Israel Active

Until recently, mission critical systems avoided wireless and Internet connections because they were too slow.  Then Israel’s Coretigo came along.  Its IO-Link based technology just attracted $10 million of funds, including from tech giant Qualcomm and Sierra Ventures.

In the joint project “Therapeutic Stromal Cells for Health in Space”, Israel’s Pluristem Therapeutics and NASA’s Ames Research Center will evaluate the potential of Pluristem’s PLX cell therapies to prevent and treat medical conditions caused during space missions.

Israeli startup Aura Smart Air has developed a combination of air purifier, smoke alarm and carbon-dioxide detector, plus an app to measure air quality inside and outside and provide tips and advice. Its kickstarter project’s goal was to raise $15,000 and it has already reached nearly $100,000.

Former Austrian chancellor Christian Kern is chairman of Austrian-Israeli startup FSIGHT. Kern is currently visiting Kibbutz Ma'ale Gilboa where FSIGHT is piloting a smart platform for managing distributed energy grids. Israeli and European energy companies are also participating in the pilot.

Of the 340,000 patents filed in the US in 2018, almost 5,000 (1.44%) originated with Israel inventors. Numbers of Israeli patents has been rising steadily over the past 15 years. Back in 2004, Israeli-linked patents filed accounted for 0.68% of all patents in the U.S.

Dozens of Israeli startups will be presenting at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (25 – 28 Feb 2019) They have solutions for telecom service providers, equipment vendors, smart device manufacturers; automotive, smart home, smart city and finance enterprises and users.

“The Israeli Expo,” an exhibition showcasing 50 Israeli startups has opened at the innovation center at Tel Aviv’s Peres Center for Peace & Innovation. They focus on artificial intelligence, IT, digital health, ag-tech, and cybersecurity. The exhibition will be updated on a yearly basis.

Savills real estate agency rated Tel Aviv 18th in their list of the world’s best high-tech cities. High spots included air passenger growth, startups per capita, talent pool, population growth and co-working rental cost.

The prestigious Blavatnik Awards recognizes Israeli scientists 42 or younger conducting “breakthrough research” in life sciences, chemistry, physics or engineering. This year Weizman’s Michal Rivlin and Erez Berg and Technion’s Moran Bercovici won $100,000 each.

In 2016, Anières (Naale) Elite Academy launched “Aeronautics in the Valley” - an enrichment program to teach high-school students the basics of aerospace engineering. Today, 15 graduates are in the Technion’s academic reserve program, before joining the Israeli Air Force as engineers.