(Next newsletter 27th Oct)
In the 13th Oct 19 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
In the 13th Oct 19 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
·
First patient
trials show new Israeli ALS treatment slows disease significantly.
·
Surgeons have
used Israeli virtual reality system to treat thousands of patients.
·
Three typical
Israeli examples of “extraordinary” life-saving events.
·
Israeli
food tech innovations include meatless meat and egg-free eggs.
·
Israeli
startups raised a billion dollars of funds last month.
·
The first arrival
of a Virgin Atlantic plane in Tel Aviv.
·
Israeli
conservation center is releasing 200 rare baby green turtles into the sea.
·
How to
enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in Israel.
·
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ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Positive
results in human trial of ALS treatment. As
reported (here) previously, the stem cell ALS therapy developed by Israel’s Kadimastem
showed promise in the lab. Now, early results from human trials at Hadassah hospital
in Jerusalem show that it has significantly slowed down disease progression
without major side effects.
Helping doctors focus on
treatment. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s
Maverick Medical AI has developed software for reading patient notes to analyze
chronic conditions and risk factors. US Health Systems (USHS), in partnership
with Arizona Complete Health, is to deploy Maverick’s software within its
organization.
Predicting high-risk
cardiac patients. (TY Atid-EDI) As
reported (here) previously,
the algorithms of Israel’s Medial EarlySign detect disease early. Its latest
algorithm identifies cardiac patients with a high risk of complications after hospital
discharge following a Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedure.
Blocking bone cancer in children. Scientists at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have had promising results
in the lab with experimental treatments for Ewing sarcoma – a bone cancer common
in teenagers with a specific defective gene. Mifepristone - a glucocorticoid
receptor blocker - stopped the cancer spreading to other organs.
https://www.weizmann-usa.org/news-media/news-releases/a-new-route-to-blocking-children-s-bone-cancer
Another early warning of
Alzheimer’s. As reported (here) previously, there are at least two signs of the early advance of
Alzheimer’s disease. Now doctors at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center have
developed Clara – an AI chatbot that questions the patient and compares the
answers to a baseline. It is 95% accurate.
New blood center takes
shape. Excellent article on the progress of the new
blood center being constructed in Ramle.
It also describes why it is being built. Existing facilities are unprotected.
And although they provide for Jews and all minorities, they were built for an
Israeli population of 5 million – not the current 9 million citizens.
Revolution
in the operating theater. (TY OurCrowd) As reported (here) previously, the Virtual Reality (VR) systems from Israel’s Surgical
Theater are changing the nature of surgery. Now installed at 15 US hospitals,
they have been used in thousands of life-saving operations. https://www.foxla.com/video/607973
Defending Israel’s health. The Rosh Hashana edition of the newsletter from the American
Friends of Soroka Medical Center describes how medical staff at the hospital have
saved many lives. It also describes opening the new Autism center, building new
departments, Friends events in NYC, 2020 mission to Israel and much more.
Renewing the cycle of life. Israel’s Bio-Technology General (BTG) develops
therapies for reproductive health, endocrinology (growth hormones), orthopedic
(knee lubricant), ophthalmology and arthritic pain relief. BTG has just inaugurated
a new production line to enable expansion at its Be’er Tuvia site.
https://www.jpost.com/Jpost-Tech/Biotechnology-General-opens-production-line-to-boost-manufacturing-capacity-603348
https://www.btgil.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y4WJhKHuJ8
NYC symposium - Breaking
the Barriers of Brain Science. Three of Israel’s
top brain scientists from Ben Gurion University of the Negev will be presenting
at a symposium in New York City on Sun 27th Oct. Their subjects - Processing
Face Recognition, Combating Autism and Treating Head Trauma. Tickets just $18.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND
GLOBAL
Medic saves a life while 9-months pregnant. Oshrat Mualem is vice president
of marketing at Radio Kol Baramaha and a volunteer paramedic with Israel’s
United Hatzalah. She is also 9 months pregnant, expecting her sixth child. But she
never hesitated when she had to save a young man electrocuted in a swimming
pool.
Paramedic
chief saves life of Arab woman. (TY Janglo) Eli
Beer, President of United Hatzalah, was at Ben Gurion Airport on route to a
fundraising event in London. Suddenly an 80-year-old Arab woman collapsed. Eli began
CPR and called in other paramedics. The woman was taken to hospital and Eli comforted
her children.
