Israel Active

Johnson and Johnson, together with Takeda and OrbiMed have launched FutuRx in Rehovot’s Weizmann Science Park.  Its first start-up is Hepy Biosciences, which is developing a tumor enzyme inhibitor. The second, XoNovo, is developing a treatment that targets a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s.

Delegates at Kinneret College’s first water conference learnt about the work of its BSc graduates in Water Industry Engineering.  One breakthrough project is the extension of a wastewater system under Israel’s main Tel Aviv highway, undertaken without disrupting traffic.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation has set up a new multi-million pound investment fund for Israeli scientists to pursue post-doctorate research at Cambridge University.  Three Israeli scientists are now furthering their research in engineering, genetics and physics at Cambridge.

Following on the heels of “Dogiz”, “Oggii”, “Pawly”, “Swifto”, “KelevLand” and “DogTV”, we now have “Wooof” – a made-in-Israel app, providing a platform for dog owners to get together online, “trading” photos, recording dog walking routes and even alerting when a dog inspector is in the area.

(Thanks to Israel21c) Israeli startup BrightWay Vision has developed “BrightEye” – a unique night-vision system that gives drivers a clear, panoramic view of the road.  The system uses active-gated imaging to project images up to 250 meters ahead (5 times further than headlights) onto the driver’s screen.

It can cost up to $4,000 for a survey to check whether a solar panel on your roof could generate sufficient solar energy to justify installation.  Israel’s SolView uses Google Earth and its automated rooftop scanning technology to do that instantly.

The opening of Bell Labs in Israel provides an avenue for Israeli PhD graduates to pursue research careers in Israel.  Director of the new branch, Danny Raz, was until recently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Israel’s Technion.

Israeli startup Phoebus Energy is to install smart systems in the Fattal chain’s nine Israeli hotels.  The systems will cut the chain's heating and air-conditioning costs by 50-75%, amounting to NIS 40 million over the coming decade. The lower energy consumption will also benefit the environment.

Israeli startup HealthWatch Technologies has developed a washable T-shirt that can read a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac irregularities, and other vital signs that could be the key to preventing heart attacks.  All data can be transmitted instantly to your cardiologist, as speed is essential.   

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s Kaminario has set new performance records for flash storage.  It also boasts reliability, scalability and cost/performance figures that its competitors can only dream of.  Kaminario easily raised $53million in funds to fuel global expansion.