrotel has announced that it will increase the number of hotels it operates in Israel from 19 to 30 by 2025. Isrotel is currently building 5 hotels in Tel Aviv – a city that it says “combines business and tourism and is becoming a strong international brand.”

I reported previously on Israel’s Infinity Augmented Reality and that Internet giant Alibaba had invested in the startup.  Alibaba has now gone further, acquiring InfinityAR and merging it into its Israeli machine vision laboratory. Alibaba bought Israel’s Visualead in November.