AIPAC: Israeli Innovations Save American Lives On The Battlefield
An excellent summary of how Israeli technology from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Emergency Bandages benefits the U.S. military. [click to open PDF]
The Technion – One Of Israel’s Great Innovation Engines
This video has been going around quite a bit lately. It’s a well done retrospective that celebrates 100 years of the Technion’s contributions to Israel & the world.
Israel Developing Classroom Of The Future
Jewish education has a lengthy history that stretches back to the time of the Bible, so Jews have had plenty of time to learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to learning. It shouldn’t be too surprising then that an Israeli company called Time To Know continues this rich tradition and “…has developed a new digital teaching platform integrating technology, a digital curriculum, real-time class participation, and instant educator empowerment — and it’s already revolutionizing classrooms in New York and Texas.” This article in No Camels articulates numerous benefits from Time To Know’s new approach to learning, which appear to be “…revolutionizing classrooms in New York and Texas…”:
- significant success at re-energizing education for both children and teachers
- producing better reasoning and problem-solving skills
- solving behavioral problems
- improving attendance
- reducing disciplinary problems significantly
Israeli innovation in education seems like a natural development, yet this is the first firm from Israel that I’ve heard about with any significant innovation in this field. Given the increasingly competitive nature of modern, information-based economies, better education of students and workforces will be a critical factor for nations seeking economic advantages. Innovations from Israel in this area will therefore be much sought-after, and might eventually become a valuable global export.
Making The World Safe For Computing
According to Globes, Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, the head of the country’s National Council for R&D, recently said that Israel “…has the potential to be a key global player in the cyber protection field…”.
My dear professor, I would submit to you that Israel already is:
- Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a global leader in the firewall solutions market.
- AppSec, pioneered the concept of database security solutions, and now dominates that market.
- RSA is perhaps the best known cyber protection company to ever have an Israeli connection. Their data encryption schemes are an industry standard , created in part by their chief cryptographer Adi Shamir, the “S” in “RSA”.
Globes further quoted the professor as saying:
“Israel is home to the strongest leading academics in the world in encryption,” said Ben-Israel. “We are among the best in the world in the field of theory; however there is room for improvement in the practical and industrial areas.”
That sounds to me like the Israeli government might look to make cyber protection an area of strategic focus for the economy. A direction reinforced by a recent comment at the President’s Conference by the CEO of Hewlett-Packard who said that “…the need for security is delaying innovation.”
Innovation Key To Israeli Economy’s Future Success
Saul Singer, co-author of Start-Up Nation, has a poignant rebuke to Israelis suffering from “Nokia envy” who wish Israel had more big companies – stick to start-ups and innovation.
“The who’s who of technology – IBM, Cisco, Motorola, you name it – they’re here in a very big way, and what they’re doing here is effectively injecting themselves with innovation by buying up,” he said.
But in Israel “there tends to be not enough emphasis on what the potential is, which is huge and multifaceted.
“I think we have to very careful about not losing our cutting edge…we can’t take for granted start-ups, because if we lose them, we have a problem.”
Read more of this excellent Jerusalem Post article here.
Israeli Cows Highly Productive
Multiple bible verses from the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy describe Israel as a land flowing with “…milk and honey…”. Two recent stories about Israel’s dairy industry confirm that milk is still flowing at an impressive rate, due in part perhaps to innovation in herd management, which thanks to one company now flows from Israel to “52 countries around the world.”
But let’s get back to milk production. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics:
Local cows produced an average of 10,208 kilograms (around 10,000 liters) of dairy in 2009, the data showed, outperforming cows in the US (9,331 kg. per cow), Japan (7,497), the European Union (6,139) and Australia (5,601).
Anyone who’s ever sampled Israeli dairy products can confirm that all that milk is being put to good use. This elevated level of production was no doubt facilitated by advances like those from AfiMilk, whose innovations include the first electronic meter for milk measurement, and shared business intelligence on dairy herd production for farmers and nutritionists.
As a former raftan at HaKfar HaYarok, I’m pleased and amazed to see how far the Israeli dairy industry has come since I was a miniscule part of it. That’s nothing to moo at!
Plugging Leaks A Huge Global Opportunity
Many mentions have been made on this blog of various water technologies where Israeli innovation is having a global impact including:
A video providing a good overview of the overall industry was featured in this posting.
We’ve also done a Spotlight piece on TaKaDu, providers of an algorithm-based system for monitoring water network infrastructures with an eye towards detecting anomalies like leaks, bursts and other irregularities that were previously undetectable (in some cases for months, or even years).
Now comes word from The Jerusalem Post about Curapipe, a start-up which may have a perfect complement to TaKaDu’s technology. Curapipe has developed and patented a unique pipe sealant technology that could help plug the leak on the massive amounts of water lost every year by broken water distribution networks (as high as 60% in some countries, according to the World Bank). The article quotes CEO Peter Paz saying:
…the Curapipe system is “launched” downstream through a fire hydrant – sending in a special viscous substance that stops the leaks internally, sandwiched on either side by cement blocks called a “pig train” that keep the bronze-colored, glue-like substance in place, Paz said.
“This substance knows how to seek where the leakage is, find it, settle in the leakage and cure it for many, many years,” he said. “Instead of launching our product into space we launch it into the pipeline.”
I’m envisioning a possible joint marketing opportunity for TaKaDu & Curapipe to package their respective offerings together as a complete detection & remediation solution for the massive global water market. Together they might be able to conquer a lot more market share than either one could on their own.
Israel & India Collaborate On Boosting Trade
Israel and India are home to two ancient peoples with a very modern relationship revolving around hi-tech innovation and entrepreneurship. In an effort to ratchet up that cooperation, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Israel’s High Tech Industries Association (HTIA) have signed an agreement that seeks to spur more joint initiatives which take advantage of and possibly marry Israel’s innovation prowess with India’s inexpensive and virtually unlimited manpower resources. This article reports that in less than 20 years, bi-lateral trade between the two countries grew by over 2,300% (not including defense):
Starting at $200 million annually when diplomatic relations were established in 1992, trade between Israel and India ballooned to $4.7 billion mark last year when India vaulted into second place among Israel’s export markets. This does not include defense sales which are reportedly over $1 billion annually.
When looked at in combination with China’s Market Opening To Israeli Innovation, it would seem that massive opportunities await Israeli companies in the East that could one day rival the U.S. and Europe.
To Life Sciences, L’Chaim!
A great Jerusalem Post article entitled “Israeli biotech – Good for what ails you” does an excellent job of quantifying the current state of that industry. Some of the highlights include:
- Israel is the world leader in patents for medical devices, relative to population size
- Israel is second worldwide in the patenting of biopharm products, including pharmaceuticals and treatments
- Israel is eighth in the number of patents granted in the life-sciences industry
- There are currently about 700 active life-sciences companies in Israel; 56 percent of whom (396) were founded in the last decade, and about 25% of whom (173) were founded in the last five years
- Teva Pharmaceuticals, the oldest life-science company, is over 100 years old (founded in 1901)
- Between 2001 – 2005 the industry’s annual growth was 12%
The Israeli Foreign Ministry recently profiled one of the country’s standout biotech companies, IceCure Medical. This company developed a quick, scar-free, and nearly painless procedure to destroy benign breast tumors by freezing them. With so much Israeli activity in life sciences, we can expect to hear of many more breakthroughs like IceCure’s in the near future.