Israel - Australia Newsletter

April 2021

Dear Friends,

The beginning of May calls for a new Newsletter with updates and stories from Israel published by the Israel Trade Commission.
 
The past few weeks have been difficult ones in Israel, with many events unfolding by the day.
 
Ongoing discussions and negotiations towards forming a coalition government have not yet been successful; the mandate has swung from one side to the other.
 
A tragedy occurred in Mt Meron a couple of weeks ago, during a Jewish religious festivity, taken place during the holiday of Lag Ba’Omer.
 
In addition, tensions in Israel have escalated and led to eruptions of violence and use of military force, as the Gaza-governed Hamas terror organization has been launching rockets attacks on the Israeli civilian population across Israel’s towns and cities, seeing Israel’s swift and fierce military response to the attacks.
 
While all these are taking place, economic activity and the path to recovery from Covid is well underway. The exceptionally successful vaccination campaign and roll-out have seen to date around 2/3s of the population have been vaccinated, with the double Pfizer jab and subsequently, the economy going forward, in full swing towards recovery and to pre-Covid numbers and figures.
 
The unemployment rate fell sharply to under 10%, flights and tourism resumed, and many other economic and commercial indicators looks ever more positive (with an example of the signing of a Free Trade Agreement between Israel and S. Korea held yesterday aimed at boosting trade and investment relations with one of Israel’s most important trading and economic cooperation partners in Asia).
 
In the current newsletter, we have chosen to shed light and share more knowledge about Israel’s successful vaccination roll-out, with a status update and prospects for the immediate future.
 
The signing of the Israel-South Korea FTA relies on the desired cooperation in technology and innovation, for which both countries are known. As such, updates and on Electric Vehicles (EV), Virtual Reality (VR) solutions used in physical therapy, the challenges of Cybersecurity threats and the successful participation of Australian medical and healthcare professionals in Israel’s largest MED-Tech event that has taken place online a few weeks ago, is available to read in the current publication.
 
We wish you all a read that interests you. We pray and hope for peace for the people of Israel who are under rocket attacks, and we trust the resilience of the Israeli people to stand up to violence and aggression alongside the continual building of a world-class economy based on technology and entrepreneurial spirit.
 
The team at the Israel Trade Commission,

Rochelle, Jeremy and Shai

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Latest Israeli Business News

Israeli startup Chunk Foods has raised $2M in a pre-seed funding round led by venture fund Stray Dog Capital. The startup uses fermentation technology to produce whole-muscle meat alternatives.

While there now exists a large number of alt-meat producers, the focus tends to be on alternatives to processed meat, such as burgers, meatballs, and nuggets. Making whole cuts of meat is challenging, and few companies have attempted it.

Spotting a gap in the market, Chunk Foods decided to use solid-state fermentation to make beef alternatives containing only natural ingredients. It plans to use the new funding to improve its products and hire new staff.

Investor Stray Dog Capital specialises in alternative protein investments and has previously provided funding to Beyond Meat, Grounded Foods, and Barvecue, among others.

There are a few other companies working to make whole alt-meat cuts possible — Paris-based Umiami has recently unveiled a proprietary texturisation process to create plant-based whole cuts, while US company Meati Foods has made steak from mycelium. Last year, food scientists at the University of Massachusetts received a grant from GFI to make alt-meat products more like whole cuts of conventional meat. However, none of these approaches use fermentation.

“Whole muscle cuts of beef such as sirloin, chuck or ribs have been the Holy Grail for alternative meats as they account for about 60% of the beef market in the USA,” says Amos Golan, founder and CEO of Chunk Foods. “We have overcome the technological limitations of other approaches by naturally creating delicious and realistic products with many of the attributes of meat, while ensuring a clean and short ingredient list using our novel fermentation technology. Stray Dog Capital shares our vision of the future of food and we’re excited to be partnering to make that vision into reality.”

Move comes as U.S. and other countries turn their attention to reopening child-centric businesses. 

TEL AVIV—Israel has extended its Covid-19 vaccine passport system to children who aren’t yet eligible to be inoculated, allowing them to visit cinemas, restaurants and other entertainment businesses as it continues to reopen its economy.

Under the program, children with negative PCR tests will be eligible for a three-day so-called green passport that will be associated with their parents’ passes. The passports take the form of a QR code that can be carried on a smartphone, though their use isn’t always enforced.

Religious-affairs ministry officials had stipulated that only those carrying a green passport could attend a religious festival on Thursday at Mount Meron, where dozens of people were killed in a stampede, but health officials had said it would be impossible to check the status of those attending.

Organizers estimated that some 100,000 people were at the site by midnight.

The country of nine million has led the world’s fastest vaccination program, with nearly 75% of its eligible population fully vaccinated. But given a lack of clinical trial data for children, policy makers haven’t yet extended the campaign to those under 16, meaning about 2.6 million aren’t eligible to be vaccinated.

This has limited the extent to which Israel can reopen its economy without causing further outbreaks. Israel says its solution is a stopgap measure until medical trials demonstrate that children can be safely vaccinated against the virus.

Other countries with high vaccination rates, such as the U.S. and U.K., face similar problems. Herd immunity requires between 70% and 85% of a population being protected, health officials say, and this is impossible in countries like the U.S. and Israel if children aren’t vaccinated. Children under 16 account for 22% of the current U.S. population.

“We haven’t had any outbreaks from green-pass activity over the past eight or nine weeks,” said Tomer Lotan, executive director of Israel’s coronavirus task force. “We are very confident that the green pass is a very effective defense layer on the economic activity in Israel.”

Last month, Israel began offering rapid tests at sites such as hotels and sports stadiums, costing about $10 to $20, which allowed children with negative test results to enter. The expansion will include regular PCR tests that are much more accessible and are free for everybody.

Israeli health officials said they would begin to vaccinate children between the age of 12 and 16 when the vaccine is approved by Israeli and international regulators. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in April that Israel signed new deals to buy millions of vaccines from Moderna Inc. and Pfizer Inc. to begin vaccinating children later this year and launch another vaccine campaign for adults.

So far, many businesses that largely cater to children such as cinemas and amusement parks remain closed. But officials hope the expanded green passports will allow them to reopen next week when additional restrictions are lifted, including the elimination of caps on the number of people frequenting venues using green passports, such as restaurants and stadiums that have been operating at reduced capacity.

Health officials in Israel say it remains an open question as to what role children play in spreading the coronavirus when the adult population is largely vaccinated.

Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer of Israel’s largest healthcare provider, Clalit, said that because the country was the first to introduce the mass vaccination of its adult population, it will be at the forefront of establishing what restrictions can be safely removed without sparking a resurgence of infections.

“We have to try to have a stepwise and gradual approach and are continuously measuring to make sure that we haven’t crossed this invisible threshold that we aren’t sure where it lies,” he said.

Appeared in the May 3, 2021, print edition as ‘Israel Grants Children Access to Vaccine Passes.’

The increased digitization of global commerce and banking globally — with the expansion of cross-border ecommerce and the adoption mobile banking in the past decade — presents a juicy target for organized criminal groups who only need an Internet connection to make easy money.

