Israel Active

Archaeologists at prehistoric Tel Tsaf in Israel’s Jordan Valley have found a unique 7,200-year-old clay silo model, the earliest evidence of ritual food storage. They also excavated well-preserved mudbrick architecture, the region’s earliest metal item, and evidence of long-distance trade.

Israel’s Bank Hapoalim and software giant Microsoft are working together to set up a platform to create digital bank guarantees, based on the latest Blockchain technology. The “pioneering project” will help make the process of signing up guarantors a simple and quicker process.

Car maker Hyundai has signed an agreement with Israel’s Technion Institute and KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) to conduct joint research on future mobility technologies. Hyundai will fund a multi-million-dollar Technion-KAIST R&D center.

IKEA has chosen Israel’s Flying SpArk to join the nine other startups in its Swedish training course.  Flying SpArk produces a high-quality protein powder from fruit fly larvae for human consumption as a healthier and sustainable alternative to animal protein.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created a nanophotonic chip system using lasers and bacteria to observe fluorescence emitted from a single bacterial cell. The breakthrough technology will enhance efforts to build mobile “lab on chip” devices.

There are 73 international R&D centers in Tel Aviv, nearly doubling in five years, providing over 6,200 jobs. The latest, Visa, joins Amazon, AOL, Apple, Barclays, Bosch, Citibank, Coca Cola, Deutsche Telekom, Facebook, Google, IBM, Intel, MasterCard, Microsoft, Paypal, Renault, Samsung, Siemens, Yahoo and more.

Innovate Israel returns to London on 12th Sept co-sponsored by OurCrowd in partnership with The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Over 20 leaders of Israeli companies will discuss the most exciting innovations coming from scale-up nation.

The first Israeli-developed environmental satellite, VENµS, was successfully launched at the Guiana Space Center’s Kourou site.  The joint Israel Space Agency and French space agency CNES project will allow study of global environment, agriculture and water issues.

Karnataka, a state in southwestern India, has transformed 59,305 acres of drought-stricken land in Hunagund into a fertile green pasture, thanks to Israeli drip irrigation. As a result, by October, 15,000 farmers will harvest their first monsoon season crop in years.

I reported recently about Hebrew University Professor Berta Levavi-Sivan’s technology that promotes fish growth – as implemented in Uganda. She has co-founded the startup AquiNovo to utilize the technology and was awarded a 2017 Kaye Innovation award.