Helping youth at risk. As reported previously (May 2017) Shanti
House in Jaffa provides temporary housing and long-term support for young people
living on the streets. This new ILTV video reports that Shanti House provides some
116,000 hot meals every year and has helped 54,000 at risk youths since it
started in 1984.
Acre Kibbutz promotes
co-existence. (TY Diana) Newsletter subscriber
Diana Bletter writes about the Educators’ Kibbutz in the Northern Israel city
of Acre. Its aim is to change Acre’s image from a “mixed city” to a “shared city”.
Acre / Akko has 50,000 inhabitants, mostly Jews, plus Moslems, Christians and
Druze.
Ancient city uncovered. The Israel Antiquities Authority have unearthed a vast city, around
5000 years old, the largest ever discovered in Israel. in the Ein Iron area of
northern Hasharon. Some 6,000 inhabitants would have lived in the 650 dunam
city, which was built on top of an earlier settlement of around 7,000 years
old.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/massive-bronze-age-megalopolis-to-be-covered-over-immortalized-in-3-d-imaging/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTQIU7vkQWI
Most promising startups. New York research firm CB Insights chose four Israeli companies in
its list of Most Promising Global firms in Digital Health. Aidoc, Zebra,
HealthIQ and MDClone were selected from a pool of 5,000 companies based on patents,
investors, market, partnerships, competitors, team strength and tech novelty.
Doctors
fly to Cyprus to save woman in labor. Doctors from
Israel’s Sheba hospital saved a woman from Nicosia who suffered a major heart
problem during childbirth. Within 7 hours, four heart specialists brought
specialist equipment to Cyprus, stabilized the patient and flew her back to
Israel where she is now recovering.
Armenia to open embassy
ASAP. (TY Atid-EDI) Reflecting
close bilateral diplomatic ties, Armenia has announced that it will open an
embassy in Israel “as quickly as possible” – probably by early 2020. It would
be the 90th foreign embassy in Israel. Some 11,000 Armenian Christians are full
Israeli citizens (see here).
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Israel’s tech miracle. (TY OurCrowd) On the Armstrong Williams show, Jon Medved of OurCrowd
mentions several Israeli innovations and gives reasons for Israel’s technical and
economic success. They include turning curses into blessings, education, skills
learned in the army, diverse immigrants and chutzpah.
How Israel can save our
planet. AgriVest 2019 on 24th Sep in Tel Aviv hosted
more than 750 participants, speakers, panelists, presenting companies, and
sponsors. Israeli startups demonstrated how to grow more crops and more food
with less land, less water, and less energy.
Global firms get a taste of
Israeli food tech. Delegates from multinationals
such as PepsiCo, Danone and Mondelez (Cadbury Oreo, Toblerone etc.) attended
Israel’s annual FoodTechIL in Tel Aviv. 50 Israeli startups exhibited latest
technologies in the food sector (including protein alternatives) to some 1500
participants.
Vegan substitute
for eggs. One of the Israeli startups exhibiting at
Tel Aviv’s FoodTechIL was Zero Egg, with its plant-based alternative for eggs. It
tastes, looks and functions like a real egg. It can be used to make omelets, “scrambled
egg”, cakes, pasta and sauces without using eggs.
http://nocamels.com/2019/09/global-firms-taste-of-israeli-food-tech-innovations/ https://zeroeggfood.com/
Saving male chicks from
slaughter. Previous newsletters (see here) reported on Israel’s EggDetect and TeraEgg which developed
technology to prevent the hatching of 8 billion unwanted male chicks. Now there’s
another – eggXYt which uses ultrasound to detect a potential chick male immediately
after the egg is laid.
Replacing sugar with
protein. High sugar intake is a huge health issue. At
FoodTechIL Israeli scientist Ilan Samish of startup Amai Proteins (see here) demonstrated
his hyper-sweet synthesized thaumatin protein. He has now adapted the protein for
sweetening food and drinks in the high temperatures required by the food
industry.
Detecting allergens. Israeli startup Allerguard is developing a handheld device that scans
and analyzes vapors from prepared food to determine the presence of allergens
(e.g. peanuts). Electrochemical sensors detect non-safe molecular levels of allergens
using three technologies. Allerguard has just raised $1.5 million of funds.
