Extreme tech winners
Israeli startups won 2 awards in the Extreme Tech Challenge 2020 (XTC) - the world’s largest startup contest with 2,400 companies from 87 countries. ReWire won the Fintech category for its global digital banking solutions. TytoCare won the Covid-19 Innovation Award for its telehealth solution.
Sodastream’s Covid-19 breathing machine
Israel’s Sodastream, now part of PepsiCo, has developed the StreamO2. It pushes temperature-controlled oxygen mixed with air into the patient’s nose. It helps Covid-19 patients suffering from respiratory distress, but who can still breathe on their own and don’t require a ventilator.
Pinpointing Covid-19 in the sewers
As reported previously Covid-19 hotspots can be detected by analyzing virus levels in the sewage. Now Israel’s Kando (reported previously) is working with scientists at Israel’s Technion and Ben Gurion University to detect outbreaks even before residents show symptoms.
Purifying the air
Israel’s ProtectAir uses tiny amounts of Chlorine Dioxide (ClO2) to safely deactivate Covid-19. The device contains granules that activate on opening and protects a room for weeks. Meanwhile trials at Sheba hospital show Israel’s Aura Smart Air can eliminate 99.9% of the virus from the air.
UAV flies non-stop for 2 days
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has built and tested a new drone for the German Air Force. The Heron TP UAV can remain in the air for 2 days. Previous models of the Heron have been sold to Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Greece, India, Singapore, South Korea and even Turkey and Morocco.
A search engine for data
Israeli-founded Explorium has built an end-to-end data automation service that uses machine learning to searches and extracts data from thousands of external sources relevant to a client. It then connects this to the customer's internal database to build a predictive model that answers a specific query.
The Path of Least Resistance
Israeli cybersecurity startup CyCognito eliminates a company’s most critical areas of exposure and shuts doors that would otherwise lead to stolen data or compromised systems. CyCognito leverages the concept of POLaR, the Path of Least Resistance – the easiest entry points which attackers target.
Hunting for cyber threats
Israel’s Liat Hayun has formed a team of Israeli cybersecurity experts to build the first ever "Managed Threat Hunting" service for US giant Palo Alto Networks. Aiming to counter cybercrime, it was launched at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and is vital to many of Palo Alto’s customers.
Stopping targeted ads
It can be very annoying – a friend asks you to search online for something and within a few hours you receive dozens of unsolicited advertisements for items that you have no desire whatsoever. Now Israel’s CodeFuel has a launched a private search engine that keeps away Facebook, Amazon, Google etc.
Testing a faster emergency response
Israel’s Autotalks (reported previously) is partnering US Applied Information in Alpharetta, Georgia to test the Autotalks V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) system. The system sends a signal from the emergency responder’s vehicle to the traffic-lights so the signals automatically change.