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In the 16th Feb 2014 edition of Israel’s good news:
ECONOMY & BUSINESS
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Foreign investors flock to Israel. Overseas investment in the Israeli Stock Exchange tripled in 2013 from $410 million in 2012 to $1.5 billion. Bio-techs, banks and communications companies were the most popular.
Israelis to provide Arabic web content. The UK-Israel Tech Hub has organized the Go Global Program for Digital Arabic Content Entrepreneurs. The Hub hopes to spark business ties between the Israeli companies and firms that can bring that technology to the Arabic-speaking world.
What is Israel worth to the EU? Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar presented a report on January 30 arguing that Israel is strategically vital for a secure, prosperous and influential Europe. Key areas include intelligence on terrorism threats, natural gas and 11% of European Research Council projects.
Close-knit security. Israeli-founded cyber-security company Imperva has bought two Israeli security start-ups Incapsula and Skyfence. Imperva aims to sell firewall services to customers running apps over the cloud.
Recovering 27% of abandoned purchases. (Thanks to Atid-EDI) When an on-line customer abandoned his / her shopping cart in the past, that business was lost. Now, Jerusalem-based Abandonaid recovers 27% of abandoned business by persuading the customer to re-communicate. For almost every language and currency.
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The first foreign company to list in China. Wafer Level Chip Scale Package (WLCSP), a portfolio company of Israel’s Infinity group, became the first foreign co-founded company to go public in China when it debuted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Jan tourism at new record level. Tourist entries (those who stay more than one night) into Israel were up 19 percent to 200, 000 in January as compared with a year earlier, breaking a new record.
El Al goes UP in the world. The first “Up” flight has officially landed in Israel. “Up” is El Al airline’s new aviation brand offering low fare flights to destinations including Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Prague and Larnaca.
Two top hotels. Two Israeli hotels have made it into Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2014 It List, which introduces the 70 most promising new hotels in the world: The Ritz-Carlton in Herzliya and Alma Hotel & Lounge in Tel Aviv.
Preparing ex-IDF personnel for employment. The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) unanimously passed a law to use a higher-education fund to prepare discharged soldiers for the Israeli market, focusing on engineering, science and technology.
Helping Jamaica’s economic recovery. (Thanks to Size Doesn’t Matter) The Israeli Government and private companies are supporting Jamaica’s efforts to turn the island into a global logistics hub. The new venture will be a massive boost for enterprises that wish to invest in, or grow their existing operations in Jamaica.
Follow the Winter Olympics with Israeli app. The UK Telegraph‘s top five apps for following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games includes the Israeli app One Hour Translation. Tweet @OHT with an image or phrase to be translated and the company will reply instantly with a translation from a professional translator.
Cheaper to be healthier in Israel. A study carried out by the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture found that the cost of fruits and vegetables in Israel are lower – sometimes significantly lower – compared to prices of fruits and vegetables in the United States and Western European countries including France, Germany and Britain.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Sorek goes live. As Israel prays for the end of its current drought, the new Sorek large-scale desalination plant has completed testing and is now fully operational. Its reverse osmosis membranes can produce 624, 000 cubic meters of water a day – two-thirds of the combined output of the existing Ashkelon and Hadera facilities.
Israel is creating a water surplus using desalination. The above, plus this article explains why, despite current drought conditions throughout the Middle East, Israel is currently supplying ample water to all of its citizens – and (in future) possibly most of its immediate neighbors.
An end to all computer viruses? Israeli startup Cyactive says it not only stops computer viruses already “in the wild” from causing damage, but also can beat most of them even before they are invented. Cyactive detects the core of any virus, because 98% of the code inside a new virus is copied from existing viruses.
Find your ring size. How do you order a ring for someone when you don’t know his or her ring size? The handy Israeli app Findmyringsize will tell you. Take an existing ring and hold it over the images on your smartphone or re-sized computer screen. Simple to use and you could make someone very happy.
What makes Israel a Start-up Nation? (Thanks to BBCWatch) There was rare praise from the BBC, when its technology correspondent paid a visit to Israel. The report includes filmed items shown on BBC TV news.
See the desert bloom. At the Vidor Family Visitors’ Center in Israel’s Arava, visitors receive an interactive learning experience about desertification, flora and fauna, and the development of communities and agriculture in the region. The Arava was originally a desert but is now the jewel in the crown of Israeli agriculture.
It’s bigger on the inside. Raanan Stern has turned space management into an art form with this tiny artist studio in the heart of Tel Aviv. The modular design allows the artist to shift furniture around, open drawers or even remove them, depending on the activity. A folding bed is built into the back of the study door.
Israeli start-up reinvents the wheel. A comfortable ride is guaranteed, now that Tel Aviv’s SoftWheel has put “selective suspension” inside the wheel. When a wheelchair, bicycle or aircraft encounters an obstacle, he wheel’s hub extends or shrinks symmetrically as needed, dramatically reducing the shock transmitted.
Israeli wins global young scientist gold medal. Hebrew University of Jerusalem doctoral student Yossi Kabessa won the Singapore Challenge gold medallion and $100, 000 at the Global Young Scientists Summit in Singapore. He designed a system to detect dangerous materials in large water supply systems.
ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
For that perfect smile. (Thanks to Nevet – www.broaderview.org) Reuters video of the orthodontic system developed by Israeli Aerodentis that I featured in Dec last year. Aerodentis straightens the teeth through gentle pulsating force, through a plate worn only at night.
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Israeli device cures acid reflux. Israel’s Medigus is launching its flexible endoscope for the treatment of acid reflux. The simple outpatient procedure can benefit over 16 million people with acid reflux who do not respond to medication.
Israeli technology for Australian diabetics. Israel’s LabStyle Innovations is distributing its Dario™ blood glucose-monitoring device in Australia via uHealth Australia. Dario™ is designed to make life simpler for the 1.2 million Australians officially diagnosed with diabetes.
