Israel Active

Israel’s Sightbit uses AI and computer vision technology to detect and prevent drowning, as swimmers return to Israel’s beaches. Sightbit’s pilot program at the popular Palmachim Beach aims to turn the area into one of the first “smart” beaches in Israel.

Israel’s Aquarius Engines (reported previously) is launching a field test of its revolutionary lightweight linear engine on a Philippines island where residents have no access to electricity. Aquarius is partnering with Nokia to bring electricity to remote populations and telecommunications centers.

Facebook Vice President Tomer Barel is Chief Operating Officer at Israel’s Novi, the team developing the main components of Facebook’s digital wallet – also to be called Novi. He expressed his pride to be part of the thriving technology community in Israel.

Israel’s RD PACK has developed a sanitation tunnel that sprays incomers with a safe anti-viral disinfectant. The tunnel can be placed at the entrance to stadiums, hospitals, airports, schools or office buildings. It is being piloted at the VIP entrance to Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv.

The Israeli Government has injected over NIS 1 billion to upgrade Israel’s road and rail network during the pandemic’s lull in traffic. The final stretch of the Jerusalem – Tel Aviv fast train and the expansion of a central Israel highway will be finished six months to a year ahead of schedule.

Newsletter subscribers will know that the coronavirus pandemic has fast tracked the merger of Israeli high tech with the health sector. This article highlights some of Israel’s major advances in remote healthcare and telemedicine that are saving lives thanks to an improved regulatory approval process.

Israel’s Government is using 4D radar sensors from Israel’s Vayyar to detect and monitor vital signs that can indicate early-stage COVID-19 symptoms. The sensors can be placed in hospitals, care homes, factories, airports, public transport, borders etc., to minimize exposure and face-to-face contact.

Hebrew University’s David Kazhdan won the 2020 Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences - the first Israeli ever to receive the so-called “Nobel of the East.”  It recognized his “huge influence on, and profound contributions to, representation theory, as well as many other areas of mathematics.”

Ein-Eli is dean of the faculty of materials science and engineering at Israel’s Technion Institute. He has applied for a US patent for his invention of a facemask with a USB-powered carbon fiber heating element that kills germs in under 30 minutes.

Ben Gurion University student Daniel Iluz-Freundlich has developed a software program to help find and enroll Covid-19 positive patients in trials for new treatments and vaccines. He has provided the app PI-Enroll at no cost to COVID-19 trials underway in North America, Asia and Europe.