$2 billion a year for joint tech projects

At AI+ Expo in Washington DC, US ex-envoy Tom Nides and ex-IDF intel chief Amos Yadlin advanced the Technology Alliance - Strategic Technology Compact, in which the USA and Israel would invest $2 billion a year into joint tech projects.

Up in the clouds

A 4-kg CloudCT satellite, built through an international project involving the Weizmann Institute, Technion and Germany’s Center for Telematics, will test AI-based cloud tomography technology ahead of a planned 10-satellite constellation. It will advance research into clouds and their role in the climate.

Real-time AI data for rescuers

Rescue teams need vital technical information about collapsed buildings in order to extract civilians trapped inside. Researchers from the Technion and the University of Haifa have developed an AI-based tool that rapidly retrieves the construction permit data from municipal databases.

The secret of flowing glass

Tel Aviv University scientists have discovered how a flowing liquid suddenly become a rigid, almost frozen material, without changing its structure. This phenomenon is known as the “glass transition,”. The precise changes in motion were studied in liquids with tiny solid particles floating inside them.

Double protection against drones

Israel’s XTEND (see previously) and ParaZero (see previously) are partnering to create a fully autonomous next generation autonomous counter‑UAS (C‑UAS) solution to detect, pursue, and capture hostile drones with minimal collateral damage.

More protection 4 drones

Asio Technologies (see previously) is another Israeli startup  countering GPS and GNSS jamming (see previously). Its AeroCore and NavGuard systems use real-time optical matching whereby the drones navigate by comparing live camera feeds against pre-loaded satellite imagery.

Winner of most influential paper

Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof Jeffrey Rosenschein has received the prestigious IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award. He was selected for his seminal book, “Rules of Encounter: Designing Conventions for Automated Negotiation Among Computers (MIT Press, 1994).

Critical minerals innovation challenge

A new national competition offers up to NIS 1 million to startups developing breakthrough solutions to secure critical minerals and strengthen Israel’s position in the global supply chain. It focuses on advanced mining tech, recycling materials, and mineral substitutes.  

Smart Materials Institute

Bar-Ilan University today held a cornerstone-laying ceremony, attended by Dr. Miriam Adelson, to launch Israel’s first Institute for the Synthesis of Smart Materials (see previously). It will integrate artificial intelligence and robotics, with applications from medicine, electronics to energy.

Is darkness faster than light

Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute have successfully used electron microscopy to measure “dark points” (vortices) within light waves. By doing so, they were able to confirm a prediction from the 1970s that the speed of these points exceeds the speed of light.