·
Israeli
stem cells saved a patient from having a leg amputated.
·
Israel is
giving grants to encourage women to launch startups.
·
Israel’s
WaterGen has donated 10 water generators to Brazil.
·
Israel’s Beresheet
spacecraft is on its way to the Moon.
·
Israeli clean
fuel cells are going into mass production.
·
A bird sanctuary
right next to Israel’s Parliament.
·
Rain has unearthed
a coin that proves Jews ruled Israel nearly 1900 years ago.
·
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ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Pluristem’s cells prevented amputation. A patient, with Buerger’s disease was at pre-amputation stage due
to non-healing foot ulcers. Regulatory approval was given for compassionate
treatment using Pluristem’s PLX-PAD cells. A year after treatment, the wound is
fully closed, and the patient has resumed normal activities.
Slowing the progression of chronic kidney disease. I reported briefly previously (9th Dec) that Israel’s KidneyCure was developing cell therapy for treating chronic
kidney disease (CKD). Here are some more details of this innovative technology
that turns damaged cells into healthy cells.
https://www.kidneycure.com/
Laser treatment of vascular disease. (TY
Atid-EDI) I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Eximo and its
lasers for treating peripheral artery disease (PAD). The Center for
Cardiovascular Excellence in Orlando, Florida is the first to use Eximo’s B-Laser
Atherectomy System commercially to successfully treat a patient.
https://www.vasculardiseasemanagement.com/content/eximo-medical-ltd-announces-first-commercial-case-its-b-lasertm-atherectomy-system-us-and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6eMGlGknxU
Israelis to get better scan diagnoses. Tel
Aviv’s Ichilov (Sourasky) Hospital and Israel’s largest health companies Clalit
and Maccabi will use the algorithms of Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision to analyze
scanned images from X-rays, CT scans and MRIs.
Safer epidurals in China. (TY Atid-EDI) I reported previously (Aug 2013) on Israel’s Omeq Medical and its smart sensor-based epidural injection
system. Omeq has partnered with Shanghai-based
Pharos Medical, which will establish a production line and commercialize Omeq’s
system in China.
Your personal antibiotic cocktail. (TY Israel21c) Researchers from Israel’s Technion Institute have devised a system
for measuring the effectiveness of a combination of antibiotics in fighting
infection.
Jefferson-Israel Center. Philadelphia's
Thomas Jefferson University has partnered with the Israel Innovation Authority
(IIA) to form the Jefferson-Israel Center. The US university will provide a $1
million fund for Israeli companies to advance healthcare technology solutions.
They can also access Jefferson's medical facilities.
Monitoring newborns in Kenya. The Save
the Children Fund (like Oxfam and UNICEF) is no friend to Israel. However, it didn’t stop the NGO from buying monitoring
systems from Israel’s EarlySense to continuously track key vital signs of
newborns in hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya. Another BDS fail.
Microsoft’s Israeli virtual healthcare system. Microsoft’s Israeli R&D team, supported by several US medical
partners, have launched the Microsoft Healthcare Bot. This innovative
AI-powered virtual health assistant service aims to empower healthcare
organizations to build and deploy virtual health assistants.
Eliminating transmission of genetic diseases. The Pre-Implantation Genetic Unit of Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek
Medical Center uses the latest technology to ensure IVF patients have healthy babies.
All procedures are in accordance with Jewish law and religious authorities are
consulted when necessary.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Grants for female-founded startups. Israel’s Innovation Authority (IIA) has launched a grant program
for any startup where at least 33% of its owners and tech managers are women. It
will cover up to 75% of a startup’s R&D costs for its first year and up to
70% for the second year.
Druze woman is Israeli running champion.
Karawan Halabi, has made history as the first person from Israel’s Arabic-speaking
Druze minority community to win a track-and-field national championship. The Technion
biomedical student won the women’s 10.45km annual Israel Open Field Racing
Championship.
More exit money for charities. 600 Israeli startups (55 last year) have donated equity stock or stock options
to Israeli non-profit Tmura (see here). When any are taken-over or go public,
Tmura receives the proceeds of the stock sales and donates it to charity. In
2018, Tmura gave NIS 1.6 million to good causes.
