As a prize for winning, Engie will receive a sizable advertising budget from Performance Revenues advertising firm and international research firm App Annie.
By ARIEL SHAPIRAFacebook(photo credit: ILLUSTRATIVE: REUTERS)
The start-up Engie came in first place at the Israel Mobile Summit 2015 at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds last week. Engie has developed a unique program that can diagnose car problems and generate cost estimates to have them fixed. More than 100 companies participated in the Mobile Summit, seven of which advanced to the final round.As a prize for winning, Engie will receive a sizable advertising budget from Performance Revenues advertising firm and international research firm App Annie, both of which acted as judges at the summit.Engie’s system relies on information it receives from garages through a Bluetooth component installed in a car’s computer. This way, you can follow in real time what your mechanic is doing to your car from the comfort of your home or office or wherever you are.The app can give you information about the status of the battery, alternator, fuel consumption and other things. It then offer you prices for having any problems fixed at a variety of garages near your location. As a result, Engie succeeds in forcing garages to be transparent and honest about what’s wrong with your car. It cuts down on the amount of stress customers feel as they worry that their mechanic is taking them for a ride.Engie was founded by three young entrepreneurs who began developing the app while participating in the Zell Entrepreneurship Program at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.Waze founder Uri Levine is Engie’s board chairman.Facebook at Israel Mobile Summit 2015 Julien Lesaicherre, Facebook’s head of mobile platform partnerships for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, led a session at the Israel Mobile Summit 2015 called “Build better apps with Facebook.” He spoke about how to build, grow and monetize your app by using Facebook’s tools for developers.Lesaicherre said 30 billion apps and websites are currently being created using Facebook’s tools. “We are working with a large number of top-quality Israeli mobile companies, such as Waze, eToro and Conduit, and our goal is to help them succeed,” he said.“Facebook is much more than just a blue icon. We also have apps used by billions of people the world over.More than 1.44 billion people are on Facebook, 700 million people use Facebook Groups, 800 million people use WhatsApp, 600 million people use Messenger and 300 million use Instagram.”
Lesaicherre said whoever uses Facebook will succeed in increasing the number of users and expanding their business. Last year, Facebook had 10 billion hits on Facebook and 3.5 billion downloads of Facebook apps, 2 million of which were free, he said.These apps include accessories that let you “like” or “share” something, which improves users’ overall social-network experience.Samsung conquers diabetes Samsung Electronics Israel will donate 16 innovative blood-testing devices to medical clinics in Israel to be used for juvenile diabetes testing. It is also offering 11 scholarships for children to attend the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation summer camp.Samsung has been donating devices and life-saving medical equipment to nonprofit organizations and clinics in the North and South for 30 months.Samsung’s blood-count devices enable medical professionals to diagnose infection, inflammation, anemia and malfunctions of the heart and other internal organs. All patients needs to do is have their finger pricked and one drop of blood checked by the device, and within minutes they receive the test results.Intel is on a mission Intel Capital will invest $125 million in the Intel Capital Diversity Fund, which will fund new start-ups run by women or underrepresented minorities, including Israeli companies.Since its founding, Intel Capital has invested $300m. in 75 Israeli companies in four categories: Internet of Things, companies that encourage the integration of women in hi-tech, health care and cyber security.Companies picked by the Capital Diversity Fund will also have access to Intel’s business development programs, technology experts and its network of connections. Intel intends to increase the percentage of women and minority employees working for the company by 2020.“We’ve changed the way we do things here at Intel,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. “Intel has more than doubled the number of diverse candidates hired this year so far. We are committed to ensuring that the culture of the technology industry will hear and respect everyone’s ideas, and Intel’s new diversity fund is an effective and powerful tool that will help us achieve this goal.”If you run a young start-up, have developed an interesting app or have a question, please feel free to contact info@social-wisdom.com.Translated by Hannah Hochner.