The Jewish State in its true light.–
In the 31st Jan 16 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:
· Israel’s ZAKA emergency response organization received UN recognition.
· Israel is to spend an extra $3.3 billion on Israeli-Arabs in the next five years.
· Seven major news stories highlight Israel’s dominance in cybersecurity.
· The EU has selected Jerusalem’s water company for a major project.
· Sony, Honda, GM and Mercedes all announced deals with Israeli startups.
· A BBC video captures an amazing display of starlings in Israel.
· Israel is making it easier for dentists and therapists to make Aliya.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Early detection of lung cancer in smokers. Scientists at Tel Aviv University and Rabin Medical Center have discovered they can detect lung cancer early in smokers by performing a CT scan at the time they are admitted as pneumonia patients. Often, the pneumonia is caused by young cancer cells blocking air pathways.
The reason lack of sleep leads to obesity. Researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute have detailed for the first time how human biological clocks work in tandem with intestinal gut bacteria to control blood sugar levels. Digestion suffers when the schedules of the gut bacteria are interrupted by late-night wakefulness.
Why the blind have better hearing. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered how the brain compensates for the loss of one of the senses (e.g. sight) by improving another (e.g. hearing). They studied the simple roundworm and manipulated synapses to control the sensory ability of the organism.
US approval for smartphone blood sugar monitor. Israel’s LabStyle has received US FDA approval for its Dario device for measuring blood sugar levels using a smartphone. It already has approval for European sales.
Turning rehabilitation into a fun exercise. Israeli startups BioGaming and Motorika use virtual-reality and robotics technology to introduce fun into physical therapy exercises. BioGaming’s algorithms power a Microsoft Kinect 3D motion-capture camera. Motorika’s robotics enable neurological and orthopedic rehab.
ZAKA secures official U.N. status. (TY algemeiner and Dan) The Israeli emergency response organization ZAKA has received official consultative status from the United Nations. ZAKA will now be recognized as an official body in the U.N., which will help it to expand its international search, rescue and recovery missions.
NIS 300 million more for health. Eighty-three new medications and medical technologies were added to Israel’s “health basket” on Thursday, benefiting 108,500 patients at the cost of NIS 300 million. Cancer treatments include myeloma, leukemia, pancreatic, kidney, prostate, breast, ovarian, lung and more.
The top Israeli responder. (TY Janglo) The average Hatzalah emergency response volunteer will attend to some 300 calls annually, but 58-year-old Yehuda Londner of Bnei Brak recorded an impressive 2,370 calls last year. In 29 years with Hatzalah and Magen David Adom he has responded to over 45,000 emergency calls.
Novotalk founder’s startup cured his stutter. The founder Novotalk (see Dec 27 newsletter) Moshe Rot describes how he suffered from stuttering since age 3. Then at age 22 he went for fluency shaping at Jerusalem’s Hadassah hospital. He started up Novotalk to teach and reinforce the skill online at much less cost.
ISRAEL IS INCLUSIVE AND GLOBAL
Connecting kids to Israeli seniors. The HaVeDa project connects senior Israeli citizens with Jewish and Israeli children living in the diaspora who want to keep in touch with Israel – its people and its language. The Israeli seniors live at home or in a nursing home and are happy to share their stories with young people.
El Al’s first all-female cockpit. An El Al flight that flew from Israel to Larnaca, Cyprus was a small-but-significant historical moment for the Israeli airline: its cockpit was comprised entirely of women. The controls were in the hands of Captain Smadar Shechter and First Officer Meirav Schwartz.
35% of Teva’s senior management are women. Israel’s Teva has reported that 49% of all its management positions are staffed by women, with a female level of 35% in senior management. Teva launched 315 generic medicines in 2015. It saved UK local authorities $4.3 billion in 2014 and tens of billions of dollars worldwide.
Free on-line English courses. Israel’s Education Ministry is paying for Israeli university students to take English language courses offered online by the Open University in preparation for further study at academic institutions. It will save students thousands of shekels and improve their career opportunities.
$3.3 billion to help Israeli-Arabs. (TY Hazel) Israel will spend around 13 billion shekels ($3.3 billion) over the next five years to improve the standard of living of its Arab minority. Investment will be boosted in education, infrastructure, culture, sports and transportation in Arab areas.
Syrians see Israel’s good side. (TY Hazel) Another report about some of the 2,000 Syrian war wounded who have been treated in Israeli hospitals.