Door to door. The IDF Door to Door Project helps Palestinian Arab businesspeople transfer
their merchandise from Judea and Samaria to other areas in Israel directly and
quickly and at a low cost. The project has recently improved its efficiency by
using Israeli trucks to collect goods directly from Palestinian Arab factories.
A virtual embassy in Gulf states. (TY WIN) Israel’s Foreign Ministry has re-launched its virtual embassy for
Arab social media users in the Gulf states. The aim of the ‘Israel in the Gulf’
twitter account is to promote dialogue between the people of Israel and the
peoples of the Gulf states.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Israel-re-launches-virtual-embassy-to-boost-dialogue-with-Gulf-countries-580202 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g38pmUrx0cE
Drinking water for Brazil. Israel’s WaterGen is donating ten GEN-350 atmospheric water generators
to Brazil. They will be installed in schools and hospitals that lack safe drinking
water. Brazil’s Minister of Science
Marcos Cesar Pontes visited WaterGen’s HQ during Tel Aviv’s recent Cybertech
conference.
Israel can save the world’s coral reefs.
Bar-Ilan University researcher Maoz Fine
has published that Eilat’s coral reef is genetically resistant to rising sea
temperatures. Hardy corals settled in Eilat 18,000 years ago at the end of the
last ice age. Those hardy genes are being cross-bred to save bleached reefs in
Hawaii and Australia.
No boycotting of Israel. Several anti-Zionists been spotted using
Israeli products recently. They include Dutch activists riding Israeli mobility
bikes and eating in an Israeli falafel shop. Also, US Congress member Rashida
Tlaib and other BDS supporters have developed websites using the Israeli-based
Wix website builder platform.
Sierra Leone’s UN friend. Sierra Leone’s
former Ambassador to the United Nations, Adikalie Foday Sumah, visited Israel
in 2018 with 40 other UN Ambassadors (see here). He has since founded the Sierra
Leone-Israel Friendship Society and asked Sierra Leone President Julius Maada
Bio to promote joint projects with Israel.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Downhill thrills. I reported 3 years ago
(see here) on Israel’s RideOn and its Augmented Reality goggles. The latest
version – the Mohawk - is a full-face helmet. It includes GPS, 4K video, SOS button
and ten-megapixel camera and much more. It measures pulse, velocity, distance
travelled, altitude, temperature and wind speed,
Dial 119 for hacker alert. Israel has now got its own hotline for computer
users to call when they think that they have been the victim of a cyber-attack.
The 24/7 free service is the initiative
of the national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) based in Beersheba.
Dial 119 (911 backwards) and get immediate help.
Protecting medical systems. (TY Kobi) I
reported previously about two Israeli cybersecurity startups (Votiro and Medigate) specializing in the healthcare arena. Israel’s CyberMDX is another
– it has begun an 18-month project to implement its protection on all the systems
of Michigan Medicine, part of the University of Michigan.
An innovation lab to protect the environment. Israel is to establish an innovation laboratory specializing in
environmental protection and sustainability. The government will provide
millions of shekels to participating startups. Priority will be given to those
with solutions for highly-polluting industries near to population centers.
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Environment/Israel-to-establish-multi-million-dollar-environmental-protection-lab-580311 https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3756015,00.html
Making Jaffa port eco-friendly. I
reported previously (see here) on the marine biodiversity benefits of Israel’s ECOncrete. Atarim, Tel
Aviv’s coastline developer, has placed ECOncrete’s units at Jaffa port to encourage
fauna and flora growth. ECOncrete products are also at Brooklyn Bridge, Rotterdam,
Herzliya and Haifa.
Fast wireless connections for critical systems. (TY Atid-EDI) Until recently, mission critical systems avoided wireless and Internet
connections because they were too slow.
Then Israel’s Coretigo came along.
