News Briefs

December 25, 2017 | Israel’s Sheba Medical Center has been chosen by American biotechnology company BioMarin to conduct clinical trials and research of a breakthrough gene therapy product related to hemophilia. According to Gili Kenet, Director of the National Hemophilia Center at Sheba, the center will start enrolling patients in 2018, pending Ministry of Health approval. The gene therapy is said to be a “magic bullet” treatment for hemophilia A, a genetic blood disorder caused by missing or defective factor VIII, a clotting protein. The gene single therapy treatments use viruses to implant new genes into patient cells. An initial trial on nine patients has already been conducted by BioMarin. According to the report, all nine patients stopped using clotting factor drugs to treat their hemophilia and bleeding rates fell to almost zero. The National Hemophilia Center at Sheba Medical Center is an internationally recognized Hemophilia Training Center (HTC,) treating over 700 hemophiliacs a year.

 

 

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December 25, 2017 | Israel’s Ben-Gurion University has teamed up with auto giant Mercedez-Benz for a new challenge, offering students a platform to come up with new ideas for multinational corporations. Ben Gurion’s Bengis Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation in the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management has launched its new innovation platform last week with a find the “Next 100 Million” challenge in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. Defining what the “100 million” is is part of the challenge. According to a statement from the university, the Challenge innovation platform connects competitors to real-world opportunities and offers global organizations a way to present current challenges with new and innovative thought processes from students. Israeli students from various fields and backgrounds are invited to develop ideas over the next month. According to Professor Oded Lowengart, Chairman of the Bengis Center, Mercedes-Benz recently launched its R&D center in Israel and Ben-Gurion University is one of the first to collaborate with them. Daimler AG’s Mercedez-Benz runs 25 R&D centers across the globe.

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December 24, 2017 | Israel’s Center for Digital Innovation (CDI), established in 2015 at Gav Yam Technology Park in the Negev in collaboration with the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Israeli entrepreneurs, announced that it was launching a “Healthy Aging Lab” to cater to the needs of the elderly population. “CDI is establishing a multidisciplinary center and simulation laboratory to deepen understanding of the third age, develop solutions, and boost this fast-growing global industry among Israeli innovators,” the center says on its website. Globes reported that the lab was set up with an investment of NIS 5 million, in collaboration with a number of partners including the National Insurance Institute of Israel, the City of Beersheba, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC). A number of startups are already operating in the lab to work toward pilot programs. CDI co-founder Boaz Gur Lavie told Globes that the lab was the “first of its kind in the entire world.” He added: “The prolonged life expectancy of today’s 3rd and 4th aged senior citizens has brought upon us new challenges. The market for these initiatives is huge and holds great potential. Now we are simply giving a chance to the great minds of our startup nation, to prove their capabilities in this area as well.” CDI also operates a digital health lab, an education lab and a smart cities lab.

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December 24, 2017 | Israeli robotics startup, Intuition Robotics, which made international headlines for its elder care assistant robot ElliQ, raised six million dollars from the Mirai Creation Investment fund backed by Japanese giant Toyota Motor and financial multinational Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, according to the Asian Review. Earlier this year, the Ramat Gan-based startup founded in 2015 raised $14 million in a Series A funding round led by the Toyota Research Institute (TRI). Intuition Robotics co-founders Itai Mendelsohn, Dor Skuler, and Roy Amir, have developed a robot companion that uses artificial intelligence to improve the lives of the aging population. The company has raised $28 million so far.

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December 24, 2017 | The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, dubbed “Israel’s MIT,” is wrapping up its inaugural HaifaTeenTech 2017 program, an initiative aimed at young tech entrepreneurs from Israel and Jewish teens from around the world. The 10-day program started on December 12, bringing 60 teens — 30 from Israel, 30 international students — ages 16 to 18 together for a series of tours, events, meetings across Israel and a hackathon. Over the course of the program, the teens were hosted by the City of Haifa and traveled to a number of cities and spots such as Jerusalem, Masada, the Dead Sea and Tel Aviv, met with representatives of various Israeli startups, and went on a tour of high-tech companies, the Technion and Rambam Medical Center in the city. The participants will continue to be involved in the program through a “virtual technological incubator,” which according to the program’s website, will “serve as the main tool for the ongoing relationship.”

