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An Israeli
medication has been selected for a major US multiple ALS treatment trial.
·
Historic joint
Israeli-Egypt statement as Israeli exports natural gas to Egypt.
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An Israeli
video analysis system is helping to combat fires in Australia.
·
An Israeli
electromagnetic breakthrough can reveal hidden objects.
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A major Russian
airline is starting direct flights to Israel from Siberia.
·
The first Israeli
Formula One racing team test driver.
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Vast
numbers of Israelis celebrated completing the 7.5-year cycle of daily Talmud
study.
·
Click here
to see the 12th January newsletter on IsraelSeen, Ruthfully Yours, Janglo and United With Israel with additional article on Inclusive and Global with 1,600 shares. Also (TY
Sandra) in German and
(TY Zachy) in Hebrew. Also
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ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
US approves freezing of tumors. The US FDA has granted approval for Israel’s IceCure Medical to use
its tumor-freezing technology to destroy cancerous and benign tumors of the
kidney, liver, ear, nose, and throat. It already has FDA approval for benign
breast tumors and European approval to treat malignant breast tumors.
UK hospital introduces
Israeli remote diagnostic device. (TY OurCrowd) As reported previously (see here), Israel’s TytoCare device allows for doctors to examine patients from
remote locations. Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to be the
first provider in the UK to partner with TytoCare.
Israeli
treatment in Mass trials. (TY Atid-EDI) Pridopidine,
from Israeli biotech Prilenia, has been chosen by the Healey Center at Massachusetts
General hospital for the first-ever platform (multiple treatments) trial for
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Prilenia is trialing Pridopidine for
several neurodegenerative disorders.
Two potential IBD therapies. (TY Atid-EDI) As
reported previously (see here) Israel’s
Biomica is using the human microbiome (stomach bacteria) to fight cancer, IBD,
acne etc. Bionica is starting pre-clinical studies for BMC321 & BMC322, two
developed microbial consortia aimed to treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Spotting problems that
doctors may have missed. Israel-based medical
device startup IMedis AI develops technology that analyzes medical images and
documents to reveal discrepancies and unreported findings. The technology can assist
in the early detection of cancer, heart diseases, and vascular diseases.
Women at risk of diabetes
during pregnancy. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann
Institute have developed an algorithm that can predict which women have a high
risk of gestational diabetes. Records of 600,000 Israeli pregnancies were
examined. Those found to be at risk could avoid diabetes with exercise and
diet.
An all-in-one genetic
test. Israel’s Variantyx has developed the first
comprehensive, all-in-one diagnosis test for rare inherited disorders. It
eliminates the need to order multiple tests, saving time, money and (potentially)
lives. There are more than 7,000 rare diseases, affecting 30 million in the US
and over 350 million globally.
Helping patients breathe. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s
Biovo Technologies manufactures the Airway Medix line of disposable respiratory
devices, used for mechanically ventilated (usually unconscious) intubated ICU patients.
Don’t over-vaccinate your
pet. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s
Biogal-Galed Labs (reported here
previously) has launched CombCam, an automated reading device that helps veterinarians
interpret antibody and vaccine tests on animals. Biogal’s various veterinary
diagnostic products are now available in over 35 countries.
From cancer to shrimps. This article focuses on Dr Avi Schroeder of Israel’s Technion Institute.
His company PEEP Therapeutics is developing a cancer treatment based on Elephant
protein gene P53 (see here). He is also working on personalized
chemotherapy and a cure for a deadly shrimp virus. He is a manager in four
startups.
Israeli medical startups in San Francisco. 16 of OurCrowd’s Israeli medical
portfolio companies attended the 38th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference
in San Francisco (Jan 13-15). Their innovative solutions include cancer
treatments, blood testing, wound care, care for older adults, diabetes management
and more.
Israeli startups to help UK
healthcare. Ten Israeli heath tech startups have
been invited by UK Government’s Israel Tech Hub to help UK healthcare
organizations build more modern and effective healthcare services. They will
meet AstraZeneca, NHSX, Care UK, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Amazon Web Services
in London.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND
GLOBAL
Hi-tech Haredim conference. (TY Sharon) As reported previously, (see here) Bizmax is a business center for
ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem residents. It has just sponsored a hi-tech employment conference
in Jerusalem, in association with the Kemach Foundation, which has already helped
over 20,000 Haredim find jobs.
