Israel Active

Israel’s Paulee CleanTec affiliate company Epic CleanTec has won the grand prize in the Climate Innovation Showcase at the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. Epic converts solid waste from high-rise buildings into dry, odorless, sterile, organic fertilizer for landscaping.

60,000 lucky Israeli citizens snapped up all available tickets for a special exhibit called “Our IDF” produced by the Israeli army. They saw the IDF’s Virtual Reality (VR) capabilities and had a glimpse of a other cutting-edge technologies that are either currently being used or are in the works.

Intel Corporation and Israel’s Technion Institute have inaugurated a new research center in Haifa, dedicated to AI (artificial intelligence) technologies. Intel’s top leaders attended the event. The research will include natural language processing, deep learning, and hardware optimization for algorithms.

TIME Magazine included 3 Israeli companies in its 2018 list of 50 “genius companies”. They are Lishtot , WeWork and Aidoc . TIME’s editors and correspondents selected companies based on their originality, influence, success, and ambition.

Israel’s Vayavision Sensing has developed a system designed to provide precise 3D imaging of a vehicle’s environment. The system comprises a variety of autonomous sensor systems, cameras, radars, and LiDAR. Vayavision has just raised $8 million of funding.

Two Israeli companies are partnering to eliminate deadly mosquitos in Brazil. I’ve already featured Senecio and its system to release sterile male mosquitos from planes. Now Israel’s Forrest Innovations has developed a new process to silence the mosquito’s fertility gene.

Israel’s SpaceIL lunar module is now targeted to land on the moon in 2019. Thanks to a $2 million boost from the Israeli government.  SpaceIL will also benefit from tools provided by NASA in exchange for magnetic field data.  NASA will also try to capture images of the actual landing.

I reported briefly previously on Israel’s Mantis Vision and its 3D technology. Here are more details, including a video to highlight its exciting potential.

Israel’s Skyline Robotics has developed software that enables existing machinery like cranes and elevators to be upgraded into window-cleaning robots. The company also has a social responsibility program that re-trains human window cleaners who have made redundant by the robots.

I reported previously on Israel’s Equinom which is developing superior vegetables for a hungry world. Equinom’s non-GMO legumes have 50% more protein than varieties currently on the market. Equinom has just received a $4 million investment from vegetable protein pioneer Roquette.