Israel Active

Liberty University in Virginia USA is to invest $5 million of its endowment in Israeli healthcare fund that focuses on bio-techs immunotherapy and digital health.  Liberty said it was glad to support a democracy that’s a close ally of the United States.

Israeli mobile platform EscapeX helps musicians, actors, comedians and other creative artists profit from their work and share it with fans.  They create and run their branded mobile apps for free, organize their content, and make it universally available without need for Internet access.

One of the drivers for Israel becoming the Startup Nation was the efforts of the Israeli Venture Capital organization Yozma.  Now Yozma has created a win-win situation in Korea where it partners the South Korean government in its efforts to foster tech startups and create jobs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia and Israel will work to build a free trade zone between the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Israel.   At his latest meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, several bilateral deals were inked in the spheres of energy, agriculture, and customs.

Israel has been admitted into the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol).  Eurocontrol provides advanced control and navigation aviation services for managing and planning air traffic flows over European airspace to reduce delays in flight times.  

Israel’s Energy Minister, Yuval Steinitz told the Conference of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at Herzliya’s IDC that Israel has undiscovered offshore natural gas worth four more Leviathan fields (about 2,200 billion cubic meters). New exploration licenses are planned in the fall.

Israel is ranked 7th of 29 OECD countries for saving.  In 2014, the net savings rate from disposable income rose to 12.1 percent, a 20-year high.  The increase holds true across all levels of income and is linked to the increase in percentage of Israelis participating in the work force.

Global bank J.P. Morgan is hiring technical developers in Israel for its “next generation pricing, risk management, analysis and trade management platform” known as Athena.

Techcrunch reports technology news and runs events to help startups raise funds for their innovations.  It is to hold its first formal Israeli event in Tel Aviv on Jun 22.  10 Israeli startups will pitch to a panel of Venture Capitalists and compete for trips to Techcrunch Disrupt London.

Israeli Omer Polak has designed beautiful hand-blown glass boutonnieres containing fresh flowers that can be worn by the most important guests at a wedding.  No need to worry about your carnations wilting in the summer heat – these flowers come with their own water supply.