Israel Active

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched its first Israeli seed fund in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The fund will support early-stage collaborations between MIT researchers and their counterparts at BGU.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) More than 10 million people use Check’s smartphone app to track and pay their bills. Check’s Israeli development center will join Intuit's Consumer Ecosystem Group.

IronSource, one of Israel’s most successful web companies, is expanding to China. Over 100 million people a month use ironSource’s tech services, which will expand significantly as ironSource deploys its digital delivery technology in the world’s largest market.

Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport has completed a 4-year, $1 billion runway upgrade. The new runway vastly expands airport capacity, allowing simultaneous take-off and landing. It supports the Open Skies program for increased destinations and lower airfares. The news coincided with the news that May’s passenger figures were 1.3 million - 13.8% more than May 2013.

(Thanks Atid-EDI) Israel’s On Track Innovations’ subsidiary PARX has signed a 20-year contract to help manage the parking operations for Elbasan, a city in central Albania. It will install PARX’s EasyPark system, which already operates in 45 Israeli cities.

Fitch gave as positive, Israel’s fiscal consolidation and narrowing of budget deficits. It also noted, "The start of gas production has caused a structural improvement in the balance of payments that will support continued current account surpluses.”

In 2014 Israel’s Teva is launching Zecurity (migraine patch), Adasuve (inhalation powder to treat agitation in schizophrenia patients) and DuoResp Spiromax, (an inhaler). The combined peak sales of these products are estimated to be $1 billion. It also has 15 treatments in Phase III trials.

54 percent of Israel's plastic bottles were recycled in 2012, compared to 31.8% in the U.S. and 52.4% in OECD countries. 2013 data shows that Israel recycled 56% of its plastic bottles. 350 million bottles were recycled thanks to more than 20,000 recycling deposit stations.

A new route has been inaugurated for the export of Israeli goods to Asia and the Arab world from the Eilat port via Jordan’s Aqaba. Shipping times and costs to the Far East are less than those from Haifa and Ashdod, as it saves the need (and NIS 300,000 fees) to transit the Suez Canal.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) TMC Customer Magazine has awarded Israel’s NICE Systems a 2014 CRM Excellence Award. The award recognizes NICE Interaction Analytics for boosting the sales effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency at a leading U.S. retailer.