Israel begins exports of natural gas to Egypt. Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz
and Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum Tarek El-Molla, jointly confirmed that
Israeli natural gas is now flowing to Egypt. It was hailed as the most
significant economic cooperation since the signing of the peace treaty between
the two countries.
https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Israel-starts-exporting-natural-gas-to-Egypt-energy-ministers-say-614214 https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-milestone-israel-starts-exporting-natural-gas-to-egypt/
Free hi-res weather
forecasts for India. As reported previously, (see here) Israel’s ClimaCell develops a highly accurate weather forecasting
system. It has now partnered with Google Cloud to launch a free high-resolution
model in India that predicts the weather for a 2km area in 15-min timesteps for
the next 48 hours.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/07/google-and-climacell-team-up-to-launch-a-new-high-resolution-weather-forecast-for-india/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUtZABssFc4
Going back to the Moon. As reported (1st Dec) Israel’s SpaceIL plans to make another
attempt to land an Israeli spacecraft on the Moon. These plans have just received
a boost with a $1 million donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. It
will also support putting Israel’s first nanosatellite into lunar orbit.
Giving a voice to those
unable to speak. As reported previously (see here) Israeli
startup Click2speak and Israeli charity Ezer Mizion are developing a keyboard for
stroke victims and others to operate with just their eyes. Ezer Mizion also operates
the Middle East’s only loan center for speech generating devices.
Extinguishing fires in Australia. One of the Israeli startups exhibiting
at CES 2020 Las Vegas was drone video analyst Edgybees (reported here previously). Having helped combat the fires
in California last year, they responded to an urgent request from Australia and
donated their system to help put out fires in New South Wales.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3777796,00.html https://edgybees.com/public-safety/
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Israel’s national
communications satellite. Israel Aerospace
Industries Ltd. (IAI) will develop and build Israel’s national communication
satellite, “Dror 1”. The deal with the Israeli Government is worth $190 million
and is intended to fulfill the country’s satellite communication needs for the
next 15 years.
Record number of Israeli
startups at CES 2020. This newsletter reported last
week (see here) that three
dozen Israeli startups exhibited at CES 2020 Las Vegas. It has now been reported that there were far
more. 70 Israeli startups presented their technologies, just in the area of transportation,
smart cities, and logistics.
A revealing scientific breakthrough. Researchers at Tel
Aviv University have developed a new way to produce and control terahertz waves,
which can pass through opaque materials to detect hidden objects and reveal
their composition. The scientists shone infra-red light at nano-structured
materials, to generate the terahertz waves.
App helps visually
impaired avoid obstacles. Students at Israel’s Technion
Institute have been awarded the IEEE International Student Projects Award for an
app to increase the safety of visually impaired individuals. The “Bionic Eye” app
sends vibrations to the belt of the user to help negotiate stairways and other
obstacles.
Autonomous taxis in South
Korea. Israel-based Mobileye will test and deploy
robot taxis powered by its autonomous vehicle technology in Daegu, South Korea.
Rollout is planned by 2022. Mobileye has
already announced its plans to have hundreds of autonomous taxis operating in Tel
Aviv’s streets, also by 2022.
Top Nine is number one. Top Nine is the most popular
Instagram app in the US and UK. It gives Instagram users a three-by-three grid
collage of their most popular posts. It was developed by Kevin Natanzon,
founder of Beta Labs, who attributes his Aliya, and the Israeli startup
ecosystem, as the reason Top Nine went viral.
https://worldisraelnews.com/as-year-turns-top-nine-instagram-collage-app-developed-by-israeli-hits-1-in-us-store/ https://topnine.co/
Milk chocolate, same taste,
nearly half the sugar. The SureChoc project is a partnership between
leading industrial bodies and the UK’s University of Reading. Its milk
chocolate bar uses special sugar developed by Israel’s DouxMatok (see here). It has the same taste as regular chocolate, but 44% less sugar and
more fiber.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Multinationals benefit Israeli economy. The 362 multinational companies
operating in Israel paid nearly $9 billion in direct taxation in 2019 –
approximately 18% of all tax income received by the Israeli Government. They employ
some 62,000 staff – the largest being Intel (11,000) followed by HP (3,000) and
IBM (2,000).
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Multinational-corporations-represent-backbone-of-Israeli-tax-revenue-612461 https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3776586,00.html
Startup Jerusalem. Good video highlighting the innovation and
startup ecosystem of Israel’s capital.
Direct flights from Siberia. Russia's second-largest airline
S7 Airlines is to begin direct flights between Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion
International Airport and Novosibirsk, Siberia. Apparently, half of Russian visitors
to Israel come from near Siberia and previously had to fly through Moscow. S7 begins
the new service on 2nd Apr.
Even more Japanese investment. 2018’s 28 investments and
acquisitions worth $710 million by Japanese companies in Israeli startups (reported here) was eclipsed in 2019 by 53 deals worth $815 million. Japanese interest in
Israel surged after PM Netanyahu’s 2014 Japan visit and PM Shinzo Abe’s to Israel
in 2015.
