Israel Active

Researchers at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University, have developed an optical nitrate sensor, based on absorption spectroscopy. It gives farmers real-time, continuous measurement of soil nitrate levels thereby optimizing crop fertilization and reducing the risk of groundwater poisoning.

Collapsed bridges have killed people in Florida, China, Chile, Italy, Myanmar and Taiwan. An estimated 47,000 of US bridges are deficient. Israeli startup Dynamic Infrastructure provides a real-time 3D “medical report” on the health of bridges, tunnels and elevated highways.

This newsletter reported previously about Israel’s Waterways and its projects to bring water solutions to Africa. Another Israeli company, Water Ways Technologies, delivers irrigation solutions globally, and CEO Ohad Haber gave a presentation recently to investors in Winnipeg.

Two exciting Israeli water management startups at the Peres Innovation Center include Bermad and Kando – neither previously featured in this newsletter.  Bermad’s control systems are installed in 86 countries. Kando’s wastewater sensors pinpoint the sources of pollution (great video).

Israel’s Elbit has successfully tested its HyDrop automated water pellet system. Israel’s Fire and Rescue Authority used two aircraft to extinguish a burning field from 152 meters up – over 4 times the standard height for aerial firefighting and twice as effective. (See this article about )

Israel’s Ran Sharon founded cleantech startup Clariter in 2004. For the last 16 years he has been developing technology to turn a variety of plastic waste items into non-toxic, odor-free industrial oil, wax, and solvents. These can then be raw materials for paints, candles and even baby oil.

Israel’s Ministry of Environment Protection is setting up a $4 million cleantech innovation lab in Haifa, focused on environmental protection and sustainability. Its aim is to transform Israel into an environmental tech powerhouse. It will be run by ESIL Technologies.

Some 12 percent of Israelis now use bikes, electric bicycles, and electric scooters on a regular basis. Israelis became more connected in 2019 as 72% are now Internet-enabled, 90% use WhatsApp and 82% shopped online last year.

The Layered Voice Analysis (LVA) technology from Israel’s Nemesysco was reported nearly 8 years ago. The system is used by call centers, credit risk assessors, insurance fraud and criminal investigators and recruitment agents. Tokyo’s CENTRIC call center service is the latest customer.

The Office 365 Backup software from Israel’s Cloudally was named as one of the top five backup solutions in Newsweek’s Best Business Tools 2019. The ranking was based on a survey of more than 10,000 professional users of software and software service providers.