Israel Active

Tel Aviv University’s Dr. Lior Michaeli was part of an international research team that has developed a meta-surface - an ultra-thin surface layer. When illuminated by a short laser pulse, the optical properties of its silicon structure change, allowing the light beam to be steered and shaped.

Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure announced a NIS 10 million government tender to develop hydrogen infrastructure and advance plans for a “Hydrogen Valley” in the eastern Negev, a regional hub designed to test and expand hydrogen-based energy technologies.

NewMed Energy has completed the the undersea pipeline between Ashdod and Ashkelon, allowing gas flows to Egypt to increase by about 2 billion cubic meters a year. The amount of gas Israel is committed to supplying Egypt is expected to grow by about 40%.

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has joined Israel’s “No cow milk” business. They have engineered a drought-tolerant safflower plant to produce beta-casein - a milk protein that helps give cheese its melting properties. (See , , , , & .)

Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have engineered edible bacteria that feed on carbon dioxide. The project aims to produce microbes that only require sunlight and CO2, thus avoiding the need for vast amounts of land set aside for agriculture.

Israeli students one a gold medal and 4 silvers at the International Physics Olympiad in Colombia. Then at the Biology Olympiad in Lithuania they won four medals, including two gold. And at the Chemistry Olympiad in Uzbekistan, they won another 4 medals including 2 gold.

Israel’s Arpalus, uses artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to provide real-time visibility into supermarket shelves. It has just been acquired by US retail tech giant Instacart to provide its network of 600,000 shoppers to scan shelves to check and replenish products.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed microscopic robots, the size of a single cell that can climb over tiny obstacles and transport living bacteria. Previously, microbots could only crawl across a flat surface. Now they could one day help perform delicate medical and laboratory tasks.

The Israel Innovation Authority is to invest NIS 100 million to establish national infrastructure for research and development that will help local companies and universities adopt advanced quantum computing technologies. Also Project Nexus, to build an Israeli quantum computer.

Israeli defense tech companies Airwayz and Tenna Systems have partnered to embed Tenna’s real-time spectrum‑intelligence capabilities into OVERWATCH, Airwayz’s command-and-control and airspace-governance platform. It provides safety to the skies and allows for more use of civilian drones.