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3771525,00.html https://allerguardsystems.com/about/
More meatless
meat. Israeli startup MeaTech is developing
technology for bioprinting meat using stem cells. It expects to achieve a
viable prototype within a year. Meanwhile, MeaTech has merged with Israel’s Ophectra
Real Estate & Investments. https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3771407,00.html
Growing diamonds from
methane. Israeli Benny Landa is the founder of
Landa Digital Printing (see here). His latest venture is Lusix,
which makes quality diamonds of up to 3 carats from methane gas. His machines bond
carbon atoms to a diamond seed at 5000 degrees C. The product is chemically
identical to a mined gem.
Wind farm for Serbia. (TY Hazel) Israel’s Enlight Renewable Energy has inaugurated its new
104.5 MW wind farm in Kovačica, Serbia. It is Serbia’s largest wind farm and will
supply electricity to 68,000 households.
As reported here previously (see
here) Enlight
has built wind farms in Ireland and in Israel’s Golan.
Intel likes fast Israeli
connectivity. (TY Atid-EDI) The transceivers
and active optical cables from Israel’s DustPhotonics enable super fast
connections between servers in data centers. DustPhotonics has just received $25
million in a funding round led by Intel Capital. https://dustphotonics.com/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dustphotonics-secures-25m-in-series-b-funding-led-by-intel-capital-300922264.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCp8FIgo87k
EU funds for ransomware
protection startup. Israeli cybersecurity startup
Odix (registered as Operations & Data Integrity) has been awarded a 2
million euro grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation program. Odix’s technology disarms different malware, including
ransomware.
Getting accurate feedback. (TY Atid-EDI) Israeli
startup Dooblo provides mobile survey software for the market research
industry. Its SurveyToGo product reduces the cost of paper-based surveys but vastly
increases quality. Dooblo is used in over 100 countries and has just received
an investment from California’s Anacapa.
Einstein in Shanghai. "Albert Einstein: Life
in Four Dimensions," by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is currently showing
at the World Expo Museum in Shanghai China. It includes handwritten documents,
original pictures, personal objects and scientific theorems. The exhibition will
move to Beijing at the end of October.
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
Over $1 billion raised in one month. (TY WIN & JNS) Israeli startups raised at least $1 billion of funds in Sep
2019 and are on track to beat last year’s record-breaking figure of $6.4
billion. The actual figure is even higher as some companies do not reveal investment
data. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afs2noENzTA
US support for Israeli startups. (TY Nurit, Jacob & Jason) 18 Israeli
bio-techs presented at an event in Beverly Hills, California. They have all benefited from the Merage
Institute Leadership Programs for Israeli Life Science executives and the Elite
Entrepreneur Organization - a global network of entrepreneurs.
Innovation week brings Israelis to Silicon Valley. Israeli NGO ICON organized its
sixth annual Innovation Week in Silicon Valley, California. It was attended by
some 450 delegates from around the globe. Non-profit ICON bridges the Israeli
and San Francisco tech startup communities.
https://www.iconsv.org/iconicinnovationweek https://www.accesswire.com/559415/ICON-Innovation-Week-to-Bring-Together-Silicon-Valley-Tech-Leaders-and-Israeli-Innovators
Successful Israeli companies merge. Israeli content distributors
Taboola (see here) and Outbrain (see here) make billions of dollars by attracting Internet users to the websites of
large on-line companies. Now they realize that they can be even more successful
by working together – so they are merging. From startups to grown-ups.
Moving into more cities. As reported previously (Jun 2016) Israel’s Moovit has integrated its public transit app into Uber’s ride-sharing
app. The partnership has now been extended into 15 additional cities globally,
including Paris and San Francisco. Moovit operates in 3,000 cities and has over
500 million users.
Virgin begins London - Tel Aviv flights. (TY Janglo) Virgin Atlantic’s maiden flight from London Heathrow landed at Tel Aviv
on 25th Sep. It will provide competition on the popular London to Tel Aviv route
with El Al and British Airways as well as with low cost airlines easyJet and
Wizz which fly from London Luton.
