Israel Active

(Thanks to Israel21c and Atid-EDI) A delegation from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design in Jerusalem won first place among foreign schools at Tokyo Designers Week.  Judges called their “How To” Youtube productions “excellent and brilliant.”   

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s Ginger Software, has launched iOS 8 and Android versions of Ginger Keyboard.  Billed as the world’s most advanced keyboard. Ginger Keyboard offers advanced writing tools, including live as-you-type proofreading to increase typing productivity.

Israel’s Breezometer beat 600 companies to win Israel’s 2014 Startup Open competition, and has been chosen by CNBC for its list of “20 of the World’s Hottest Startups of 2014.”  The app monitors air pollution using thousands of worldwide sensors and provides personalized alerts.

(Thanks to Atid-EDI) Israel’s MIGAL Galilee Research Institute has established the first specialized Agro-Biomedical hub.  The center will serve applied researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, startups, growers and consumer companies. Research focuses on natural products.

The Objet1000 from Israel’s Stratasys is the largest 3D printer in the world.  And it has just been used to print a full-size prototype of the world’s first 3D printed electric car.  Researchers at Germany’s Aachen University developed the car – called the StreetScooter - in just one year.

Israel’s Aqua-Rimat – Leak Buster, won the product innovation award for Smart Home and End User Engagement at European Utility Week in Amsterdam.  10,000 delegates attended the event, representing the world’s most successful utilities and solution providers.

Media giant AOL is funding the multi-million dollar “Connected Experiences” lab (ConnX) being launched by NYC-based Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute.  The lab will operate in both Israel and New York, allowing research of communication and coordination, food and wellness, education and safety, and information and entertainment.  It also includes a graduate fellowship program.

Israeli Zach Bamberger has developed the SmartAlarm, which checks weather conditions, traffic alerts, and other data and decides when you need to get out of bed in order to make it to work on time.  E.g. detecting an incident on your route at 4am, the alarm can wake you 15 minutes earlier than usual.

(Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) One million users per month are joining Israel’s Moovit community for easier travel on public transport.  Moovit works in hundreds of cities worldwide.  It combines service company data with live actual data from Moovit travelers.

Israelis Shai Mishali and Pavel Kaminsky won the $100,000 grand prize at the global hackathon competition held at PayPal’s California HQ.  They beat 3,000 international programmers by developing (in 24 hours) AirHop, for messaging without cellular reception or using devices without SIM cards.