News Briefs

Israeli medical robotics company Mazor has announced that its Renaissance system has been purchased by Parker Adventists Hospital, located in Denver, Colorado. The system is designed specifically for spinal surgery and is the only such product available on the market today.

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American clinician-scientist Prof. Hyman B. Muss and Israeli researcher Prof. Yosef Yarden, whose work has led to more personalized treatments for breast cancer, are being honored as this year’s winners of the prestigious Susan G. Komen for the Cure Brinker Awards for Scientific Distinction in Basic Science and Clinical Research, the highest awards of merit given by the world’s leading breast cancer organization.

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Israeli company SteadyMed Therapeutics has raised roughly $10.4 million for the development of its product – PatchPump. The company develops size efficient, prefilled, disposable, subcutaneous liquid drug delivery systes.

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After years of development, ARGO, a medical technology company founded in Israel, has announced that it will begin marketing its revolutionary exoskeleton system, ReWalk, for daily use. The product uses robotic leg braces that allow paraplegics to stand, walk and even use stairs. The unveiling will take place at the Recharge International event, to be held in Düsseldorf, Germany on October 11th.

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Israeli company Medigus, which specializes in miniature cameras for medical purposes, has won a tender to supply NASA with miniature video cameras and video processing equipment. Medigus was hired for NASA’s Robotic Refueling Mission which has a multi-million dollar budget. The first order placed by NASA is worth 500,000 NIS.

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Social financial trading company eToro has announced today that it is launching a beta version of its Social Trading Index service. The concept of the service is allowing users to browse through their peers’ investment portfolios and follow certain investors for advice on their own investments.

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Israeli photo-sharing social network Mobli has announced today that it has raised an additional capital of $22 million dollars. The bulk of the investment, $20 million dollars, was given by Kazakhstani business leader Kenges Rakishev. According to thenextweb.com, prior backers also chipped in with a further $2 million.

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John Donahoe, president and CEO of eBay, has attributed a significant role for Israeli innovation in the future of online trading. “I would like to see the next wave of innovation in online trading coming from Israel”, said Donhoe at the HTIA conference last week, “and I want eBay to be a part of it.”

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Highly respected technology blog GigaOM has listed two Israeli companies on its list of 15 most innovative mobile companies in the world. Alongside giants such as Apple and Samsung, the list contains Israeli companies Waze and IntuCell. Waze has developed a popular social GPS app while IntuCell develops self-optimizing cellular networks.

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Bill Miller, software giant BMC’s mainframe department president says the company has invested roughly $2 Billion in its Israeli extension. “Over the past eight years we’ve invested about $2 Billion dollars (in Israel),” Miller told Israeli financial magazine Calcalist “and we will continue to invest here.”

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Steve Balmer, Microsoft’s CEO, plans to visit Israel next month. In light of Balmer’s visit, Microsoft Israel has announced that it is holding a competition for Israeli developers to create apps for operating systems Windows 8 and Windows Phone. The winners will get a chance to present their apps to Balmer at the company’s Discovery conference next month and will also receive a state-of-the-art ultrabook.

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, Lisa Jackson, and Israeli Environmental Minister Gilad Erdan signed an agreement to broaden environmental cooperation between the two countries. The cooperation will include: R&D, management of water resources, handling of radioactive materials, rehabilitation of lands and soil, environmental economics and air quality.

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Israeli company Ceragon invested roughly $1 million in a development and research center in Bucharest, Romania. The center currently employs 16 workers, but estimates that the number of employees will double by the end of the year. Ceragon is the world’s leading wireless backhaul specialist.

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European energy giant ABB plans on building a massive 40 Dunam (9.9 Acres) rooftop solar power plant on a cowshed in Kibbutz Yifat. The project will take approximately 6 years to build and power generated by the plant will be sold to the Israeli Electric Company. ABB is an energy corporation which operated in 100 countries worldwide.

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Korean international tech giant Samsung has revealed that its only R&D centers outside of South Korea are located in Israel. According to company’s representative in Israel, Dr. Nam-Sung (Stephen) Woo, the Israeli facilities are responsible for some of the technology used in the company’s flagship smart phone – Galaxy S3

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