Israel Active

Nearly a quarter of a million tourists visited the Jewish State in June. 1.4 million tourists arrived in Israel during the first half of 2012. Both figures are up 6% on 2011 equivalents.

A delegation of 13 Israeli water technology companies are exhibiting at Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) 2012. Specialities include purification, advanced filtering, transport infrastructure, biological monitoring, and energy-efficient desalination solutions.

The navigation app from Israel’s Waze has been downloaded by millions of Americans, Europeans and Israelis. Muslim Malaysia has 600,000 subscribers. Waze is now targeting Japan, Korea and China.

Phillips CEO met with Israeli President Shimon Peres following his visit to Phillips’ 600-employee development team in Haifa. Peres said, "Phillips occupies a central place in Israel's high-tech industry”.

Better Place Inc. has teamed up with Australia carmaker GM Holden Ltd. to provide battery recharging services and equipment for the Volt electric car. Customers who choose to install a Better Place Charge Spot can charge their Volt in under four hours.

Elbit Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: ESLT; TASE: ESLT) has won a $62 million contract to upgrade Korean Air Force C-130 transport aircraft with various types of advanced electronic systems.

Ron Huldai, the mayor of Tel Aviv, visited Google’s headquarters to talk Tel Aviv technology with Silicon Valley’s Israeli compatriots. Huldai hosted a dialogue about the Tel Aviv Global City initiative to position the city as a global center of business and culture.

UK entrepreneur Richard Branson is marketing Israel’s Strauss water filters as “Virgin Pure”. The device sits on your kitchen surface and dispenses filtered hot or cold water on demand. Branson hopes it will rival the Hoover vacuum cleaner as the gadget that changed British homes.

There were at least six big US takeovers of Israeli companies in the last month. Facebook bought face.com; Shutterfly bought Photoccino; Stanley Black & Decker bought AeroScout; JMI (with UK’s Apax) bought Paradigm (for $1 billion); TPG bought iMDsoft and Primus bought AOD.

Intel Corporation has acquired Israeli medical device company IDesia Biometrics. IDesia uses an electrical signal generated by the heartbeat to create an “electro biodynamic signature” unique to every individual, establishing a biometric identity that cannot be forged.