Financial fraud prevention is a big business, with the market expected grow 20 percent per year to reach $42.6 billion in size by 2023, according to global consultancy KBV Research.

Within this environment, Israel-based or Israeli-founded companies have quietly built a large and growing presence in the anti-fraud market, with at least 35 companies active in the field, ranging from early-stage startups to post-exit companies that have become divisions in larger multinational corporations.

The Israeli hi-tech scene is well known for producing cutting edge solutions across a variety of industries and verticals. Ecommerce fraud is no different. A number of Israeli startups are pushing the envelope on the machine learning and AI techniques required to fight increasingly sophisticated fraud attacks. From phishing attacks to credit card skimming hacks, there is no type of eCommerce fraud problem these companies aren’t trying to solve.

 To date, the 35 Israeli-founded anti-fraud companies have raised over half a billion dollars in venture capital investment and generated $1.5 billion in successful exits, according to data compiled from Crunchbase.

Some examples of Fraud Prevention companies from Israel:

ClickCease: ClickCease is a software company that prevents fraudulent clicks on Google Adwords ads. Click fraud will waste 20% of PPC advertisers’ budgets in 2021. Competitors and bots can click on your ads and waste your advertising budget. ClickCease™ Google Ads click fraud protection software will exclude invalid IPs and block fake clicks. This will boost your campaigns and allow you to acquire more customers.

https://www.clickcease.com/

Riskified: Riskified aims to help the eCommerce industry realize its full potential by making it safe, accessible, and economic. Brands from airlines to luxury fashion houses to gift card marketplaces trust Riskified to increase revenue, manage risk, and enhance their customer experience.

Riskified uses powerful machine-learning algorithms to recognize legitimate customers and keep them moving toward conversion. Using Riskified, merchants can safely approve more orders, expand internationally, and fulfill omnichannel flows while providing a frictionless customer experience.

https://www.riskified.com

BioCatch: BioCatch delivers behavioral biometrics, analyzing human–device interactions in order to protect users and data. Banks and other enterprises use BioCatch to significantly reduce online fraud and protect against a variety of cyberthreats without compromising user experience.

http://www.biocatch.com

Segasec: Segasec is a cybersecurity start-up specializing in helping organizations mitigate the risk of their customers becoming victims of online fraud and phishing scams.

The company’s patent-pending technology provides early intelligence for upcoming phishing scams (scams in preparation mode), running quadrillions of targeted scans that identify even unknown attack patterns. Once these attacks are identified, and before customers are targeted, Segasec’s solution works to confuse and defuse the attackers, taking down and blocking the compromised assets while deceiving the attackers in order to reduce the risk of exposing customers’ personal information.

Segasec’s solution requires zero onboarding and no integration, so companies can start getting protected immediately.

https://www.segasec.com/

Forter: Forter has developed a fully automated fraud-prevention platform that avoids a cumbersome verification process for customers. The company’s triple-layered technology observes models and anomalies in online user behavior, learning from every transaction to distinguish between authenticity and fraud in order to produce an immediate approve/decline decision.

http://www.Forter.com

Identiq: Identiq’s identity-validation solution creates a completely anonymous distributed network that allows members to validate new users and vouch for ones they already know. All of this is done without sharing any customer data or identifiable information.

This approach enables members to make accurate decisions regarding fraud based on a greater number of data points as well as offer a better user experience to their customers. It also provides strong proof of identity by connecting multiple assets such as email, phone number, address, IP address, and funding source at the time of onboarding, first payment, or after indications of account takeover.

https://www.identiq.com/

For further information on fraud prevention technologies from Israel, contact the FinTech Manager.

Global car sales experienced an unprecedented drop. Despite gradual recovery over the course of the year, early market data suggests that global car sales contracted in 2020 by an estimated 14% year-on-year, mirroring closely the drop in global car sales in 2020 was significantly larger comparatively.

Ford said during his keynote speech. “It sparks innovation.” The automotive ecosystem in Israel, he added, is “amazing.” You didn’t need to hear Ford to understand that Israel has become a world leader in everything from the sensors and cameras that power self-driving cars to the software that will find an open parking spot in a lot or on the street (no small feat in a perennially parked-up city like Tel Aviv).

A technological breakthrough is needed, and many Israel companies are working on ways to make charging faster and travel range longer. Electric vehicles can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, at least in theory. A small Israeli start-up called Electreon has another idea: electrify the roads to recharge vehicles as they are driven.

Electric cars, which are a major part of global attempts to tackle the climate crisis, have faced the challenge of batteries taking hours to fully charge, giving rise to “range anxiety” — the fear of a battery running out mid-journey and the driver getting stranded at a charging station. But now, provided that charging stations undergo a major upgrade, which could take years, charging an electric car could become as quick as stopping to refuel a gas-run vehicle.

ISRAEL- From flat battery to full charge in just five minutes — an Israeli start-up has developed technology it says could eliminate the “range anxiety” associated with electric cars. Ultra-fast recharge specialists StoreDot have developed a first-generation lithium-ion battery that can rival the filling time of a standard car at the pump.  They are changing the entire experience of the driver, the problem of ‘range anxiety’ that may get stuck on the highway without energy,”

Phinergy, company’s main focus is on the development of aluminum-air and zinc-air batteries, they claim to have successfully integrated aluminum-air battery system into an electric vehicle resulting in more than three times the driving range of current EVs.

Driivz, offers a cloud-based software platform for operations management, grid management, user management, public and workplace charging management including billing services. They offer the product to the public charging infrastructure managers.

Aquarius Engines is an Israeli startup focused on developing engines for application in hybrid and electric vehicles. The company has developed a patented engine which has only one moving part, the engine only has a single piston that moves from side to side instead of up and down. The generator charges a battery located beneath the car floor under the back seat.

Chakratec has develops a highly efficient energy storage system based on flywheel technology which gives a low cost per charge/discharge cycle. The company offers storage systems ranging from 5 kWh to high end 1 MWh systems for small to medium size applications.

Addionics is a provider of 3D architecture rechargeable batteries. Has developed a 3D architecture for batteries for reducing the internal resistance of the batteries. Claims to reduce the charging time by half and increase in the range at high speeds. Develops this technology for electric vehicle batteries.

IRP Systems has developed a patented software defined electric motor/actuator for unmanned systems which provides a high level of SWAP (Size Weight and Power) ratio. Their solution, named Hummingbird, consists of a patented intelligent control algorithm coupled with an electric motor design which helps in achieving the high-power efficiency metrics.  The motion system is sufficiently versatile and can be implemented in any system with an electric motion requirement. It is intended to be used in drones, electric vehicles, unmanned ground vehicles or as robot actuators.

UrbanAero, an aviation technology company that develops ducted-fan based aircraft (that it calls Fancraft), for multiple uses. The current focus of UrbanAero is on developing a VTOL unmanned aerial vehicle called the AirMule and its export variant, the Cormorant.

ElectReon, developing electric wireless charging of e-vehicles. The technology uses dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) system which will be laid under public roads. The vehicles are retrofitted with a receiver under the chassis.

