Israel Active

When I reported on Israel’s Corephotonics in its innovative dual camera technology hadn’t attracted major smartphone manufacturers.  However, latest investors include Samsung Ventures and Foxconn (makers of Apple’s iPhone). I think we’re getting the picture!

Thanks to a $6.1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, one of the world’s largest independent plant science institutes, has selected Israel’s NRGene to advance the breeding of staple African crops such as grain sorghum.

Israel-based startup Insights.US is using its crowd-consulting software to help reform US passport issuing process. The US Government engaged Insights to ask the public about how to simplify its on-line procedures and improve accessible. Nearly 1000 responses were received.

I reported previously that Israel’s Liquid Crystal Glass (LCG) developer Gauzy had been selected for Mercedes-Benz’s AutoBahn Accelerator program. Gauzy presented its LCG message projection prototype to 1200 people at the Accelerator’s Expo Day in Stuttgart. Hundreds of Daimlers will now be fitted with the technology.

Jerusalem is installing free wi-fi into all four quarters of the Old City to benefit millions of tourists, merchants and residents. The pilot near Jaffa Gate and the Christian Quarter will be rolled-out to the entire Old City, adding to existing free wi-fi in the German Colony and Ben Yehuda street.

The Indian Space Agency has just launched two Israeli satellites into orbit. SpacePharma’s DIDO contains the world’s first “nano satellite laboratory” under the control of researchers who will conduct medical experiments. Meanwhile, Ben Gurion University’s BGUSAT will study Earth’s climate.

I reported previously on Israel’s work to purify India’s rivers and wetlands . Now Israeli cleantech Ayala Water and Ecology has been asked to formulate a plan to clear up a stretch of the River Yamuna near Delhi - one of the most polluted rivers in India.

Scientists from Israel’s Weizmann Institute used rare early data of supernova SN2013fs to reconstruct material expelled in a dying star’s final year, 160 million years ago.  The study was even reported in the anti-Israel UK Graudian.

The Earth’s magnetic field fluctuates over time - phenomenon that is recorded in the ceramic materials affected inside the kiln. Israeli scientific analysis of 67 well-dated Judean jar handles shows how the strength of the geomagnetic field varied from the 8th to 2nd centuries BCE.

The 21st “Clean Tech” International Convention and Expo takes place on Feb. 22-23 at the Fairs & Conventions Center in Tel Aviv. Hundreds of Israeli CleanTech companies will attend the event, plus government bodies, green organizations, technological greenhouses, venture funds and educational institutions.