Israel Active

Israel’s Hailo (see previously) has launched its new Hailo-15™ family of high-performance vision processors, designed for integration directly into intelligent cameras. It will enable smart city operators to detect and respond to incidents and even locate lost children and misplaced luggage.

The fully automated Israeli Pizza Hut store in Bnei Dror (see previously) is now fully open. Customers order on-line and the pizza is ready in nine minutes. No human intervention is necessary; however, fascinated customers often stand outside the store to watch the robots make the pizzas.

Ohad Ben-Shahar of Israel’s Ben-Gurion University is one of the founding scientists of the RePair (Reconstructing the Past AI) program to reconstruct fragments of ancient broken relics, similar to solving a jigsaw puzzle. RePair is now helping Italian archeologists reassemble frescos from Pompeii.

Israel’s AI21 Labs (see previously) has launched Jurassic-2, its next generation Artificial Intelligent language that can be understood by computers. It is a rival to Open-AI, the developer of ChatGPT, and can be used as a basis to answer questions, rewrite an essay, summarize text, or write a poem.

Israel successfully launched the "Ofek 13" reconnaissance satellite into space from an Israeli launch site using an Israeli "Shavit" launcher. The SAR (synthetic-aperture radar) observation satellite has advanced capabilities to provide better-quality images than its predecessors. Initial testing has gone well.

Israel’s Carrar has a novel thermal management solution to significantly increase the lifespan and efficiency of EV batteries. By keeping the battery at a steady, optimal temperature, its life is extended by up to 100%. It also improves acceleration performance, recharge time and much more.

Israel’s Fabumin has developed a plant-based alternative to the egg protein albumen. that is used commercially in cakes, mayonnaise, spreads, meat products, and more in a market worth some $14 billion. Fabumin is vegan, with no allergens, salmonella, cholesterol, or dairy.

The European Research Council has awarded grants of up to 2 million Euros each, to five researchers at Israel’s Technion to help them pursue their ideas. They address proton transfer in proteins; antimicrobials and amyloids; the fascia in neuro-immune communication; replacing toxic metals; and aging.

Researchers at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University have developed varieties of potatoes that produce special proteins. If infected by potato blight, these proteins display fluorescent properties before the infection appears on the leaves of the plant, allowing early effective treatment.

Israel’s Bioplasmar produces biodegradable plant pots. It plans to use the technology to produce a wide range of other goods that are currently made of environmentally harmful materials such as plastic and polystyrene. Bioplasmar’s new German factory will also make larger, lighter, pots.