ETV Energy,  an Israeli startup focused on developing lithium-ion batteries for the electric vehicle market. The company’s technology is based on High Voltage Nickel-Manganese-Oxide (Spinel) cathode material. The Spinel oxides possess high cell voltage and the company is working on developing a commercially viable product using these oxides.

While use of the gaming technology for improving physical ailments is still in the early stages, it shows promise — and it’s fun.

This article is part of our new series on the Future of Health Care, which examines changes in the medical field.

Four years ago, Michael Heinrich was riding his motorcycle on the University of Michigan campus when a rotted tree fell on him and snapped his neck, causing him to permanently lose use of the lower half of his body. He spent weeks in intensive care and then went to inpatient rehabilitation for more than two months,

About halfway through his rehab stint, his occupational therapist, Michael Blackstock, asked whether he was interested in trying virtual reality for his therapy. Mr. Heinrich, now 26 — who is returning for his master’s at the university — was game.

“What I really enjoyed was being an eagle trying to go through rings,” he said, describing a virtual reality experience. “From an emotional standpoint, coming off an injury where I lost the majority of the use of my body, V.R. pushed the boundaries of what I thought was possible.”

Virtual reality, long used for gaming, has, over the past several years, moved into the health field for such things as pain management and relieving post-traumatic stress disorder.

And now researchers and therapists say it has shown great promise for physical and occupational therapy.

“I’ve been through P.T. for various injuries, and you know, sometimes I get home and I’m sort of like, well, I forget exactly what I was supposed to do,” said Brennan M. Spiegel, a professor of medicine and public health and director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. “How am I supposed to set up my body for this? And also, do I have the motivation to do it right now? And V.R. can help both of those, both by reproducing precisely what that physical movement is supposed to be and hopefully providing some additional motivation to do the exercise.”

Using virtual reality for rehabilitation was growing before the coronavirus pandemic for a variety of reasons, including rapid advances in hardware and software technology and a younger generation of practitioners more comfortable using such technology. But the greater acceptance of telehealth during the pandemic has further spurred its use.

For one thing, it’s simply a lot more fun than traditional rehabilitation exercises. And “V.R. has this uncanny ability to kind of nudge the human brain in ways that other audiovisual media cannot,” said Dr. Spiegel, who is one of the foremost experts on the use of virtual reality in health. “The bottom line is it motivates us to do things that we might not be able to do.”

That’s what Pamela Pleasants, 59, found when she started doing virtual reality therapy for an injured shoulder. An associate dean at an independent school outside Boston, she learned that she was eligible to get virtual physical therapy, which she did through a company, XRHealth.

She did an intake over a video call with a physical therapist provided by the company, and then the V.R. headset arrived in the mail. Based on the intake, the therapist decided what applications — out of eight currently offered by the company — that Ms. Pleasants would use, as well as for how long and how frequently, and then trained her how to use them.

The therapist could also adjust all the settings within a program. For example, when Ms. Pleasants found the range of motion in one application caused her too much pain, the therapist adjusted it lower. The patient can change programs either using a controller or by eye gaze.

She loved the different programs, especially Balloon Blast, Ms. Pleasants said, which consisted of popping balloons with a virtual sword in each hand. “In the background was how high my range of motion should be.”

Ms. Pleasants also found the programs geared to reduce stress, such as a guided meditation while walking through a forest, very useful for her shoulder and mental health. She continued meeting her physical therapist on video calls semiweekly.

“After four months, my shoulder felt tremendously better,” she said.

XRHealth is one of the few companies focused on providing V.R. physical and occupational therapy at home; based in Boston, it is covered by many insurance programs in Massachusetts and nationally by Medicare. The company is working to get more insurance companies to cover its services. Without insurance, people can pay $179 monthly for the headsets and two physical or occupational therapy appointments monthly from a panel of therapists the company provides.

The company has all of its programs registered with the F.D.A., said Eran Orr, founder and chief executive.

Not all the programs offered for V.R. rehab are games; some clinics allow a patient to virtually practice real-life skills they may have trouble doing, such as grocery shopping or dishwashing.

To really push the use of virtual reality for physical and occupational therapy, “we’ll need to build a body of evidence that shows it’s effective, how we pay for it and how we can develop it in a way that’s easy to use,” said Matthew Stoudt, chief executive and a founder of AppliedVR, which supplies therapeutic virtual reality. “We have to be able to demonstrate that we can bring down the cost of care, not just add to the cost paradigm.”

While research specifically on V.R. use in physical and occupational therapy is in the early stages, an analysis of 27 studies, conducted by Matt C. Howard, an assistant professor of marketing and quantitative methods at the University of South Alabama, found that V.R. therapy is, in general, more effective than traditional programs.

“Does it mean V.R. is better for everything? Of course not,” he said in an interview. “And there’s a lot we still don’t know about V.R. rehab.”

Much of the research uses small samples with varying degrees of rigor, and more needs to be studied about how a patient’s activity in the virtual world translates into improved performance in the physical world, said Danielle Levac, an assistant professor in the department of physical therapy, movement and rehabilitation sciences at Northeastern University. Professor Levac researches the rational for using virtual reality systems in pediatric rehabilitation; many of the children she works with have cerebral palsy.

“We have to consider the downside of a lack of one-on-one contact with therapists,” she said. “I view V.R. as a tool that has a lot of potential, but we should keep in mind it should fit in — and not replace — an overall program of care.”

Robert Ferguson, a neurorehabilitation and therapeutic technology clinical specialist at Michigan Medicine, which is part of the University of Michigan, has treated numerous patients over the past four years doing in-hospital V.R. occupational therapy.

In fact, his first patient to use virtual reality was Mr. Heinrich, who made him realize the potential of V.R. to get patients to move in a way they — and their therapists — didn’t think they could. But, he said, clinicians must be well- trained on how to use the technology in the most helpful and effective way.

For example, he said, cardiac patients need to be closely monitored because people tend to work harder and longer on V.R. than in traditional therapy with a decreased awareness of pain, which could be dangerous for such patients.

One of the great benefits of V.R. therapy is that it can provide a stream of specific data to the clinician and patient on how often and how well the patient accomplished each exercise and where adjustments are needed.

And technology keeps pushing that boundary; a new headset by Oculus allows more degrees of freedom to interact with a virtual environment, and one just released by HP can track heart rate, pupil dilation and sweat.

Such tracking matters, because a doctor or technician can adjust the amount of exertion delivered to a patient.

While older people — who are more likely to suffer from strokes, Parkinson’s or simply falls, that will require physical or occupational therapy — may seem less able or more hesitant to use such technology, Mr. Ferguson and others say that typically isn’t the case.

“We’ve treated people from 18 years old up to 90,” he added. And in fact, V.R. therapy has been shown it can be particularly helpful for those with Parkinson’s and other central nervous system disorders.

And he has repeatedly found that people have unknowingly done things while using virtual reality that they didn’t think they could. He remembers a patient in his 50s whose leg had been amputated. He couldn’t balance when trying to do seemingly simple movements, such as pulling up his pants.