Its IO-Link based technology just attracted $10 million of funds, including
from tech giant Qualcomm and Sierra Ventures.
https://www.coretigo.com/single-post/2019/02/10/CoreTigo-Raises-10M-in-Series-A-Funding-Led-by-Qualcomm-Ventures-and-Sierra-Ventures https://www.coretigo.com/
Israeli stem cells could save astronauts’ lives. In the joint project “Therapeutic Stromal Cells for Health in Space”,
Israel’s Pluristem Therapeutics and NASA’s Ames Research Center will evaluate the
potential of Pluristem’s PLX cell therapies to prevent and treat medical
conditions caused during space missions.
Israeli spacecraft is in orbit! On Thu 21st Feb at 20:45 EST, I watched the live launch of the rocket
carrying Beresheet - Israel SpaceIL’s (and the world’s first) privately-funded
moon lander. See video launch at 16:30; Stage 1 separation at T+3mins; booster
return at T+9 and Beresheet deployment at T+33 and keep watching.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Growth,
inflation, jobs, exports – all good news. The Bank of Israel has just released its latest “Overview
of economic developments and monetary policy in Israel”. It predicts continued
growth at around 3%, inflation around 1%, stable, full employment and expanding
exports of services.
Amdocs is big. Israel’s Amdocs has just announced its
quarterly results to the 5th Feb 2019. During the previous 3 months it earned $1.01
billion in revenue - up 3.5% on the same period in 2018.
Agenda for OurCrowd summit. Israeli-founded global investment platform OurCrowd has released
the agenda of its 7th Mar 2019 Jerusalem Global Investor Summit, entitled “Startups:
Making a Global Impact".
New German factory for Israeli smart
glass. I reported previously (see here) on Israel’s Gauzy and
its Liquid Crystal Glass (LCG). Light-control film technology allows users to
control whether glass or plastic products are clear or opaque. Gauzy has one
factory in Tel Aviv and will soon open a second in Stuttgart, Germany.
Fuel cells go into
mass-production. Due to strong global demand, Israel’s
GenCell Energy is to mass-produce its fuel cell generators. GenCell’s target is
to increase production to 5,000 units per year from the current 100. US electronics manufacturer Flex will partner
GenCell, integrating cells into generators at their Israeli factories.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-gencell-to-mass-produce-fuel-cell-generators-as-demand-surges/
Streaming movies around the world. (TY Atid-EDI) I
reported previously (Feb
2016) on Israel’s Vonetize and its movie streaming service. Vonetize has
now over 11 million users in 59 countries.
Its latest deal is with Brazilian TV network Rádio e Televisão Record
S.A. https://www.prnewswire.com/il/news-releases/vonetize-inks-deal-with-recordtv-to-distribute-its-smartvod-service-in-brazil-300785469.html http://site.vonetize.com/
Phenomenal growth at two Israeli startups. (TY Atid-EDI) The feature
connecting two quite different Israeli startups is their growth rate – a huge
350%. I reported on Verbit’s subtitling in May (see
here) and (briefly) Cato Networks more recently (see
here). https://www.catonetworks.com/news/cato-networks-secures-55-million-investment-as-bookings-accelerate-year-over-year/ https://verbit.ai/about-us/
Security for Mexico’s largest bank. (TY Atid-EDI)
I reported previously (2nd
Dec) on Israel’s Guardicore. The cybersecurity startup has just won a
contract to protect the data center of Banco del Bajio (BanBajio), one of
Mexico’s largest commercial banks. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/banco-del-bajio-sa-selects-guardicore-centra-security-platform-to-protect-data-center-300784984.html
Whole food algae
product launched.
I’ve reported previously (see
here) on Israeli-based startup Algatech and the trials of its AstaPure product.
Algatech has just launched AstaPure Arava, suitable to be integrated into
multiple food products. AstaPure’s active ingredient astaxanthin can benefit gastro,
visual and muscle systems.
Israel exports
half a billion flowers. If you received flowers on
Valentine’s day, there’s a good chance that they originated in Israel. Over 500
million stems are exported every year.
65% go to the Netherlands, famous for its tulips. https://www.israel21c.org/a-valentines-day-look-at-israels-flower-industry/
Merck’s latest
Israeli venture. I’ve reported previously (see here) on Germany’s Merck and
its many Israeli links. Merck’s VC arm M Ventures has just launched another startup
incubator PMatX. It will support Israeli
companies specializing in advanced electronic products including semiconductors
and sensor technologies.
