Israel Active

For the first time, a scientific study by Itai Roffman of the University of Haifa, has observed bonobos (an analogous race to chimpanzees) making and using tools to search for food. One bonobo even fashioned a spear from the branches of a tree and used it to threaten Mr. Roffman.

I reported about Silentium’s Anti-Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology in previous Newsletters. Here is an update in a video from the CES 2015 event in Las Vegas.

A team of Israel Technion researchers including Professor Hossam Haick (famous for the cancer breath test) has developed a synthetic polymer that mimics human skin and can be integrated into flexible devices so that future smartphones will be able to “heal” any scratches or damage.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded 24 of its 291 early-career starting grants to 24 Israeli researchers - making Israel first place for the number of research grants per capita.

Israel’s Lucidlogix based in Netanya is the developer of PowerXtend - power-saving technology that extends the battery life of smartphones (see newsletter). Lucidlogix has recently licensed PowerXtend to Meizu, one of the top ten smartphone brands in China.

Israel’s Circ MedTech, developers of PrePex, won the Sutter Health award (part of Applied Materials’ Tech Awards - considered “the Oscars of Silicon Valley”) honoring individuals and companies that use new or existing technology to improve health conditions around the world. The Israeli company is donating the $50,000 cash prize to help fund HIV/AIDS prevention in Africa.

Innovation Endeavors, the Venture Capital firm of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, has issued its 2015 Israeli Internet of Things (IoT) Landscape. It concludes that Israeli IoT is booming, especially in Israel’s strength areas of healthcare, life science, ag-tech and cyber security.

Israeli start-up Dojo Labs has developed a stylish pebble-like device, to monitor all data sent by anything connected to the Internet – smart TVs, smartphones, smart tablets, smart refrigerators, even smart water faucets – to determine if they have been hijacked by hackers.

Texas A&M University, in collaboration with the University of Haifa, is launching a $6 million marine research center in February, to help mitigate risks associated with offshore oil exploration.

With the ENTiTi platform from Israeli startup WakingApp anyone can develop dynamic 3D content for an Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality application. Content is instantly available online for any mobile device or smart glasses. WakingApp has just raised $4.3 million of funding.