The man was a hunter, and Mr. Ferguson suggested he try a virtual reality program involving bow hunting. As part of the program, the patient was standing on one leg “and changing his center of gravity all over,” something he had not been able to do in regular therapy.

“When we showed him the video, he said, ‘I can’t do that,’ Mr. Ferguson recalled. “We said, ‘you just did.’”

The 6th Biennial MEDinISRAEL Conference and Exhibition, Israel’s leading medical device and digital health event will be held virtually on April 20-21, 2021. The event will feature Israel’s leading medical device and digital health companies and host healthcare community members and experts from around the globe. The conference will address the issues of the digital future of healthcare, global opportunities in healthcare, the shift in point of care- hospital at home & telemedicine, private sector investments in the future of digital health, harnessing AI and data, the consumerization of health care and many more. The much-anticipated MEDinISRAEL 2021 will host key decision-makers and executives who generate thousands of business interactions with the global healthcare community, notable experts, leading hospitals, distributors, investors, and corporate members.

COVID-19 has created a tremendous challenge for the medical industry, and innovation is the key factor in meeting those challenges. The Israeli medical landscape represents a broad spectrum of companies that offer various medical products and technologies, making Israel an important global medical innovation hub. MEDinISRAEL will showcase innovative breakthroughs and new medical technologies through a Virtual Exhibition of 85 state-of-the-art Israeli medical device and digital health companies. Through and with the help of economic attachés of the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy, the Israeli companies will participate in hundreds of pre qualified one on one meetings  with senior decision makers in leading companies, e.g. Philips, TEVA, INSIGHTEC, EarlySense, TytoCare, Bioview and many more.

The event will include the OpenMED Innovation Competition by Sanara Ventures, a pitch contest celebrating visionary achievements from the very best Israeli innovators focusing on digital health, bio-convergence, and medical device technologies. And a variety of panels with world-class speakers who will discuss the latest topics in the industry and trends in the post-pandemic era and share their best practices in health and care delivery to build healthier societies

MEDinISRAEL’s speakers will include:

Frans van Houten | Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Philips, The Nederland
Dr. John D. Halamka | M.D., M.S., President, Mayo Clinic Platform, NY, USA
Harold F. Wolf | President and CEO, HIMSS, USA
Michael J. Dowling | President and CEO, Northwell Health, NY, USA
Prof. Ran D Balicer, MD, Ph.D., MPH|Founding Director, Clalit Research Institute, Chief Innovation Officer, Director of Innovation Division, Clalit Health Services, Israel
Prof. Arnon Afek | Associate Director-General, Acting Director of Sheba General Hospital and the Chairman of the Department of Medical Administration at Sheba Medical Center, Israel

Ohad Cohen, head of the Foreign Trade Administration – Ministry of Economy & Industry: “Israel has been blessed with a prospering and diverse healthcare ecosystem with more than 1600 life science companies. The healthcare ecosystem is driven by Israeli entrepreneurship spirit, ongoing collaborations between academic institutes and the healthcare industry, governmental support tools, and one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world. These factors, alongside with 25 years of expertise in implementing Health IT, electronic medical records, and Big Data Analytics have made Israel a center of attraction to the world’s leading companies and investors. MEDinISRAEL provides an opportunity to explore business opportunities and be informed about the current trends from healthcare experts from around the world, as we showcase Israeli models of advanced technologies, research and innovation.”

Adiv Baruch, Chairman, Israel export institute: “We are proud and excited to host the world’s leading healthcare and business community members on our virtual event. In the course of two inspiring days, we will take a firsthand look at outstanding achievements, understand potential breakthroughs, witness productive collaborations, and explore the most innovative and state-of-the-art healthcare technologies coming from Israel. Especially nowadays, when a COVID-19 is challenging us all to create better and more efficient solutions, It is essential to keep pushing innovative minds into creating new health technologies. Israel is a major global player in the fight against the corona virus, and the Israeli companies are leading the changes in the HealthTech field, structuring the digital acceleration. we anticipate thousands of visitors from around the world to join us, be part of this event, and create new business interactions which will lead to real business opportunities in the near future. MEDinISRAEL, alongside additional activities generated by IEI, continues to be the main on-the-ground platform for doing business with Israel’s medical device & digital health industry”.

MEDinISRAEL is initiated and produced by the Israeli Export Institute, in cooperation with the Foreign Trade Administration at the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Healthcare Israel. MEDinISRAEL is partnering with a number of distinguished anchor of the Israeli Healthcare system and Digital Health Industry including, PHILIPS, Sanara Ventures, the Israel Innovation Authority Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), Ramban Healthcare Campus, The Chaim Sheba Medical Center ,Clalit  Healthcare Services, Maccabi Healthcare Services, Merage Institute, and Life Science Nation (LSN).

Quantum Computing is currently one of the most sought after technologies across the world. Israel being one of the most technologically advanced nations, has much to offer in this front.

Earlier this year it was announced that Israel is to invest about $60 Million in order to build its first Super computer. This project is a part of Israel’s $380 Million national initiative to develop quantum expertise. In order to facilitate this, the Government of Israel has formed the Israel National Quantum Initiative (INQI) that is a joint venture between the Council for Higher Education, the Israel Innovation Authority, the Ministry of Science, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance.

According to INQI, Quantum science and technology (QST) is a paradigm-shift and hence there is a need to build and develop the community and capabilities in a wide-spread, long-term approach. They also affirm that activity in Israel is booming in Quantum Computing, and already there is a 30-40% increase in academic activity, and a jump from a small number of industries to several dozen industries, from small to large.

The Israel Innovation Authority under it’s the MAGNET project , has created a consortium that includes members from the industry and academia. The consortium is named The Quantum Technologies Development Consortium. In their own words, the research is aimed at gaining improved technologies by cooperation between the researchers, which will boost the industry towards improved quantum sensors, namely, atomic clocks, quantum magnetometers and quantum gravimeters.

Besides this consortium that has mainly established companies as its members, Israel boasts of several Start Ups that are doing some ground breaking work in this sector. Following are some examples:

Quantum Machines is the creator of complete hardware and software solution for the control and operation of quantum computers. The company’s Quantum Orchestration Platform (QOP) aims to facilitate current quantum research and development and enable future quantum breakthroughs. At the solution’s core is the OPX, the hardware portion of the QOP, which comprises multiple waveform generators, digitizers, and processing units, all integrated on a single FPGA with unique and scalable architecture. The OPX is designed to be easily programmed using QUA, a standard universal language for quantum computing. QUA allows researchers to intuitively program complex quantum programs that are tightly integrated with classical processing and real-time decision-making. The language addresses all of the requirements of an anticipated quantum computing software abstraction layer.

QuantumLeap is a startup specializing in quantum-as-a-service (QaaS) solutions. The company’s mission is to build simulators, algorithms, and a full-stack QaaS system based on deep knowledge in physics, math, computer science, and material engineering in order to solve global challenges in healthcare, chemistry, finance, logistics, the search for new materials, and other domains.

