Israel Active

A bipartisan group of US senators have introduced the US-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act. It assigns $6 million annually in funding for five years to support joint cybersecurity Research and Development, plus develop cybersecurity technologies.

Start-Up Nation Central has also partnered Israel’s Arieli Capital in launching OceanTech, a new seas and oceans innovation community. It aims to promote and recruit technologies and startups from Israel that work with the waters across the world and help protect this precious global asset.

NGO Start-Up Nation Central connects international business and government leaders with Israeli technology. Founded by US philanthropist Paul Singer, it is now setting up a new economic research and policy institute in Israel that will help continue the growth of Israel’s tech sector and economy.

Amazon Web Services’ Center for Quantum Computing is funding research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to advance the understanding of quantum gates – the basic building blocks of quantum computers. It will help develop a scalable, universal quantum computer.

Tech giant Intel is to set up a new $200 million campus in Haifa to develop the “chips of the future.” It intends to recruit 1,000 Israeli employees plus 400 more for its Habana labs subsidiary. Competition will be fierce as Microsoft, Facebook and Nvidia all have Israeli expansion plans.

Intel has unveiled its highest performing data-center processor, optimized for the cloud and high-end computing. It promises performance 46% higher than the previous generation of products. The processor’s core, Ice Lake Server, was developed in Haifa and produced at Intel Israel’s Kiryat Gat plant.  

Israel’s Zoog allows anyone to create content that their young grandkids would enjoy. Users record themselves reciting a story directly in the app and then send it to the mobile device of anyone in their phonebook. It is then delivered via an SMS or message link.

Israel’s Siraj Technologies, led by two Israeli-Bedouin entrepreneurs, streamlines the connection of Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices to cloud platforms. Using Siraj’s AI and deep learning algorithms, what used to take weeks can now be done in minutes.

Israel’s Cobra (see previously) has launched its Mobile-Key technology It enables car doors to be opened and closed and the engine to be turned on and off, all controlled from a smartphone app. It is installed at a customer’s home and works with both new and many older vehicles.

The first Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) train-on-wheels system outside China will carry up to 500 passengers from Tel Aviv to the heart of Samaria. The ART follows a virtual track on a normal road, powered by advanced fast-recharged batteries. The driver just controls braking and accelerating.