Israel Active

I reported previously on Israeli initiatives to introduce tech and business skills to children in kindergarten. Now Lockheed Martin, Rashi Foundation, Jerusalem’s municipality and Ministry have launched a new “Madakids” preschool in Jerusalem focused on technology and science.

Researchers at Israel’s Technion Institute and the IDC in Herzliya have significantly optimized the process needed to store digital information. They demonstrated storing ten million gigabytes, in a single gram of synthetic DNA. Further developments could reduce the size of computer server farms.

Israel Railways has just completed the first full trial run of its new electric train service from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.  The line is scheduled to be operational by the end of the year and provide a 28-minute service between Tel Aviv’s Haganah and Jerusalem’s Yitzhak Navon stations.

32 of Israel’s best agriculture technology companies are to get more access to Government funds. They will also be showcased to investors looking for innovation in agriculture, especially biotechnology, robotics, sensors, plant protection, aquaculture, animals and IT systems.

One of the 32 Israeli Ag-tech startups above is Trellis. It uses Artificial Intelligence to help food and beverage companies optimize their supply chains. Its AI systems neutralize seasonal instability and risk of crop harvests with real time harvest predictions.

I’ve reported previously on Israeli apps to help find car parking spaces in busy cities. This article describes two more – ParKam and Parknav. ParKam uses CCTV infrastructure and predictions. Parknav uses cell-towers, mobile-payments, car-sharing data, car sensors and satellite images.

Israeli cybersecurity startup Snyk helps app developers detect and fix security vulnerabilities in computer code. Snyk has offices in Tel Aviv, London, Boston and Ontario and its customers include Google, Microsoft and Salesforce.  Google has just led a $70 million funding round in Snyk.

I reported previously on Israel’s BlueGreen Water Technologies and its environment friendly Lake Guard treatment for toxic algae.  Lake Guard was just used to treat Chippewa Lake in Ohio. Blue Green says it killed all the toxic algae in the lake within just one day.

NaNose inventor Professor Hossam Haick has co-founded Israeli startup Feelit. Its printable sensors monitor and alert if a material suffers (e.g.) structural integrity, warping, overheating, wear & tear and pressure buildup. Feelit has just won Calcalist & KPMG Israel’s Industry 4.0 startup competition.

Avi Nathan retired as general manager of Microsoft Israel in 2007. Now he is teaching math at Kiryat Tivon middle school in Northern Israel, using his technical skills to benefit the next generation. After retiring from Microsoft, he took a degree in education at Israel’s Technion Institute.