QuantLR provides a solution designed for organizations interested in communicating highly sensitive data between two points, as well as for telecommunication providers (5G in particular) seeking to provide ultimately secured communication lines for a significant competitive advantage. Initial adopters of the company’s technology will include financial institutions, government and defense organizations, and infrastructure facilities (for authentication purposes). QuantLR’s ultimate goal is to enable worldwide mass deployment of quantum key distribution.

LightSolver is planning to build an optical solver to find solutions for complicated computational problems. The company is developing an all-optical, quantum-inspired device that will use the natural properties of light such as deep connectivity and massive parallelism to find the optimal solution. This device, based on a coupled lasers array, will be desktop sized, operate at room temperature, and have low power consumption.

Classiq tackles complex challenges in quantum computing development, bridging the gap between complex quantum logic. The company builds a new layer of the quantum software stack, increasing the level of abstraction and allowing developers to implement their ideas and concepts without the need to design the specific gate-level quantum circuit.

AccuBeat Ltd is a leading manufacturer of frequency and timing solutions for aerospace, defense, telecommunications, and research applications. The company’s patented rubidium atomic clock and its OCXO technology with optional GPS disciplining provide frequency accuracy in the range of 10 to the -12th power, frequency stability in the range of 10 to the -13th power, and time accuracy in the range of nanoseconds. AccuBeat’s products are designed for commercial applications as well as for military use, including communication networks, cellular base stations, computer networks, calibration laboratories, test equipment, military communication systems, command and control systems, telemetry appliances, mobile radios, and more. Accubeat is a subsidiary of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

Nitromia is a privacy solution that bridges and enables quantum-safe transactions on virtually any platform (on private or public networks) in order to provide complete privacy for any type of data. The Nitromia Dynamic Privacy Suite allows transactions and agreements to be recorded and managed quickly and accurately in a secure, reliable, private, and legally compliant manner directly on the public blockchain. The algorithm essentially camouflages data in public and private databases and allows users to complete transactions on the blockchain that are fundamentally invisible to threats.

Random Quantum provides a random-number-as-a-service solution using quantum information processing as its underlying technology. This solution would be suitable for many industries such as casinos and gaming, surveys, cryptography, online messaging platforms, and financial institutions.

The Australian government has fallen behind on its Covid-19 vaccination rollout timeline only a little more than two weeks into the nationwide program. According to Australia’s Chief Medical Officer the overall timeline objectives remain and is designed to enable every Australian adult who is seeking the jab, get vaccinated by the end of October.

Comparatively, Israel has right from the beginning of 2021 been leading the global rollout race, having vaccinated over half of its population (including its non citizens ranging from foreign workers to diplomats) with close to five million people having received two doses as required by Pfizer’s guidelines.

Israel’s population of 9.053 million has reported 829K cases and 6,257 deaths due to Covid-19. Comparatively, Australia’s population of 25.36 million has reported 29K cases and 909 deaths due to Covid.

Suffice to say, the effects of Covid has hit Israel harder than Australia and resulted in three nationwide hard lockdowns in Israel, which took a significant toll on the economy and the country’s social fabrics. Despite that, the ‘startup nation’ has recovered much more rapidly than Australia, largely due to an immensely effective nationwide vaccination rollout campaign, championed as being the most vaccinated population in the world. ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ and Israel has proven again to be her innovative child.

Reflecting back to a year ago when the pandemic hit, Israel manufactured millions of Covid-19 testing swabs in a short period of time, developed AI software that enabled easy communication with patients, and a nationwide software to track and quickly update the probability of community transmission and infections in specific demographics, communities and locations.

The outbreak of the pandemic in Israel posed several challenges. Firstly, the shortage of medical products needed for Covid-19 test kits (including swabs). These swabs were not produced in Israel and the immense global demand for them in such a short period made them an incredibly scarce and valued commodity.

Secondly, the virus’ massive interference to normal supply chain of materials that were only manufactured abroad, but used in Israeli factories, posed a significant threat to the production of essential goods (pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, baby formula, etc.). The cessation of imports created a nationwide shortage of necessary items which posed a further unwanted challenge for Israel to overcome.  

In this time of crisis, the Israeli Innovation Authority, which serves as the country’s leading government entity that supports research & development through technology and innovation, was quick to create and offer new programs and schemes for entrepreneurs. Supported by, financial vehicles to companies and start-ups, inviting them to join the national effort aimed at providing necessary solutions to deal with, and fight, the spread of the pandemic, and manage its medical, social and economic implications.
The Director of Strategy in the Innovation Authority’s Advanced Manufacturing Division, Ronit Eshel, explained their approach in transforming these challenges into opportunities:

“The State of Israel needed local production of medical products and basic consumer products. Companies that succeed in manufacturing the required products in a short period of time will fill their production capacity and safely navigate the crisis. We, therefore, published calls for proposals to companies to turn the crisis into opportunity and initiated contact with large numbers of industrialists. We were happy to find a positive and quick response to our call to advance technological developments that meet today’s pressing needs. Within just one month, 75 factories submitted requests to develop a product or a process that will help cope with the crisis.”

Australia and Israel both have universal health care systems and advanced digital health records for each of their citizens. The combination of these factors, as well as their comparatively small population sizes, makes both nations fertile grounds for collecting responsive data on the vaccine’s performance, including tracking the effects of herd immunity and effectiveness on new variants. Pfizer realised this advantage and entered into an agreement with Israel for access to anonymized data on vaccine recipients. Despite the breadth of similarities, Israel has been able to implement an effective vaccine roll out at a rate that Australia is currently unable to mimic.
 

Industry 4.0, a term that describes the ongoing automation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practices, promises to enhance stability and performance of industrial operations. Using technologies such as IoT, imaging, and sensors, businesses will be able to capture and process data from industrial assets, generating previously unavailable insights on how the machines are utilized.

Israel, as an innovative ecosystem with strong ties and deep understanding of technological gaps in this space, has become a major IIoT player. In fact, Israel ranks third in industry 4.0 venture investments and second in early-stage investments according to Israel21c.

According to Startup Nation Central, there are 23 R&D centers, 11 hubs, and 8 accelerators supporting innovation within this space. The government has also earmarked more than $100 million to support IoT implementation in the local manufacturing industry.

Industry 4.0 can be divided into multi subsectors; Startup Nation Central categorize the industry into Operations Optimization, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Inspection, Cybersecurity, IoT Platforms, Sensing and Imaging, Robotics, and 3D Printing.

Some interesting companies within this space include:

RobotAI – RobotAI develops AI-based software that transforms cameras into 3D measurement devices. It detects objects and extracts their position and orientation from a single image. Objects’ 3D positions allow robots to understand their environment and adapt to it. RobotAI enables multiple applications in industrial settings. The company’s customers use this technology for sensing and measurement, pick-and-place tasks, bin picking, indoor navigation, and augmented and virtual reality.

Trieye – TriEye is a fabless semiconductor company that develops technology to improve the safety of advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles in adverse weather and low-visibility conditions. The company’s semiconductor design uses patent-pending technology to enable the production of shortwave infrared (SWIR) cameras at a fraction of their current cost. Its semiconductor technology is based on nanophotonics research that enables CMOS-based SWIR sensors.

