Israel Active

The Jerusalem Municipality has completed a pilot program to test the viability of automated parking systems. Each Ferris-wheel-like unit in the Mesilat Yesharim parking lot occupies two parking spots and provides 12-16 vertical spaces in exchange.

I reported previously on the breakthrough by Israeli Technion scientists regarding the efficient splitting of water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. Now Weizmann Institute scientists have made electrons spin in a way to avoid producing hydrogen peroxide, which corrodes electrodes.

Israel’s Ben Gurion University has teamed up with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University to fight advanced cyberthreats like the human body’s immune system fights bacteria. The cyber-immune technology will utilize BGU’s software and NTL’s hardware research expertise.

One of my cyber heroes, Professor Adi Shamir of Israel’s Weizmann Institute has won a 2017 Japan Prize for his pioneering work on cryptography. In 1977 Shamir, together with Ron Rivest and Leonard Adleman invented the RSA public-key algorithm standard for data encryption, valid even today.

Israel is teaching its children the basic building blocks of the web. Sagy Bar of the Rashi Foundation, a philanthropic group running Israel’s new cyber education center said “first grade they learn the letters, then how to read and how to write. We are building the next level of knowledge - how to code”.

The partners of the Leviathan natural gas reservoir have announced that they will invest $3.75 billion in its development. The three-year project constitutes both the largest energy project and largest financial investment in Israel’s history and secures its energy future.

The ultimate in smartphone photo-capture. Israel’s SELFLY is a $100 pocket-sized remote camera for your phone that you send up into the air to capture amazing aerial photos. It reached its $125,000 crowdfunding goal in just 5 days and now is close to raising half a million dollars.

The latest version of Iron Dome passed a series of recent complex tests, improving the system’s capabilities. Its Tamir interceptor intercepted multiple targets fired simultaneously at different ranges.

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.