Israel Active

Israel’s Prof Zvi Mendel and KKL-JNF saved the sabra (prickly pear) cactus from being globally destroyed by cochineal scale insects. He found and distributed the natural predator to the scale insects - Mexico’s ladybeetle. Previously he saved infected eucalyptus trees using a parasitic wasp.

Israel’s EnSights has developed an AI-powered, cloud-based, clean energy optimization and management platform. It aims to maximize the cost and performance of a firm’s clean energy assets (solar, wind etc.). Ensights’ hundreds of users have 6,000+ renewable assets totaling over 1.6 Gigawatts.

Israel’s Eco Wave Power (EWP) inaugurates Israel’s first wave energy power plant on 5 Dec at Jaffa Port (see previously). For the first time, electricity from sea waves will power Israel’s national grid. Similar EWP projects are planned in Los Angeles and Portugal.

Amnon Shashua (of Mobileye, OrCam, AI21 Labs & One Zero Bank) has co-founded AAI, to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges. It involves Artificial Expert Intelligence (AEI) to replicate human cognitive abilities combining complex reasoning for adaptable and precise real-time problem-solving.

Israel’s Siteaware (see previously) revolutionizes quality management of construction. It is now used by over 40 construction industry leaders, including 17 of the top 100 general contractors in the US and 10 of the top real estate developers. See the video.

30 students from Israel’s Technion Institute have designed and built a pilot for a new protected bus shelter. It shields passengers from shrapnel and blasts, includes phone charging, WiFi, bike parking, water fountain, a community info display, and a system to alert bus drivers to waiting passengers.

The 2024 list of Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech contained five Israeli companies. (for OneWater), (for Houzz Pro), (Enlight DeepPT), (Captivate), and (AI sports clips).

Israel’s Batte-Re receives used Li-ion batteries from electric vehicles (cars, buses, scooters etc.) and processes them to generate a valuable (nickel, manganese, cobalt, and lithium) powder, plus copper and aluminum. All the metals are sold, and the powder makes more batteries for electric cars.

This article describes the latest Ben Gurion University method to repair damaged coral reefs (see previously). A “coral reef ecosystem transplant” (aCRET) involves transferring tiles containing invertebrates and microorganisms from a healthy reef to a damaged reef, then re-attaching the old corals to it.

The Technion opened its 101st academic year on Nov 10 with approximately 3,100 new students: 2,100 in undergraduate programs and 1,000 in graduate programs. In total, some 15,000 students are enrolled at the Technion, of which about 1,000 are currently serving as reservists in the IDF.