R&D agreement with Colombia. (TY Dan) Israel and Colombia have signed an agreement on cooperation in industrial R&D. Colombia is the fourth largest economy in Latin America, after Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, which have also signed agreements with Israel in recent years. http://www.port2port.com/
Irrigating Indian farms. The Indian state of Haryana – located just northwest of Dehli – will initiate micro-irrigation projects based on Israeli expertise at 14 sites throughout the state over the course of 2016. Israeli agricultural professionals work extensively in Haryana and neighboring Punjab, as well as around the country.
Apple learns Hebrew. iPhone and iPad users will know about Siri – Apple’s speech-recognition robot. Now Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) will be available in Hebrew in March.
Where Israel gives humanitarian aid. (TY Hazel) Israel21C has produced a map showing all the top locations where Israel offers aid to people in need around the world. http://mapme.com/israel-aid
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
$3.5 million more to tackle pollution. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Environmental Protection Ministry is to invest NIS 14 million ($3.5 million) in projects to encourage use of public transportation and bicycles. The funds are in addition to the NIS 6 million ($1.5 million) transferred to local authorities in the past year to promote similar initiatives.
An intelligent extra eye. Israel’s OrCam has moved on from its camera that helps visually impaired. It has now launched MyMe – an augmented attention device that gives you an extra eye and ear. It can perform face recognition, speech to text translation, time analysis etc. OrCam also opened a European HQ in London.
Bringing back the sound of voice. Israeli app HearMeOut reinvents vocal features in social media.
“Israel is a global agricultural force”. On Tu B’Shvat – the New Year for Trees in Israel – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Israeli agro-tech at an exhibit of Israel’s latest developments at the Agricultural Research Organization’s Volcani Center, in Beit Dagan near Tel Aviv.
Magnificent seven. Last week there was good news about seven Israeli cybersecurity companies – the first six are their first mentions in my newsletter. LightCyber won awards in both SC Magazine and CRN Magazine; SafeBreach launched its continual testing platform; Fireglass raised $20 million of funds for its critical systems solution; ImVision raised $4 million for its anomaly detection technology; Nubo raised $7 million to expand its Cloud-based mobile protection; and ForeScout became a billion-dollar value company. Finally, Elbit’s CYBERBIT unit exposed the workings and solution for Dridex – the most dangerous virus in existence.
http://www.crn.com/slide-
$100 million in STEM scholarships. Real estate magnate and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman has announced a 20-year, $100 million scholarship program to pay for American graduate students in the sciences to study in Israel. It will allow leading US and Israeli academics to work together on cutting-edge research.
Helping firms make IoT products. Israeli startup Seebo makes it easier for companies to develop smart products. Seebo provides them with end-to-end tools and technology that connect the products to the Internet of Things (IoT). Seebo has just raised $8.5 million of funds.
The brains behind Iron Dome. Israel’s mPrest provides monitoring and control software for the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling organizations to connect any sensor at any time. mPrest also developed the brains for the Iron Dome missile defense system. mPrest has just raised $20 million of funds for international expansion.
Don’t waste time dialing. Israeli startup MyState shows the availability of a contact before dialing by displaying if the person is on a call, offline, on vibrate or silent, has no Internet connection, is in a different time-zone, or their battery is running low, or charging. MyState has just raised $6.5 million of funds.
Israeli tech in one third of Smart TVs. A third of the smart TVs sold in the world today contain Adaptive Video Acceleration (AVA) – an essential piece of technology made by Israeli start-up Giraffic. Both Samsung and LG use Giraffic’s AVA to stream content, uninterrupted by network glitches and slowdowns.
Jerusalem Water on EU research project. Hagihon – Jerusalem’s water company – has been awarded a key role on the 4-year European Union project to improve governance and social awareness of water environmental challenges. It involves setting up a Digital Social Platform to share details of water scarcity, security, quality and water consumption-related issues. https://www.hagihon.co.il/
A better mousetrap. Israeli start-up IoTBox has developed a hi-tech sensor tracking system for super-fast elimination of rodent infection at food processing sites. It utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) and predictive analytics to calculate the travel pattern of the vermin and identify where pest control needs to be applied.
The best gadgets at CES. Thousands of products were displayed to over 100,000 visitors at the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Both winners in the “Last Gadget Standing” category were Israeli. The VUZE Camera from HumanEyes was the Live Audience winner and SteamCC’s Ripple Maker was the on-line winner http://www.timesofisrael.com/
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
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