Kitov – KITOV Systems develops a universal solution designed to identify defects in 3D geometry using advanced machine vision, artificial intelligence, and deep-learning technologies. The company aims to reduce manufacturing costs, eliminate inefficiencies, and improve yield without the need for any experience in programming, machine-vision technology, or automation.

FeelIT – Feelit is the developer of RetroFeel, an IoT platform for the real-time remote sensing of structural changes in mechanical assets, using nanomaterial printing technology. RetroFeel consists of flexible, non-invasive nanomaterial sticker sensors that easily attach to any equipment, together with wireless communication units and AI-driven cloud analytics. The system serves as an “electronic skin” that alerts on critical structural and operational anomalies in advance, prevents downtime, and radically cuts maintenance costs. By instantly pinpointing anomalies in strain, temperature, humidity, and vibration, RetroFeel offers real-time remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. The system is non-invasive and easy to deploy, requiring no downtime for installation and providing instant results.

Vayyar – Vayyar is a global leader in 4D radar imaging technology, providing affordable, highly advanced sensors to a wide variety of industries. With applications in the automotive, smart home, robotics, retail, RF testing, consumer electronics and medical sectors, Vayyar’s intelligent sensors can see through walls and objects, tracking movement in real time in all environmental conditions. Its state-of-the-art Radar-on-Chip covers imaging and radar bands from 3-81 GHz, with up to 72 transceivers on each chip and an integrated high-performance DSP delivering unprecedented levels of accuracy and generating high-resolution 4D point cloud imaging.

3DSignals – 3d Signals has developed a solution designed to accelerate manufacturers’ digital transition into the Industry 4.0 era. Its solution enables immediate visibility into production floors through the quick, non-invasive, machine-agnostic deployment of a wide range of sensors. The company’s AI-based asset-performance-monitoring platform transforms data into powerful insights, providing multiple business intelligence and analysis tools in the cloud. The solution has been proven to significantly improve machine productivity and overall equipment effectiveness within three months of installation.

Hoopo – hoopo is a provider of low-power, wide-area (LPWA) monitoring and tracking solutions. Its proprietary technology enables end-to-end tracking both outdoors and indoors, while maintaining low ownership costs and extremely high power-efficiency levels. hoopo’s geolocation solution allows devices to transmit messages across long distances using batteries that can last for years. hoopo’s trackers transform assets into a smart, manageable system and allow informed decision-making based on real-time data. The company’s solution also enables geo alerts based on predefined rules; fast recovery of temperature-controlled goods; motion and events-based analytics; and loss prevention.

BionicHive – BionicHIVE is developing an automated warehouse solution based on a fleet of synchronized autonomous robots that can be retrofitted onto existing warehouse infrastructure. The solution consists of multiple autonomous robots with 3D movement capabilities that extend the picking face from floor to ceiling. A real-time algorithmic engine is designed to dynamically change fleet management, providing the flexibility to constantly shift operational needs, a high level of response to volatility, and seamless scalability achieved by adding more robots to the same infrastructure.

CoreTigo – CoreTigo provides high-performance IO-Link wireless communication solutions for machine builders, system integrators, and industrial equipment manufacturers. CoreTigo’s products enable the design and retrofit of machines and production lines that were not possible before. These solutions increase flexibility, adaptivity, and modularity, resulting in cost effectiveness, increased productivity, and downtime reduction. Embraced by industrial leaders, the IO-Link Wireless global standard, fit for harsh factory environments and motion control applications, provides cable-grade connectivity for millions of sensors,

Wiliot – Wiliot is a fabless semiconductor company providing passive SoC platforms for the IoT market. The company is developing a wireless technology designed to eliminate reliance on batteries and wired power in order to vastly accelerate the internet of things. The new technology powers itself by harvesting energy from radio waves, and aims to enable everything to be intelligent.

The Israel Innovation Authority, the Israel Ministry of Transport (through Ayalon Highways Co.), The Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI) and The Smart Mobility Initiative at The Israel Prime Minister’s Office are delighted to present a first-of-its-kind pilot: The State of Israel has achieved significant progress over the last year in shaping the future of mobility, introducing a national drone network that will primarily enable cargo transportation in urban areas through smart and innovative airspace management. During this first-of-its-kind pilot, a large number of drones operated by several companies will fly over the city of Hadera. Those sorties will be managed by one centralized, autonomous Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) located in the traffic and air traffic control centers of the Ayalon Highway Company in the central Haifa Bay.

The drones flying in the demonstration will perform about 300 sorties a day. Each drone will be simulating the execution of various types of tasks and operations: food delivery, transporting medicine and medical equipment, agricultural services and many others.

The flights are being carried out by five different companies (listed below). About 20 drones are expected to fly simultaneously, and hundreds of others are scheduled to fly in various demonstrations over a two-week period. This is the first such demonstration in Israel out of a series of eight planned to take place over the next two years. This is a significant global breakthrough in the ability to manage drone operations at scale, which will lay the foundation for future national drone operations in many areas. To support the current phase of the pilot, the participating companies have been granted funds by the Israel Innovation Authority, as part of the Innovation Authority Piloting Fund Program.

Since March 2020, the Israel C4IR Center at the Israel Innovation Authority, in cooperation with the Israel Ministry of Transport (through the Ayalon Highways Company) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel, and a number of other entities, have been working to promote the use of drone delivery as a service, as part of the NAAMA Initiative (a Hebrew acronym for Urban Aerial Transport). The project was established to enable drones to be deployed for the public good, ultimately reducing congestion on public roads, transporting medicine and medical equipment and performing medical tasks, delivering various commercial goods more quickly, and enabling Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to function at scale in the future. During this time, the NAAMA Initiative involved many local, international, public, and private stakeholders to enable technological breakthroughs while removing regulatory barriers and enabling Israel to become a “beta-site” for drone piloting and operations.

Itamar Ben Meir, CEO of Ayalon HIGHWAYS: “A smart traffic management and air traffic control center that manages and prioritizes a number of drones flying simultaneously in one geographic airspace is a remarkable achievement, setting the stage for the future of mobility applications, a field in which Ayalon Highways is primed to play a leading role. This demonstration is part of a long list of technological and regulatory developments required for the commercial operation of a national low-altitude air traffic network for drones in urban settings.”

Dr. Ami Appelbaum, Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority: “One of the Israel Innovation Authority’s most important goals is to harness Israeli technology and innovation in a way that will make a positive impact on the Israeli population. Until a year ago, when the NAAMA Initiative was established, transporting cargo and delivering medical equipment by drones would have seemed like a distant dream; today, it is becoming a reality. Demonstrations of simultaneous flights of dozens of drones over Hadera, managed by the control center in Haifa, are an unprecedented leap forward for the State of Israel – a monumental step towards a future of smart transportation, in which Israel is becoming one of the first countries worldwide to enable aerial cargo transport via drones.”

To view and download video footage from the pilot, please click the link here (credit: YOKO Studio).


