Israel Active

As predicted in my newsletter, Israel and Panama have now signed a Free Trade Agreement to include access to markets, customs, services, investments and intellectual property. It is the first FTA that Panama has signed with a Middle Eastern country.

Israel’s Economy Ministry’s Chief Scientist Avi Hasson has signed an agreement with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for joint R&D projects. The bank joins Israel’s Multinational Corporations program, which develops new products and technologies in Israel for global use.

Interesting extract of a session in the Australian parliament.

Israel’s food exports to North America are at a record level. Israel exported $135 million of processed food and beverages in the first half of 2015, a growth of 5% from 2014. Exports of fresh fruits and vegetables in the same period were $33million, a growth of 13.6% from 2014.

Israeli startup GetGems declined the minimum $250,000 it won in the 43 North startup competition, as it required relocation to Buffalo and a 5% equity donation. GetGems, a member of Citi’s TLV Innovation Lab, has invented PayKey, enabling secure payments to be made within social networks’ chats, including Facebook’s Messenger, WhatsApp, SnapChat, Twitter etc.

Two Israeli companies, Enlight Renewable Energy and Migdal have teamed up to invest $100 million in renewable energy projects outside Israel. Enlight specializes in initiating, developing, and operating projects that generate electricity from solar and wind power in Israel and Europe.

Technion graduate Alex Domeshek developed LabSuit to help his wife Helen manage a chemistry lab. It is now in use in 200 Israeli laboratories. LabSuit manages the lab’s inventory by connecting to other labs in a “virtual community”, exchanging excess stock to reduce waste.

VIPNET, a major ISP in the Ivory Coast, has chosen Israel’s Radwin to completely replace its existing WiMAX network. The new RADWIN 5000 JET Beamforming corporate access network spans the major cities in the Ivory Coast, connecting key institutions including banks, Government offices, mining and gas & oil companies.

Israel’s Teva and Japan’s Takeda are partnering to market Teva’s generic treatments and off-patent medicines in Japan. Japan’s aging population requires increased health care and Teva’s generic products can provide this at less cost.

China's Hefei has bought the rights to market the oral insulin capsules developed by Israel’s Oramed on completion of Phase III trials. In a deal worth over $50 million, Hefei gets exclusive rights to market the diabetes treatment in China, Hong Kong and Macau.