Scientific dynamo. Fascinating bio of Israeli cancer expert and
entrepreneur Dr Aya Jakobovits. Founded Adicet Bio in 2014 and is still a
Director. Co-founded Kite in 2010, selling it for $12 billion (see here). Exec VP of Agensys ($0.5 billion
exit in 2007). Principle scientist at Abgenix (exited for $2.2 billion in 2005).
https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3771364,00.html https://www.adicetbio.com/about/
Eximo exits for $46 million. As reported (here) previously, Israel’s Eximo has
developed a laser-catheter for treatment of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Eximo
has just been acquired by US medical device company AngioDynamics for a minimum
of $40 million. Development will continue in Israel.
Tesco to implement Israeli cashless checkout. After successful trials (as reported here), UK supermarket giant Tesco has decided to integrate the cashless checkout
system from Israel’s Trigo. Tesco has invested funds in the Israeli startup,
and will integrate Trigo’s technology into its app.
Unlocking trillions of debt. (TY Atid-EDI) As reported previously (Mar 2015) Israel’s FundBox lends money to small businesses who are struggling with
their cash flow. The idea has caught on so much that FundBox has raised $326
million to enable its goal of releasing much of the $3.1 trillion locked up in
accounts receivables.
https://fundbox.com/blog/weve-raised-326-million-expand-industrys-first-b2b-payments-credit-network/
CULTURE, ENTERTAINMENT & SPORT
Jerusalem
biennale. At the Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary
Jewish Art (10th Oct – 28th Nov) 200 artists from 15 countries will display
their works in 12 city center venues. https://jerusalembiennale.org/
Jewish wedding contract designer wins global award. Israel’s Naomi Shiek of Woodland
Papercuts designs beautiful, intricate paper ketubahs (Jewish wedding
contracts). She was one of several winners of the very first international
design awards by Etsy, the e-commerce site for handmade or vintage items and
goods.
Hilarious
solutions for everyday problems. Israel’s Shaul
Cohen made around 50 unique “Israeli humor” objects as part of his degree
course at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. They include unusual snow
globes, a talking seashell and a candies slingshot for bar and bat mitzvah
ceremonies.
Celine
Dion heads for Israel. French-Canadian superstar
Celine Dion will be making her Israel debut in Tel Aviv next summer. She is
scheduled to perform on 4th August at Park Hayarkon as part of her Courage
World Tour (named after her new album). She posted “See you soon Tel Aviv,
Love, Celine” on her twitter page.
Windsurfer
wins silver at world championships. Israel’s Katy
Spychakov came second in the women’s RS:X Windsurfing World Championships on
Lake Garda in Italy. It is the first Israeli medal at the global competition
since 2014. https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-windsurfer-takes-silver-medal-at-world-championship/
THE JEWISH STATE
Reception
for Ambassadors. (TY
Sharon) Just before Rosh Hashana, Israel’s President
Reuven Rivlin held a reception for the Ambassadors of all countries that have
diplomatic relations with the Jewish State. Between the Ambassadors of Jordan and
Egypt sat the President’s (Druze)
Military Secretary Brig General Alaa Abu-Rukan.
Saving the green turtle. (TY Hazel) The World Wildlife Fund has
designated green turtles as an endangered species. Israel began a breeding
program in 2002 and the Israeli Sea Turtle Rescue Center at Mikhmoret beach has
just released 60 of 200 hatchlings into the sea. In the coming years, this should
increase to 1,000 per year
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-animals-turtles/endangered-turtles-bred-in-captivity-in-israel-to-help-save-species-idUSKBN1WA1D5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04uV5_0w_DM
Torah
and Technology. (TY
Janglo)
The Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT) has launched the first-of-its-kind
Torah and Technology Research Center. With a unique combination of rabbinic
scholars and engineering professors, it will provide the expertise needed to
respond to today’s complex ethical and Halachic issues.
Re-building
Jerusalem. (TY Janglo)
The Jerusalem Municipality has approved part of the Kidmat Gonen Pinui Binui
urban renewal plan in the Katamon neighborhood. It includes five high-rise apartment
buildings, 998 affordable housing units, commercial areas, new public areas and
upgraded public space.
The Feast
of Tabernacles (Sukkot). In Israel all you can hear is the sound of hammer against wood and metal
as thousands of tabernacles (booths) are being assembled for the celebration of
the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Here are some of the events and activities
taking place in Israel during the seven-day festival.