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December 21, 2017 | Israeli-South African philanthropist and entrepreneur Morris Kahn announced this week that he was donating an additional $1 million to the Genesis Prize, dubbed the “Jewish Nobel,” awarded to US-Israeli actress Natalie Portman for 2018. The Genesis Prize, established in 2012, recognizes individuals “who have attained excellence and international renown in their fields, and whose actions and achievements express a commitment to Jewish values, the Jewish community and the State of Israel.” Last month, Portman became the 5th Genesis Prize Laureate and announced she would give the money to organizations promoting women’s rights and equality in the educational, political and health spheres. Kahn said in a press statement that he was “happy to have the opportunity to support Natalie Portman in the noble mission to which she has devoted herself.” Portman said she was grateful to Kahn “for his incredible support of the 2018 Genesis Prize theme” and said his “generosity once again reinforces how relevant and important the issue of women’s equality is today – in Israel, in the US and beyond.” Stan Polovets, chairman and co-founder of the Genesis Prize Foundation, said, “The bonus will significantly increase the ability of Genesis Prize Foundation’s projects to influence the advancement of equality for women.”

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December 21, 2017 | Israel’s mPrest, the software developer for Iron Dome’s anti-missile technology, announced together with the New York Power Authority that its system would be deployed in a number of utility plants across New York state, in addition to the Niagara Power Project where the tech has been in place for several months. NYPA and mPrest said in a press statement that the Israeli company’s monitoring and control systems for preventing outages would be installed at the Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Project in Schoharie County and the 500 MW Combined-Cycle Power Plant in Queens as well as the St. Lawrence Power Project in New York State’s North Country. The companies said the system would soon be installed in additional NY sites. Alan Ettlinger, director of Research, Technology Development, and Innovation for NYPA said mPrest’s tech, named the Transformer Health Management system, “is improving the efficiency of the field workforce and enhancing safety.” The system, which won a Best of New York Award this year, “uses advanced prediction and smart analytics technologies to monitor all sensor-enabled transformer equipment while also analyzing offline measurements in a single application and dashboard,” according to the company. Chief commercial officer of mPrest, Ron Halpern, said the Israeli company was “proud to see NYPA’s confidence in our asset health management product as expressed through their expansion of our mutual production contract.”

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December 20, 2017 | The Israeli Tax Authority is currently in negotiations with Airbnb for a retention tax stipulation that will allow the platform to tax hosts in Israel directly through the Airbnb website, Israeli business daily Calcalist reported. According to the proposal, Airbnb will “collect income tax on any payments to Israeli hosts,” Calcalist reported, which will “negate the possibility of tax evasion and neutralize at least some of the discrimination claims brought forth by traditional paid-lodging businesses.” While Airbnb does collect tourist tax in certain major cities, many countries, like Israel, do not want to give the online lodging marketplace or it renters leeway in taxation. Israel’s intention to tax Airbnb was announced last month by David Shilon, chief coordinator of the Assessment Review and VAT Advisory and Directives at the Israeli Tax Authority. Airbnb was founded in 2008 to offer popular and cheaper community alternative to hotels and hostels with apartments for rent around the world.

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December 19, 2017 | Israeli-founded insurance startup Lemonade has raised $120 million in a Series C funding round led by the Softbank Group Corporation. The Japanese tech investor was joined by participating investors Google Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital. Lemonade, a New York-based startup providing renters and homeowners insurance, has raised a total of $180 million since it was founded in 2015, according to Crunchbase. Crunchbase also reported that this is the third largest insurance investment deal of the year.  The company said it would use the funds to “become the first consumer-facing insurer to expand internationally and would be launching new coverage products for its customers in 2018.” Lemonade’s insurance platform is powered by artificial intelligence and behavioral economics. The company was founded by veteran Israeli tech entrepreneurs CEO Daniel Schreiber, former president of Powermat and president and CTO Shai Wininger, a co-founder of Fiverr.com.

 

 

 

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December 19, 2017 | Israel and China inaugurated this week the Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) near Shantou University in the Chinese city of Shantou, Guangdong province.

The new campus of the private research university covers 100,000 square meters and includes “13 buildings, 29 classrooms, 14 teaching laboratories, and 55 research laboratories,” according to a Technion press release.

The university hopes to teach about 3,000 students in the first decade of operations including 300 postgraduates. It currently offers undergraduate degrees in Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, and Materials Engineering and graduate programs in Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Food Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

PhD programs will include engineering and the sciences, “according to the fields of specialization of the GTIIT faculty,” the Technion said. The Guangdong Technion was established in 2015 with financial backing from the private foundation of Hong Kong business giant Li Ka-Shing who provided a grant of $130 million, and the Guangdong and Shantou municipal governments which allocated over $140 million for the project.