Israeli wine
from Samaria to China. The Psagot Winery in Samaria
has begun exporting and marketing Israeli wine to the city of Guangzhou in
southern China, with a population of over 13 million people. Psagot Winery
produces more than 350,000 bottles annually of which 70% is exported.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
CultureBuzz Israel. For Facebook users who are interested in Israeli culture (music, art,
films etc.), here is the link to CultureBuzzIsrael. https://m.facebook.com/CultureBuzzIsrael/
Bridal Fashion Week. Israel’s first-ever Bridal Fashion Week has just taken place at
Ronit Farm. Designers included Dany Mizrachi and Inbal Dror plus up-and-coming
youngsters who gave inspiration to many of those celebrating one of the 40,000
weddings that take place in Israel every year.
Walking
in the Galilee. Chana and Shmuel from Villa Rimona are pleased
to report that this year’s winter rains have turned the Galilee a glorious
green. And the rainfall means that waterfalls
in the Galilee are currently some of Israel’s most attractive natural sites to
visit.
A Parliament of owls. The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) comprises
1.5-acres of green land between the Knesset (Israeli’s Parliament) and the
Supreme Court building. Entrance is free, with March to May being peak months. Late
night visitors may even spot porcupines and owls - rare sights in the middle of
the city.
The
Orchestra in Israel. (TY WIN
& I24 News) For the third time in a decade, The Orchestra returned to
Israel to perform hits from the zenith days of 'Electric Light Orchestra'
(ELO). They performed two concerts at Tel Aviv's Heichal HaTarbut. (Note, when “Telephone
Line” was a hit, telephones had cords, not just chords!)
Gipsy
Kings to perform in Israel. Gipsy Kings, the celebrated musicians from the south of France famous
for “Bamboleo” are coming to Israel in March. They are performing in Haifa (17th)
and Beer Sheva (20th) plus two concerts in Tel Aviv (18th and 19th).
Twelve
Israelis walk into 2025. Israel's new reality show 2025 premiered on Keshet Channel 12 TV. Twelve
contestants live with six robot residents in a futuristic mini city, built on
the outskirts of Yavne. The most successful contestant will win an apartment
worth NIS 1.4 million.
Five
Jerusalem sports centers to become all-weather. (TY Janglo)
Jerusalem municipality is building balloon roofs for five sports fields to provide
all-year-round facilities. These include the Teddy Stadium, the Hall Pais Arena,
and the Malcha, Liberty Park and Neve Yaakov basketball courts. More are
expected.
THE JEWISH STATE
Bar Kochba “freedom” coin discovered.
Winter rains in Israel’s Lachish region literally “unearthed” a rare 133
or 134 CE Jewish coin from the time of the Bar Kochba revolt. On one side is
Shimon - Bar Kochba’s first name - in ancient Hebrew. On the flip side the
inscription means “the second year to the freedom of Israel”.
The
earliest images of Jerusalem. In 1844, French architectural historian
Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey toured the Middle East and took 1000 daguerreotypes
(a type of photograph) including 12 of the earliest surviving images of
Jerusalem. The photographs are being exhibited in New York and Philadelphia.
The first El Al flight to Entebbe. (TY UWI) An El Al Israel Airline flight has brought Israeli tourists to Uganda’s
Entebbe airport for the first time since the IDF’s historic rescue of Israeli
hostages on 4th July 1976. Some 250 Israeli nationals flew to the African
country for a three-day visit.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-plane-lands-at-entebbe-for-first-time-since-legendary-1976-hostage-rescue/ https://www.busiweek.com/uganda-welcomes-israeli-tourists-since-raiding-on-entebbe-airport/
What’s
in a name? (TY Jewishpress.com)
Many of the Arab names of places over the Green Line are derived from biblical
Hebrew names. E.g. Bethlehem (Beit Lechem), Hebron, Jenin (Ein Ganim), Jaba
(Geva), Mukhmas (Michmash) and El Jib (Giv’on). Also, Gaza (Azza) Lebanon (Levanon)
and Jordan (Yarden).
