Israel Active

Mobileye founder Prof Amnon Shashua also founded Israel’s Mentee Robotics. He has just unveiled Menteebot - an AI-powered humanoid robot that is being developed to do washing and cleaning tasks at home and lift heavy objects in industry. See videos (simple & more complex).

Currently 80% of renewable energy projects fail due to land ownership, infrastructure problems, permits etc. Israeli startup REplace (Renewable Energy Place) uses AI and public database checks to enable companies to locate an optimal site to build facilities.

Israel’s Platypus has developed a process that makes pesticides more environmentally friendly, longer lasting, and gets the active ingredients to the crops without toxic sprays. The pesticide is mixed with Platyform gel, whose essential oils and pheromones release the chemicals over an average 10 - 12 weeks.

10 Israeli foodtech companies visited London to meet leading British retailers. New to this newsletter is Melt & Jet, which combines freeze-dried fruits and veg with dietary supplements);

Israel’s Avi Wigderson has been awarded the 2023 Turing Award for Outstanding Contributions in Computer Science. The $1 million “Nobel Prize for computing” was given for his work on understanding how randomness can improve and shape computer algorithms.

Fourteen Professors from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, the Technion Institute, Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute will each receive prestigious €2.5 million Advanced Grants from the European Research Council to fund potential significant scientific breakthroughs.

The Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) solution from Israel’s Sentrycs has been included in the UK National Protective Security Authority Catalogue of Security Equipment (NPSA CSE). Sentrycs detects, tracks and disables unauthorized drones entering protected zones.

Cybersecurity leaders from more than 60 countries gathered for CyberTech Global Tel Aviv 2024. Founder Amir Rapaport said, “cyber companies represent the resilience of Israeli high-tech, and even in a tense security and political situation, they serve as a secure anchor for Israeli innovation.”

The Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) has launched a new NIS 40 million fund to create three new incubators for Deep Tech (innovation in science or engineering) startups. They will focus on health, climate, bio-convergence, agritech and foodtech and complement other recent venture funds (see ).

In an enlightening pre-Earth Day webinar, Technion scientists will share their insights and research on sustainable development, renewable energy solutions, sustainable material innovations, and eco-friendly alternatives for chemical processes. Apr 17 (9am PT, noon ET, 5pm BST, 7pm Israel).