Israel Active

Thanks to an early start to the season, exports of Israel’s Jaffa Orri Mandarins are on track to increase from 60,000 metric tonnes in 2016 to 100,000 this year.  Good Israeli harvests contrast with poor weather in Europe. The Israeli crop is expected to soar even further by 2020.

I’ve reported previously about Israeli cybersecurity startup Illusive Networks that deceives hackers by laying traps of false data. Illusive has just received a strategic investment by Microsoft Ventures to help development, marketing and global expansion.

Israel has approved the building of a 43km light railway between Haifa and Nazareth.  The line includes 17 stations and will cost an estimated NIS 5.9 billion. It is scheduled to begin operating in 2023.

I reported previously about the LEAP Haifa program for Arab entrepreneurs. LEAP’s first startups are AgRobic (wastewater treatment), HealthyMize (COPD monitor), Innosphere (ADHD wearable), MindoLife (IoT smart homes), and BambooBike (bamboo bikes).

The SilicoNegev startup competition aims to stimulate Negev development by offering the winning startup an investment of up to NIS 500,000. The organizers want to help “implement the excellent ideas created in the Negev, and bring advanced technological solutions to the entire world.”

Honda, Volvo, Hertz and Israeli telematics company Ituran are to launch a new Israeli transportation innovation center in Tel Aviv. Startups and entrepreneurs will also benefit from the innovation hub DRIVE and Honda’s Xcelerator program.

Per capita, the $4.8 billion invested in technology companies for Israel’s 8.5 million population last year was far higher than the $13.6 billion invested in the whole of Europe where 700 million live.

Israel’s record for the largest ship ever to dock in the country has been achieved by the 13,092 TEU Maersk Elba container ship which docked at Haifa on Feb 2.  Haifa is now formally a member of an exclusive club of ports handling high-capacity 14,000 TEU mega ships.

Israel’s Electra Consumer Products is setting up a joint project with Israel’s TechForGood to promote technology to solve social problems. The joint initiative aims to foster startups in energy conservation, the Internet of Things and air conditioning and climate control systems.

Around 350 budding entrepreneurs on the Masa Israel Journey program attended a professional development conference at Tel Aviv’s Yitzhak Rabin Center. They got an inside look at Israel’s start-up ecosystem and learned how to build networks, CVs, and personal brands.