Israel Active

Israel’s Plastic Back (see previously) has teamed up with Thai petrochemicals company SCG Chemicals on a project to recycle polyvinyl chloride (PVC) waste into naphtha fuel for industrial use in Thailand.

Israel’s N2OFF (formerly Nitrousink – see ) has developed bacteria to reduce Nitrous Oxide emissions in agriculture. Its recent study inside greenhouses shows N2O levels reduced by up to 54%. N2O is reportedly 265 times more potent than Carbon dioxide in warming the planet.

The up-to-date info of the progress of the projects of Israeli non-profit Tech Guard (see previously). It now has some 200 volunteers from Israel’s tech community developing solutions to save lives.

The digging of tunnels for the Metro in the Greater Tel Aviv area will involve the removal of 40 million cubic meters of earth. The Ministry of Transport is examining the possibility of using this material to build an artificial island off the coast of Israel.

Israel’s Wanda Fish (see previously) has unveiled toro sashimi made from the cells of bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most expensive fish per pound. Toro sashimi is normally made from the fatty underbelly of the fish, and Wanda says its lab-grown version has the same omega 3-rich nutritional value.

Underneath Kibbutz Shamir in the Upper Galilee is a massive water source – over half as much as in the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). Thanks to the JNF-USA and others, the Shamir Drilling Project is reaching down a huge 1.5km to draw water for drought-threatened crops and fish farms.

Israel’s StoreDot (see previously) successfully charged a fully drive-able verification Polestar 5 prototype Electric Vehicle, from 10% to 80% in under 10 minutes. The Polestar’s 77kWh battery pack comprised StoreDot’s 300Wh/kg silicon-dominant battery cells.

Israel’s AdGPT automates the creation of advertisements for small and medium businesses (SMBs). These ads are optimized for digital platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), Google, Taboola and Outbrain.  (Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it to work for VeryGoodNewsIsrael.)

It’s not enough to use CCTV cameras to track down criminals, they can also prevent crimes. Israel’s Lumana transforms any security camera into an AI-powered device that can analyze millions of hours of video across locations to identify and warn of potential risks as they occur.

Omer Schneider is the former CEO and co-founder of Israeli cybersecurity company CyberX, which he sold to Microsoft in 2020 for around $170 million. As a boy, he got a computer as a present. He went from Technion graduate to IDF cyber engineer. He is now working on something really big!