Israel Active

Israel’s ElectReon (see previously) has struck a $9.4 million deal to launch its wireless road-charging infrastructure for powering 200 Dan electric buses in Tel Aviv and in the south of Israel. ElectReon is already piloting its smart road tech in Germany, France, and Belgium.

The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation is funding two homeland security projects involving Israeli startups. A collision avoidance system for aerial first responders (Israel’s Ciconia) and multimedia emergency call communications (Israel’s Carbyne).

Israeli physicist Professor Eliezer Rabinovici was elected President of the council of CERN - the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Prof Rabinovici specializes in theoretical high-energy physics, particularly quantum field theory and string theory.

UK-based Tevva, (see ) co-founded by Asher Bennett, brother of Israel’s Prime Minister, has unveiled a 7.5-tonne electric truck, for mass production in the UK. It has a 250km range in pure battery (BEV) mode or up to 500 km with its hydrogen-based patented range extender (REX) technology.

Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority hospital for wild animals treated a European honey buzzard found with a fracture to its clavicle (collarbone). The injury was most likely from a collision while migrating through Israel. The buzzard was freed at the Palmachim nature reserve.

Seahorses swim slowly but prey on small, quick-moving animals.  Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered that seahorses can move their head up in an incredible 0.002 seconds. This causes a powerful flow of water that snags their prey right into the seahorse's mouth.

Israel’s Ganit Goldstein (see previously) has taken her innovative sustainable textile developments even further. Working with Swiss textile company Saurer, she has now embedded electronics and VR applications to enable the garments to react to body gestures and glow in the dark.

Israel’s BetterSeeds is using Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene-editing technology to enhance some of our most vital of crops, such as cucumbers, cowpeas (black-eyed peas), soybeans and other legumes. For example, it is producing cucumbers that grow in fields rather than trellises, for easier harvesting.

Israel’s Vanilla Vida aims to capture 15% of the $3 billion vanilla industry with its proprietary greenhouse methods for controlling how and when the valued orchid blooms. The startup also aims to reduce the price of natural vanilla, making artificial vanilla (from petrochemicals) much less attractive.

The mission of Israel’s Verstill (see previously) is to revolutionize the craft spirits industry. It has partnered with the Israel-based Malka craft brewery to help it produce and scale its very first beer-based spirit, named "Distilled Malka" and launched a second edition.