The following companies are participating in the demonstration (more information upon request):

High-Lander Aviation Ltd. and Cando – As part of the pilot for an air traffic control system which autonomously manages drone fleets, the companies will demonstrate capabilities for managing a crowded urban airspace with various operations while responding to unexpected circumstances. Their unique application can be utilized with all current drone solutions in the market and allows operators to control a large number of drones at once and conduct live broadcasts of the drones’ communication and video signals, maps, and planned routes. 
HarTek Technologies Ltd. – The company will demonstrate the operation of an advanced system for managing autonomous drones in a controlled airspace. It allows the autonomous execution of multi-drone missions, maintaining safe operations according to safety regulations, while taking into account other aircraft operated outside the system.
F. T Technologies Ltd. and Skylinx Technologies Ltd. – The companies will demonstrate their experience in flying multiple drones in a shared airspace under one centralized air traffic control system. Skylinx develops autonomous airports for smart cities that will enable various drones to operate commercially, efficiently, and safely. Skylinx, together with Airwayz and Flytech IL, established the “SAFE GROUP,” a partnership tasked with developing Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) applications that can operate urban delivery routes commercially, and will start piloting in Tel Aviv together with various companies and vendors that have already agreed on future cooperation.
Simplex Interactive Ltd. – Simplex Interactive has experience flying multiple drones in shared airspace. The pilot will demonstrate technologies developed by the company. The company will test its OpenUTM.io, enabling automatic synchronization, control, and coordination of an autonomous airspace (UTM) between dozens of manned and unmanned aircraft.
Airwayz Drones Ltd. –The company will demonstrate a solution for a unified and autonomous UTM system used to fly multiple drones in a synchronized managed airspace with several companies simultaneously. With Artificial Intelligence-integrated applications and Machine Learning, the system allows autonomous and safe airspace management and coordinates between the various drone companies. Airwayz’s central management system uses advanced algorithms to streamline flights and carry out tasks such as deliveries in urban airspace.

About the NAAMA Initiative:

In early 2020, a government steering committee was established to support and promote a national drone network operation under the name “the NAAMA Initiative” (a Hebrew acronym for urban aerial transport). The project is supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI), the Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of Israel (C4IR Israel) under the World Economic Forum, the Israel Innovation Authority, the Ayalon Highways Co., and the Fuel Choices and Smart Mobility Initiative in the Israel Prime Minister’s Office. The project is the result of the realization that promoting drone operations in Israel requires the creation of a suitable regulatory environment via ongoing dialogue between the initiative’s partners, regulatory bodies (CAAI) and industry. The initiative promotes the establishment of a national aerial network and the legislative framework required to operate drones for commercial use. During the past year, over 700 sorties were performed – mostly to support the health system in dealing with challenges exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

An oral vaccine could potentially allow for people to self vaccinate at home.

https://www.jpost.com/health-science/israeli-company-says-oral-covid-19-vaccine-on-its-way-662712

An Israeli-American pharmaceutical company is preparing to launch a Phase I clinical trial for what could become the world’s first oral COVID-19 vaccine.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based on technology developed by Hadassah-University Medical Center, announced over the weekend a joint venture with India-based Premas Biotech to develop a novel oral vaccine. Together they formed the company Oravax Medical Inc. The vaccine is based on Oramed’s “POD” oral delivery technology and Premas’s vaccine technology.

Oramed’s technology can be used to orally administer a number of protein-based therapies, which would otherwise be delivered by injection. Oramed is in the midst of a Phase III clinical trial through the US Food and Drug Administration of an oral insulin capsule for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Premas has been working on developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus since March.

The companies connected earlier this year and quickly realized they could revolutionize the marketplace, according to Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron.

“An oral COVID-19 vaccine would eliminate several barriers to rapid, wide-scale distribution, potentially enabling people to take the vaccine themselves at home,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “While ease of administration is critical today to accelerate inoculation rates, an oral vaccine could become even more valuable in the case that a COVID-19 vaccine may be recommended annually like the standard flu shot.”

The company completed a pilot animal study and found that the vaccine promoted the development of Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies and Immunoglobulin A (IgA). IgA is necessary for longer-term immunity.The new Oravax vaccine candidate targets three structural proteins of the novel coronavirus, as opposed to the single spike protein targeted via the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, Kidron said. As such, “this vaccine should be much more resistant to COVID-19 variants,” he said

In addition, it is a yeast-based vaccine, making the time and cost of production much cheaper than its already approved competitors.

The advantages of an oral vaccine go beyond safety and efficacy, Kidron said. Oral medications tend to have fewer side effects.

In addition, the vaccine can be shipped at refrigerator temperatures and even stored at room temperature, “making it logistically easier to get it anywhere around the world,” Kidron said.

Finally, an oral vaccine would not require professional administration.

Oravax anticipates commencing a clinical study during the second quarter of 2021. It is applying for trials in multiple countries, including the United States, Israel, Europe and Mexico, Kidron said. It hopes to also target Africa, where such an oral vaccine could prove essential. Kidron said he expects Phase I human trial data to be available within three months.

In February 2020, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, another Israeli team began development on what they hoped would be an oral coronavirus vaccine. Scientists from the Galilee Research Institute’s biotechnology group said they were primed to develop their vaccine within a few months.

They had been developing a vaccine against avian coronavirus, which had been proven effective in preclinical trials, and they believed it would translate to a human vaccine. Despite a commitment by the Science and Technology Ministry to fast-track approval of the vaccine and a $12 million investment by OurCrowd, the vaccine has yet to come to market.

Why is cyber important? To understanding this, one must understand who uses cyber and for what purpose. In short, everyone with a computer, including people and cars, use Cyber. What is cyber? Cyber is simply a prefix taken from Greek to describe a person, thing, or idea as part of the computer and information age. Cyber is used before terms like security to denote an umbrella defence mechanism. Cyber is not necessarily a tangible thing for your enterprise to be cyber secure, and you cannot feel the presence until something is caught or goes wrong. Cyber is beneficial to enterprises if they use computing to generate income as their income generated can be diminished or compromised if the enterprise is not cyber aware.

Israel champions cyber. Many believe the cyber and high-tech industry grew through the Israeli Military Unit 8200 – the force responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption. Graduates of this unit are equipped with cyber expertise and go out into the world to bring military technology for civilian use. Our roles at the Israel Trade Commissions around the world is to connect local enterprises with Israeli best-of-breed innovations, including in cyber realms. So, what is out there?

Do you have employees logging in remotely and not through a secure server with firewalls? Cyber login protection company Safe-T trusts no-one when logging in, so you have piece-of-mind that only your employees are accessing your valuable files. Are your customers logging in to your system with their smart devices? Cyber ID company Transmit Security utilises biometrics coupled with your access site to ensure the person logging in is who they say they are and is authorised personnel or a guest invited. Are you unsure if your website and online data are secured from hackers? Cyber penetration company Pcysys ethically hacks your enterprise to detect network vulnerabilities and gives you a mindful report. Now, what if you wanted to defend your organisation against potential threats? Cyber defence company Intezer monitors real-time attempts at cyber espionage.