The inauguration ceremony on Monday was attended by Li Ka-Shing, Technion President Professor Peretz Lavie, Shantou Mayor Zheng Jiange, Israeli Consul General to Guangzhou Nadav Cohen, Israeli Consul General to Hong Kong Ahuva Spieler, Israeli and Chinese government representatives, and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and Technion Distinguished Professor Aaron Ciechanover who will be Israel’s representative at the GTIIT.

Ciechanover said at the ceremony that “the opening of the Technion campus in China is a testament to the excellent relations between China and Israel and, no less important, to the great appreciation of the Chinese giant for Israel’s scientific and engineering achievements and to the education leading to them.”

The university’s new chancellor, Li Jiange, said in the ceremony that “China offers Technion a broad platform to realize its academic excellence. We in turn must learn from Technion and Israel as to what innovative thinking is.”

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December 19, 2017 | Israel’s City TLV group and the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA) have signed a memorandum of understanding for greater fintech cooperation between the two non-profit organizations, the global fintech community Finextra reports. The MOU focuses building global business opportunities for the two communities, with the purpose of innovation development and the exchange of new technology-related ideas and goals. City TLV says it “aims to implement the agreement into all relevant organization in Israel,” including Fintech Aviv, The Floor, and the Israel Export Institute, said President of City TLV Shmuel Ben-Tovim. SFA President Chia Hock Lai also praised the agreement. City TLV is a non-governmental organization working to promote Tel Aviv as an international financial center.

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December 18, 2017 | Israeli high school student Yuval Sprintz recently discovered a security breach in the Facebook-owned instant messaging and voice-over IP service app WhatsApp, and reported it to the online social network giant, Ynet has reported. Facebook responded by fixing the breach and awarding the teen a $1,250 prize. Sprintz, a gifted high school student from the Israeli moshav of Tzurit,  also studies for his computer science degree at Haifa University and participates in the Davidson Institute of Science Education’s Alpha program at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He contacted Facebook through its “Bug Bounty” program in September. The program is intended for independent information security specialists to report security breaches to Facebook for monetary compensation. The breach Sprintz found allows users to add fake numbers to group chats, add blocked users back into groups, and add as many users as one sees fit, without having to go through the administrator of the group, who is currently the only one allowed to add new users. With the breach, a fake user with an exceptionally long phone number can also be added, which could lead to a crash of the app on certain smartphones.

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December 18, 2017 | Israeli startup Solo Gelato, a company that has worked to create an ice cream capsule system similar to Nespresso coffee capsules, has teamed up with chocolate and cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut for a new project, the companies announced this week. The partnership will enable Solo Gelato to use the chocolate producer’s Chocogelato mixes in its capsules. Testing has already proved the mix to be viable, according to a report in FoodBev Media. The pair’s partnership was established through MassChallenge, a global startup accelerator that provides $2 million in funding to startups each year and is partially founded by Barry Callebaut. Massimo Selmo, the head of global sourcing at Barry Callebaut, initiated the company’s involvement in the MassChallenge. Solo Gelato is led by high tech entrepreneur and gelato expert Barak Beth-Halachmi. The capsule system is to be released in 2018.

 

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December 18, 2017 | Israeli and South Korean researchers from the Korea Association of Robot Industry signed an agreement for mutual cooperation in the fields of robotics and autonomous vehicles, the Korea Times reported this week. The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, came in the wake of the annual Korea-Israel Industrial Collaboration Conference in Seoul, sponsored by the Israeli and South Korean ministries of trade and industry. The keynote speech was delivered by Grove Ventures CEO Dov Moran, an Israeli entrepreneur.

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December 17, 2017 | Four Israeli startups were listed on Business Insider’s “50 startups that will boom in 2018,” published late last month. The list is based on observations by venture capitalists who have either invested in the startups or are watching developments. The four Israeli startups are Zebra Medical Vision, a medical tech company which uses artificial intelligence to read medical scans to automatically detect anomalies, recently partnering with Google for $1 scans ; Vayyar Imaging, which developed a technology to “see” through objects and recently announced that it has raised $45 million in Series C funding; Kryon Systems, which developed software robots using AI for enterprise automation and recently opened a new office in Germany to meet European and Asian demand; and Secret Double Octopus, a tech company based in southern Israel that developed the world’s “only password-free, keyless authentication technology to protect identity and data across cloud, mobile and IoT environments.”

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