Now for Some Serious Trading
23/1/13
The Israeli elections are over and we are
now into the period of horse-trading that inevitably is required to build a new
coalition for governing the country.
Excluding the politicians, however, most Israelis are going about their
regular business. The country’s many forward-thinking entrepreneurs continue
building new enterprises or expanding their current ones, which will
undoubtedly bring huge benefits to the world.
Those living in, or traveling to, far-off
locations will definitely appreciate the innovations from first two Israeli
companies featured. Starting on dry
land, Israel’s Alvarion is deploying its fast wireless broadband service for
the benefit of the 7500 residents and workers on
the North Slope of Alaska – one of the remotest and harshest places on
earth. We then cast off to hear about
Station 711 - part of Israel’s RRsat Global Communications Network – which has
just launched the latest version of its mobile
communications for ships. Its Fleetbroadband gives crews a commercial,
operational and personal link to the rest of the world while at sea.
We need to keep moving in order to
appreciate Israel’s number one position in the
market for Gesture Technology - the latest feature that lets you
communicate with your personal computer by waving your hands in front of the
built-in camera. At the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Israeli companies PointGrab and eyeSight
revealed their latest deals; PointGrap’s with Samsung’s smart TVs and
eyeSight’s with AMD’s new graphics chip.
We now increase the speed in order to catch up with the new Chevy
Corvette C7 Stingray sports car. The new model is much lighter and
stronger than similar vehicles, thanks to the very same dense plastic composite
material that protects US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. The material is manufactured by Plasan Sasa,
which is based at Kibbutz Sasa in Northern Israel.
China’s fast-moving assembly lines may be
producing most of the world’s TV flat screens, but they need Israeli hi-tech
equipment to control them. Israel’s
Orbotech has just won a contract for $40 million of its latest generation flat-screen
control panels for automated optical inspection and array testing. China also needs Israeli help in order to
manufacture fertilizer for the crops required to feed its huge population. It has just ordered 660,000
tons of Israeli Potash as part of a 3 million tons agreement (worth
$1.2bn) over three years.
Many firms will be able to grow
their businesses faster thanks to a new prize-winning application from
Israeli start-up KitLocate. The
location system lets retailers find shoppers in their area and offer them deals
and coupons. Meanwhile, an Israeli
biotech is doing a little trading of its own.
Alcobra will be the first new listing on NASDAQ by an Israeli life
sciences company since 2010. Alcobra's
MG01CI medication
for ADHD sufferers is currently undergoing a Phase II clinical
trial. The non-stimulant treatment is
safer than Ritalin and has far fewer side effects than Strattera.
Israel is one of the leading exporters of
Clean Technology. Renowned water expert
Dr Yoram Oren has been developing nano-filtration membrane separation to purify
two of India’s mighty rivers. The Noyyal and the Bhavani have been
polluted due to the large-scale discharge of toxic effluents from dyeing units
along the river shores. On a more
global level, one of Israel’s cleantech companies, Miya, is busy
saving water across the world. Its technology locates leaks and is
currently saving 600 million liters of water every day in Manila,
Philippines. Other projects include the
Bahamas, Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico and South Africa.
“What about the Arabs?” Firstly, Israel’s Ministry of Science
sponsored a conference on “The Role of Research & Development in Economic Development in the Arab
Community”. The conference was
organized by the NGO Triangle Research & Development Center, which
addresses topics affecting the Arab community in Israel. Israel also provides support to those
neighbors who display a genuine desire to have peaceful relations with the
Jewish State. For example, thirty
farmers from Gaza were given permits to enter Israel in order to attend
an agricultural exhibition. Ramadan Abu
Naja from Gaza said, “We came here to learn
about Israeli agriculture. We will take some of the types of produce
that we like back with us into Gaza.
Israel’s trade with the world continues to
improve as nations come to seek Israeli know-how. For example, Israel’s Fourth International Conference on
Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD) drew more than 500 participants
from 60 countries. One of its
sponsors was the UN, which aims to halt land degradation by 2030. In December, Israel even received a delegation from Mongolia's
Ministry of Environment and Green Development to learn about water pollution
management and prevention, and land rehabilitation.
Finally, perhaps the strangest recent
international event of all must have be the International
Belly Dance Festival in Eilat.
The world's biggest belly dancing event attracted some 950 dancers from
30 countries – including Turkey, Egypt and Jordan. Maybe, one day, real peace and trade relations with our Middle
East neighbors will materialize in an equally unexpected way.
Israel – I wouldn’t trade it for the
world.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
