Israel Active

The Maryland-Israel Exchange agreement is unique in that it proactively finds partners for Israeli companies, and provides a mechanism for both inspiring start-up investment and collecting venture capital resources that will enable the overseas collaboration. Here is how it works today.

Israelis Doron Harlev and Leon Amariglio founded the Rhythmia Medical in 2004 and built it into a leading manufacturer of cardiac electrophysiology devices. Boston Scientific has just bought it for a “hearty” $265 million.

Throughout last month, 248,000 tourists entered the country – a 10% increase as compared with August 2011. A record number of 2.3 million visitors arrived between January-August 2012, a 7% increase as compared with last year and 5% more than the previous record year of 2010.

Israel’s exports, excluding diamonds, increased by 6% in July and August, compared to the two previous months. Pharmaceutical products led the way (up 26%) followed by agricultural products (up 19%).

Israel’s Solel Boneh has won a $390 million contract from the Nigerian government to build a road in the Shgamu-Benin area of Nigeria. The project will take three years to carry out

Three Israeli designers showed their collections at the recent New York trade show. Frau Blau, Kedem Sasson, and Ronen Chen participated in this year’s Coterie, the biannual trade show in which taking part is a sure sign of a designer’s success.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Every year, approximately 60 of the top 10,000 Maths and Physics students are “hot-housed” in the IDF’s Talpiot training program. Following University and military service, these elite individuals progress to building and leading Israel’s successful hi-tech companies.

In Tel Aviv’s tech scene, some 600 early-stage companies have set up shop. Many start-ups spring from the friendships developed among soldiers in combat units. Ex-pilots make excellent hi-tech recruits as they are “good at seeing the whole picture” and “flying by the seat of their pants”.

I’ve seen Greenbo plant pots on hundreds of Netanya apartment balconies. I never realised, however, that this totally Israeli concept won the design industry’s equivalent of the Oscar - a Red Dot Award. The vivid coloured pots with their flowering contents perch on railings and brighten up the city skyline.

Israel’s water crisis may be over. Thanks to good water management, desalination and rain, the Israeli Water Authority has approved a large, 25 million cubic meter, increase in the water quota for agriculture in 2013, from 455 million cubic meters to 480 million cubic meters.