For those who thought my last blog highlighting Israel’s human side was too low-tech, this will hopefully put things right. Every week Israel’s innovators make dozens of announcements about exciting developments that will benefit millions across the planet.
I always like to start in the medical arena. You will certainly understand the precise impact of the first item. ActiView’s Israeli-developed ActiSight CT-navigation system guides a surgical needle to the exact required location for pulmonary biopsies and tumour procedures. ActiView is apparently in advanced talks about a joint development, marketing and distribution deal with a major US medical devices company. Watch the video in this clip to see the system’s “cutting edge” technology that achieves “pin-point” accuracy for keyhole surgery. (Don’t worry, there’s no blood.) Next, Israel’s Andromeda Biotech has reported sweet success in the Phase III clinical trial of its Diapep277 drug for the treatment of Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes. The trial met its primary and secondary endpoints, and was found to be effective and safe. Finally, health professionals will have been “rest assured” by the successful final results reported by Israeli biotech Intec Pharma of its Phase II clinical trial for the Zaleplon accordion pill, for the treatment of chronic insomnia.
Israeli high-tech companies continually get noticed due to their innovations. Israel’s top developer of touch-free interfaces for digital devices, EyeSight, raised eyebrows and $4.2 million last week for its innovative Gesture Recognition Technology. Please take a good look at what this amazing software can do.
While many had their eyes on EyeSight, the Internet giant Microsoft swallowed up another Israeli-founded start-up. VideoSurf’s technology scans video websites to easily find a specific clip. Over 20 million users view VideoSurf clips each month. Still in the movie world, Israeli computer game company Funtactix showed that anything is possible when it was chosen by Paramount Pictures to develop an official Facebook game to accompany the fourth movie in the Mission Impossible series, "The Ghost Protocol".
As the previous two items demonstrate, the power of Israel’s entrepreneurs is recognised frequently by the major International players. Staring in August, Google Israel will host roughly twenty “pre-seed” start-ups, or about 80 people, in its Tel Aviv building, whilst they develop their high-tech ideas. The project will provide support at exactly the stage when developers are often most in need of it. Google Israel is even offering non-profit organisations help to improve their Internet presence.
Technology breakthroughs from Israel’s high-tech companies often have major benefits in relieving world hunger. Evogene’s technology, for example, is to be used to develop soybean varieties that are resistant to the disease soybean rust. And here is an inspiring video highlighting just a few more of Israel’s great contributions to the world.
So the message is that Israel can be the creative hub of the world asyou will see in this excellent new trailer for the forthcoming film “Israel Inside”. Even the anti-Israel BBC can no longer ignore it. This positive article on Israeli high-tech from the UK’s broadcaster “How Israel turned itself into a high-tech hub” almost had me renewing my license fee. Almost!
But let’s come down to earth with this last article. The Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem uses high-tech biology to develop new strains of plant-life that can survive harsh climates. But one aspect of the Gardens has a more human function. In the past year, its educational department has brought together hundreds of Jewish and Arab children for combined studies. In sewing the seeds for peace, it hopes that someday it may actually blossom.
Israel – generating the future, for future generations.
Michael Ordman writes a weekly newsletter containing Good News stories about Israel.
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