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During its meeting on June 18, 2015, held in Washington D.C., the Board of Governors of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation approved $8 million in funding for ten new projects between U.S. and Israeli companies. In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to approximately $19 million.
The BIRD Foundation promotes collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies in various technological fields for the purpose of joint product development. In addition to providing conditional grants of up to $1 million for approved projects, the Foundation assists by working with companies to identify potential strategic partners and facilitate introductions.
Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and by the Chief Scientist’s Office of the Israeli Ministry of Economy.
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The ten projects approved by the Board of Governors are in addition to the 910 projects which the BIRD Foundation has approved for funding during its 38 year history. To date, BIRD’s total investment in joint projects has been over $300 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion.
The projects approved include:
Compedia (Ramat Gan, Israel) and AllenComm (Salt Lake City, UT): Advanced just-in-time augmented reality for manufacturing
Fulcrum S.P. Materials (Yavne, Israel) and Graphene Technologies (Novato, CA): Graphene enhanced carbon fiber sizing
Kando (Hadera, Israel) and Water Analytics (Andover, MA): Smart city organic wastewater management system
Life-Beam (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Under Armour (Baltimore, MD): Advanced smart fitness earbuds integrated with bio-sensing technology
mPrest Systems (Petach Tikva, Israel) and New York Power Authority (New York, NY): mPrest-NYPA transformer control system
OMAT (Jerusalem, Israel) and Fives Machining Systems (Hebron, KY): Multi-objective machining process optimization system
Remedor Biomed (Nazareth Illit, Israel) and Medline Industries (Mundelein, Illinois): An EPO-releasing dressing for diabetic chronic wounds
Senecio (Haifa, Israel) and Dynamic Aviation (Bridgewater, VA): Mosquito SIT
Telesofia (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Tribune Content Agency (Chicago, IL): Personalized Wellness Videos
WellToDo (Netanya, Israel) and American Water (Mount Laurel, NJ): Novel Water Treatment System Based on Catalytic Reduction.
Dr. Phillip Singerman, Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and co-Chairman of BIRD’s Board of Governors said: “The Board of Governors selected ten quality projects covering diverse disciplines, of high priority for the U.S. and Israel, such as Advanced Manufacturing, Water and Digital Healthcare. It’s satisfying to see companies from across the U.S. participating in the BIRD program and cooperating with Israeli companies to innovate and bring both economic and social value.”
Mr. Avi Hasson, Chief Scientist at the Israel Ministry of Economy and co-Chairman of BIRD’s Board of Governors said: “The United States is the leading R&D partner for Israel including various programs funded by the Chief Scientist. The BIRD Foundation continues to be the main vehicle for leveraging the strategic cooperation between the two countries focused on innovation and technology. The success of the Foundation is a solid basis for further expansion of cooperation between the United States, including federal R&D programs as well as programs with U.S. States where the Chief Scientist has cooperation agreements.”
Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation, said: “The BIRD Foundation continues in its tradition of promoting joint projects between U.S. and Israeli companies which are multidisciplinary in nature and contain a high level of innovation and knowledge. The Foundation initiates diverse activities to promote partnerships in new areas which are of great importance to both countries.”
The deadline for submission of Executive Summaries for the next BIRD cycle is September 7, 2015. Approval of projects will take place in December 2015.
