BIRD
Foundation
Newsletter |
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The BIRD Foundation and the Rise of the Rest
Each semi-annual cycle, it is exciting to see the impressive breadth of topics and high level of innovation reflected in the projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation by U.S. and Israeli partners applying for funding in this competitive process. It is also encouraging that the companies submitting vary in size, especially from the U.S. side. Typically, about 50% of the U.S. companies submitting have less than 50 employees. The rest are larger companies, including huge corporations. Click here for the whole article.
Eitan Yudilevich, Ph.D.
Executive Director |
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New Project Approvals Announced for BIRD
BIRD’s Board of Governors approved $8.2 million for the funding of nine new projects on June 18, 2019. Among them were projects with innovation relating to agrotech, cleantech, healthcareIT and media. See Press Release for companies and projects approved. The Board of Governor’s meeting was followed by a reception held at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. |
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Left to right: Dr. Walter G. Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology; Director, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chief Scientist, Ministry of Economy and Industry; Chairman, Israel Innovation Authority
Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director, BIRD Foundation
Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy |
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U.S.- Israel Energy Center- Excellent Opportunity for Partnerships between Companies, Academia and DOE Labs
The U.S. Department of Energy, Israel’s Ministry of Energy, and the Israel Innovation Authority recently announced a new Call for Proposals for the U.S.- Israel Center of Excellence in Energy, Engineering and Water Technology (U.S.- Israel Energy Center). Commercial companies, research institutes, and universities from the U.S. and Israel are encouraged to form consortia of at least two entities from each country and apply for these awards. The U.S.- Israel Energy Center is managed by the BIRD Foundation. The maximum award for a single consortium is $10M for a period of five years ($2M per year per consortium). Fifty percent cost share is required from awardees. Four awards will be made, one in each of four research topics: Fossil energy; Energy storage; Energy cyber and physical security in critical infrastructure; and Energy-water nexus. This is an excellent opportunity for partnerships between companies, academia and DOE labs to research, develop, demonstrate and validate new technologies.
The BIRD Foundation will be hosting another webinar to provide an overview of the proposal preparation guidelines and tips on September 4, 2019 |
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U.S. Secretary of Energy, Secretary Rick Perry Tweet on the Energy Center: |
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U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, Energy Department, Department of State and DOE Press Staff
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U.S. Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry,
and the BIRD Foundation Executive Director, Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, discuss the U.S.- Israel Energy Center |
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BIRD Seminar at Arizona State University - Scottsdale, AZ, April 28, 2019
BIRD has recently taken note of the emerging hi-tech ecosystem in Arizona, which the media has called, “Silicon Desert." Tech jobs there increased by 188% in 2017. Following numerous meetings with local companies in November 2018 and April 2019, BIRD initiated a seminar at the SkySong Center - The ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, together with the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance (AITA). Organizations participating included GPEC (Greater Phoenix Economic Council), Partnership for Economic Innovation (PEI), the WearTech Center and many companies. Among them were Nexus, Silicon Valley Bank, Ambature, AdaptiveSN, Luctor and Saccadous. Following the program, one-on-one meetings were held with BIRD’s Tal Kelem, Director of Business Development. |
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Mr. Tal Kelem, Director of BD, presenting at BIRD Seminar at Arizona State University
Photo by Kasiah Kluger |
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Spotlight on BIRD Project: mPrest & New York Power Authority (NYPA)
Alan Ettlinger, Sr. Director, Research, Technology Development & Innovation, NYPA, delivered the keynote address at the BIRD reception held on June 18th at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. NYPA's President and CEO, Gil C. Quiniones, was also in attendance. The project between NYPA and their Israeli partner, mPrest, was approved in December 2015 to develop software that can rapidly detect malfunctioning power transformers before they cause larger problems on the electric grid and deploy it on the NYPA transmission system. By 2017, they had launched this new solution at New York State’s Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant. Since then, NYPA has expanded the use of this technology to transformers at its facilities across the state. For additional information see, NYPA Recognized for Innovative Technology by BIRD Foundation. |
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Mr. Alan Ettlinger, Director, Research, Technology Development and Innovation NYPA, presenting at the BIRD Reception, Washington, D.C. |
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New Project: CSHHCS & Somatix Launch SafeBeing™ a Novel Gesture Detection Platform for Seniors
In December 2018, Catholic Senior Housing and Health Care Services, Inc. (CSHHCS), of Bethlehem, PA, and Somatix Inc., of Ra’anana, Israel, were approved for BIRD funding to develop a platform that offers a solution for the growing elderly population and their caregivers. |
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The solution involves a product called SafeBeing that detects gestures to monitor, track and analyze the daily routines of those wearing and using the wearable smartband and mobile app. By closely monitoring patients' routines using these smart wearables with built-in sensors, SafeBeing can detect variation in gestures and immediately alert caregivers to sudden falls, immobility, sleep irregularities, low liquid consumption or wandering. See the latest PR and video just released. |
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Seminar to Promote U.S. - Israel Partnerships in Birmingham, AL to be held on August 20, 2019
Alabama Power will host an event in Birmingham, AL on the afternoon of August 20th. The event will promote opportunities for Alabama-Israel technology partnerships and will focus on BIRD programs and highlight companies, both U.S. and Israeli, which have been approved for BIRD funding. Keynoting the event will be Alabama Senator Doug Jones. In addition to BIRD, event partners include: Conexx, the Consulate General of Israel in Miami, the Birmingham Business Alliance, and the Business Council of Alabama. For more information or to register go to the event page. |
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BIRD Foundation Call for Proposals: Applications now open untill Sep. 5, 2019
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