Israel Active

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair is adding Bremen and Dusseldorf to its 14 winter routes into Ovda airport, near Eilat.  Ryanair has already announced 7 new routes to Tel Aviv.

Quebec Province Premier Philippe Couillard is leading a delegation to Israel of 80 Canadian businesspeople from the aviation, transportation, IT, and medical industries. It is reported to be the largest-ever business delegation to visit Israel.

The US and Israel-America Chambers of Commerce have set-up a new program called Business Israel. It will bring executives from all 50 US states to Israel, to expand US markets and collaborate with Israeli companies in water, agriculture, cybersecurity and health.

Eight Israeli companies providing advanced solutions for the manufacturing industry held a roadshow in Taipei, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. The delegation comprised ATE, Colibri Spindles, Elbit, Elmo, Frisimos, K&S, LeaderMES and Precognize.  

The share prices of eight of the nine publicly-quoted companies on the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) list have done very nicely over the past year. And SodaStream’s share price jumped nearly 300%.

A new entrepreneurship center named Yarok will open on the Ruppin Technology College Campus in the Hefer Valley (Emek Hefer between Netanya and Hadera). One of the founders is Ruppin chairman Eli Barak. Yarok will have an initial investment of NIS 5 million.

US medical device giant Medtronic is to open new Research & Development centers in Jerusalem and Yokneam. Medtronic already has a major presence in Israel with 750 employees following acquisitions Given Imaging, superDimension, Oridion Systems and PolyTouch.

Customers of Israeli coffee chain Café Café who say "please" and "thank you" when they order an ordinary sized cup of coffee will pay NIS 6, instead of NIS 8. Cafe Cafe owner Ronen Nimni says he wants "to encourage more respectful conversation in Israel society.”

Israeli wastewater treatment company Emefcy is to merge with RWL Water, which is controlled by World Jewish Congress President Ron Lauder.  The new company, renamed Fluency, will accelerate Emefcy's operations in China and other key markets.

Israel’s Yokee Music has been bought by Canada’s Stingray Digital for an estimated $30 - $40 million.  Yokee’s social music apps Yokee, Yokee Guitar and Yokee Piano are ranked in the music category's top ten in 100 countries, with over 80 million downloads and 4 million monthly users.