Israel Active

Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute, and at University of Texas Austin, have mapped the nano-properties of desalination membranes in their wet state – never achieved before. The information will help design membranes that will desalinate seawater more efficiently, using less energy.

Israel’s startup ecosystem is punching far above its weight in the global semiconductor race. With $5.5 billion raised collectively, 70 startups are positioning Israel as a key player in next-generation chips and AI models.

Israel’s ZutaCore has established another cool partnership (see for previous one) this time with Taiwan’s Compal. The integrated server and cooling solution aims to “revolutionize data center efficiency, reliability, and sustainability”.

Israel has appointed Brig. Gen. (res.) Erez Askal to head its newly established National Artificial Intelligence Headquarters. It will oversee the creation and execution of Israel’s AI strategy, focusing on innovation, regulation, infrastructure and research while bolstering Israel’s international standing in the field.

Israel’s Vast Data (see previously) has entered a strategic partnership with Israel’s Shonfeld Data Services (SDS) to power what is being described as Israel’s most advanced sovereign AI infrastructure. It will be built on Vast’s AI Operating System.

18-year-old Raz Dvora won the top prize at the International Mathematics Competition for University Students, just weeks after graduating high school. He had simultaneously been studying undergraduate mathematics at the Open University of Israel’s Academia in High School program.

As planned (see previously) for the first time in the world, desalinated seawater is being pumped into a freshwater lake, as Israel transfers Mediterranean water into the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret). The “Reverse Carrier” initiative will keep the level of the Kinneret above the “Red line”.

A team of Ben Gurion University Professors and students has won an Ig Nobel – the international science prize for making people laugh and then think. They published a study to reveal what happens to bats when they get drunk. They won ten trillion Zimbabwe dollars (60 cents in 2008).

Israel’s Commcrete has developed a  suite of ultra-compact satellite communication systems (Flipper, Stardust & Bittel) to work without clear sky access or heavy antennas, enabling secure voice, text, data, and location-sharing globally, in any environment or weather.  

Israel’s SCIO has launched its handheld Cheese Analyzer (see previously). No need to prepare the sample, the portable near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy device provides fast, accurate, and non-destructive analysis of fat, moisture, and protein content in all types of cheese and curd in under 10 seconds.