Tel Aviv fintech innovation hub launched. A new fintech and insurtech (finance
& insurance technology) innovation hub - “Axell” - has been launched in Tel
Aviv. It aims to generate partnerships between local and international corporations
(e.g. Generali, AIG and Israel’s Maccabi Healthcare Services), and Israeli startups.
Second
Israeli cybersecurity acquisition for Mimecast. US cybersecurity
company Mimecast has acquired Israeli cybersecurity phishing protection startup
Segasec Labs for around $40 million. In 2018, Mimecast acquired Israeli cybersecurity
startup Solebit Labs for $88 million in cash.
Sapiens intelligent acquisitions. Israel’s Sapiens (see here) has previously taken over US and
Spanish companies to build up its insurance software empire. Now it has bought German
digitalization software developer Sum.cumo GmbH for 28.4 million euros to help expansion
into Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Another connected car connection. (TY Hazel) As reported previously
(see here) Israeli connected car data company Otonomo has partnered Daimler/Mercedes,
Skoda, Jaguar/Land Rover and Avis. Now, it is to provide Mitsubishi Motors with
parking apps, smart electric vehicle charging, mapping etc. from over 100
companies.
See Israeli companies in Beverley Hills. 18 Israeli companies will be
presenting at “Merage-Homeland / Cybersecurity" in Beverley Hills on 22nd
Jan. The event has been arranged by the Southern California-Israel Chamber of
Commerce in collaboration with Elite Entrepreneur Organization.
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
The
Jews of Yemen. (TY Sharon) A new exhibition “From
Sheba to Jerusalem" at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, displays the
history and culture of the (now non-existent) Jews of Yemen and South Arabia. They
traded with the land of Israel and in the 4th century CE became subjects of the
“Jewish Kingdom of Himyar”.
Israel
Space Week. The events being held for Israel Space
Week at the end of Jan include the Bloomfield Science museum Jerusalem marking
50 years of the first Moon landing. Visitors to Netanya Planetanya can pretend
to be astronauts and the Israeli Space Agency hosts the 15th Ilan Ramon International
conference
CNN
and UK Times recommend yet-to-open hotel. The Six
Senses Shaharut hotel in Israel’s Negev desert has been recommended by CNN as
well as the UK’s Times as one of the top new lodges to stay at in 2020. “The
perfect destination for the intrepid luxury traveler” only opens later this
year.
Israeli MasterChef judge to feed Microsoft employees. Microsoft has hired celebrity TV
chef Haim Cohen to oversee six dining areas available to employees in its new
campus in the central Israeli town of Herzliya. Cohen owns two Tel Aviv
restaurants and is currently a judge on the Israeli TV version of MasterChef.
Israel’s first Olympic skiing medals. 17-year-old Israeli Noa Szollos made
history by winning two skiing medals at the Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne,
Switzerland. She won silver in the Alpine Combined and bronze in the Super G,
to gain Israel’s first ever winter games medals for either youth or adult
Olympics.
Israeli becomes Formula One test driver. British Formula One motor racing
team and constructor ROKiT Williams Racing has signed 25-year-old Israeli Roy
Nissany to their 2020 driver lineup. He will test drive in Formula One and race
in Formula Two until he gains enough points to compete in Formula One.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/British-Formula-One-constructor-Williams-Racing-signs-Israel-Roy-Nissany-614231 https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula-one/51120155
THE JEWISH STATE
Bags of room on Israeli bus. A 19-year-old US tourist discovered that Israeli bus drivers are
sometimes too keen to keep to the timetable. He was trapped inside the luggage compartment
whilst extracting his suitcase. As the bus drove off, he phoned the police who
tracked him by GPS and rescued him unharmed after 20 minutes.
Safed gets its first traffic light. Israel’s Northern city of Safed (Tzfat) and its cobbled alleyways have
been the center of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah since the 16th century. Modern
technology, however, has finally caught up with it, as its popularity with tourists
has resulted in an upgrade to its roads and its first traffic light.
Learn Hebrew from milk cartons. (TY Jacob Richman) The birthday
of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, father of modern spoken Hebrew, is also Hebrew Language
Day in Israel. This year, on 16th Jan, the
Academy of the Hebrew Language, together with Tnuva, have printed groups of Hebrew
words on the side of milk cartons.
New club house for lone soldiers. The charity Lone Soldier Center caters for the physical and social
needs of around 7,000 IDF soldiers who came to Israel without their parents. It
had been operating a Jerusalem club in the basement in Yafo Street. It now
moves to much larger premises, able to host many more for Shabbat meals.
Completing the daily Talmud
study program. (TY Sharon) Israeli cities have been
celebrating the world-wide completion of Daf Yomi (a page a day) study of the
Talmud. The program takes 7.5 years. Thousands attended the Siyum HaShas (end
of Talmud) ceremony at Jerusalem’s International Conference Center.