Though it’s not all about defence, the cyber education company HackerU educates offensive cyber, converting the next generation of students into professionals – “a good defence needs strong” regenerative offence mindset and capabilities. Lifesaving cyber is not just intercepting defence-forces – CyberMDX secures medical devices that aid human lives and when information needs security from physical and online threats – HUB Security commercialised a physical and cyber secure storage unit. Want Cyber access to smartphones of fiends? Try Cellebrite’s hardware and software. Cyber can be tangible, however, with fields like – education, medicine, homeland security, protection.

What about non-enterprise usage of cyber? Cars need cyber security because if they are cyber hacked, they might not open or self-drive off a cliff – that is where OttoSec comes in to play. Infrastructure Databases need cyber security, or else collected data by the government could leak – this is where Silverfort works its magic. Cyber can even help a business develop – lead generation through cyber company LeadSpotting is online and ready to match and uncover potential purchases of your product. Need more in-depth knowledge on people? Persons of interest information is generated with Digital Clues, for the good guys only.

Cyber has evolved to catch the cyber criminals before cyber attacks occur, luring them into honeypots thanks to Nucleon. Cyber attacks could also come through third party networks, thanks to Findings that is protected. Cyber coding might need increased communication between teams, purposefully, Checkmarx comes into play. Cyber fraud, through payment issues, can be regulated now that SecuredTouch is there. Cyber information ransomed can even be located on the dark-web thanks to KELA. And if your Active Directory is compromised, cyber restoration is achieved through adopting Semperis. Even if your whole business is on the cloud – Cyber cloud security can be safe with Reblaze. And importantly, and relatably, cyber phishing monitoring company Blaick is there for us.

The world of Cyber options for your enterprise to adopt is magnanimous, primarily because the world of cyber criminals is ostentatious. Dark-web filtered money is mostly untraceable with non-currency payments. Be careful when your enterprise faces threats, and make sure your reputation stays intact by employing cyber mechanisms and not leaking sensitive data.

The Foreign Trade Administration (FTA) at the Israeli Ministry of Economy & Industry currently operates an array of 50 Economic & Trade Missions / Offices in leading target markets around the world. The FTA serves as a bridge to global economic systems, developing international business relations and promoting investments in Israeli industries. The role of the missions is also includes locating and creating business opportunities, encouraging bilateral joint ventures, assistance to companies, etc.

As Israel’s high-tech ecosystem becomes bigger and mature, we are using the services of IVC to collect and analyze relevant data to provide the most accurate and in-depth information, which assists companies with their scouting efforts, strategy, and position in the Israeli market.

Founded in 1997, IVC is a leading data source and business information company in Israel’s high-tech industry. We work with IVC so we could help our clients from around the world to understand the market, make connections, and identify opportunities.

The Foreign Trade Administration & the Economic & Trade Missions of the Ministry of Economy & Industry in the target markets, backed by IVC’s data, can help bring added value to the Israeli industry and to our partners, clients, and colleagues worldwide. We will be happy to assist and coordinate any inquiries to ensure the most efficient service.

We would like to share with you some of IVC’s 2020 highlights, all available on IVC website under News &Insights;

An overview by IVC about the Israeli Tech Ecosystem (2015-2020) – Major trends, exits, unicorns, Israeli VC Funds’ activity, leading tech clusters’ analysis and more.
Israeli Tech Review 2020 by IVC and Meitar Law offices.
The Israeli Tech Ecosystem- Social Network Analysis by IVC for the Israeli Prime Minister Office and The Israeli National Economic Council.
SPAC Insights by IVC
Frontier Tech Map 2021 by IVC and Grove Ventures.
UAE’s Tech-Investor Ecosystem Review Following the Normalization Agreements
Japanese Investments in Israeli High-Tech Companies.
Life Sciences Startups and COVID-19’s Investment Environment

The Israeli high-tech industry continues to produce about 1,000 new innovative companies every year. We invite you to visit us online to explore business opportunities and learn more about our services. Feel free to contact us with any question you may have. We will be happy to examine opportunities to collaborate in 2021. 

* Exports stand at approximately $112 billion – a decline of only around 3% over 2019 and an approximately 1% increase over 2018

* In comparison to Israel, the forecast for 2020 for OECD member states is expected to decline – on average – by around 11.7%

* The most significant decline was in the export of tourism services – approximately 66% in comparison to 2019

* The highest growth was in the export of business services and high-tech – around 20% growth in dollar terms in comparison to 2019

* Growth in exports to target states: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Chile

* Increase in assistance activity to exporters: 1,228 actions to promote exports –

 11% growth; 4,090 requests for trade assistance by Foreign Trade Administration attaches – 36% growth

Economy and Industry Minister Amir Peretz:

“The very good Israeli export data in the year of the coronavirus is the result of outside-the-box thinking and a quick understanding of changing work conditions. I am pleased that the advance readiness of the Economy and Industry Ministry maintained and even increased Israeli exports in several sectors. In my view, one of the most encouraging pieces of data is the increase in activity by Israeli exporters in 2020. This proves that when you work correctly, in an orderly manner and with a work plan, the results are not long in coming even when the coronavirus crisis is striking the world.”

Economy and Industry Ministry Foreign Trade Administration Director Ohad Cohen:

“2020 was marked by the global economic slowdown, which very much affected Israeli exports. Nevertheless, while the forecasts at the start of the crisis projected a double-digit decline in Israeli exports, in practice exports shrank by around 3.2% only. In the past year, the Foreign Trade Administration offered exporters a broad range of assistance tools, which succeeded in obviating many impediments to trade for exporters, in providing real-time information on what was happening in global markets, and in issuing a tender for cargo flights with a government security net. The latter ensured functional continuity by operating airborne cargo routes to critical Israeli export targets. The economic attaches adapted their activity in 50 global centers so as to promote Israeli exports as per an online work model, with over 1,200 commercial and virtual events around the world. There was a considerable increase in support given in the framework of the assistance funds operated by the Foreign Trade Administration.”

Director Cohen noted that the economic attaches did so, “while working in a challenging reality of lockdowns and restrictions on movement, working from home, gaps in equipment and communications among many of the local foreign employees around the world and while continuously responding to the needs of emergency officials in the Health and Defense ministries. The economic attaches and their teams in the Foreign Service knew how to create the necessary connections for pharma companies, medical equipment and PPE manufacturers, lifted import and regulatory barriers, mapped vital suppliers and the like, and continued to promote Israeli exports while seeing the big picture and meeting conditions of unprecedented pressure and uncertainty. The bottom line is that the chilly forecasts were not realized and while Israeli exports declined, it was much less than expected. More than a little of the credit goes to the intensive work of the Foreign Trade Administration and the network of economic attaches around the world.”

The Foreign Trade Administration is due to publish the comprehensive 2020 export report later in the year when all of the data will have been received.
 

Conferences and Exhibitions - Hybrids | Online

​EcoMotion Week 2021 Hybrid Event | Smart Mobility Community

EcoMotion 2021 has teamed up with leading global companies in smart mobility to provide YOU with the latest insights into innovative technologies!

InnoDenTECH 2021 – 1st International Summit on Israeli Oral & Dental Innovations

 

Snapshot of Current New Business Opportunities