Israeli tech’s response to COVID-19 offers lessons to the world – report

Merav Yachin: “Since early March, the institute has pivoted its work to COVID-19-related support to governments around the world in facing the pandemic.”

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
MIGAL researchers working vigorously to find a new coronavirus vaccine (photo credit: LIOR JOURNO)
MIGAL researchers working vigorously to find a new coronavirus vaccine
(photo credit: LIOR JOURNO)
Israel's hi-tech sector's response to the coronavirus pandemic has produced a unique variety of solutions and could offer important lessons to the world, a report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change published at the end of May highlighted.
The document showcases dozens of technological developments and devices produced by Israeli companies, organizations and researchers in the past few months, divided under the categories of Monitoring, Contact Tracing & Reporting, Digital Health Solutions, Ventilation Devices, Innovative PPE Solutions and Logistics-Tech Solutions. 
“Since early March, the institute has pivoted its work to COVID-19-related support to governments around the world in facing the pandemic,” Merav Yachin, an Israel-based tech and innovation advisor at the think tank established by the former British prime minister, told The Jerusalem Post.
“Given that the Israeli tech sector has been putting out so many interesting solutions across all relevant sectors, we believe it can give lessons to other countries, both developing and developed,” she added.
Yachin pointed out that Israel is world renowned for its tech sector. Its advanced ecosystem, which supports research and development as well as start-ups, in addition to some governmental initiatives in the field, such as the Innovation Authority, together with its adaptability and flexibility have proven to be extremely effective in addressing the emergency.
“Israel's readiness to respond showcases itself as an exceptional example,” she highlighted. “In general, the degree to which the entire sector took on coming up with novel solutions as a national mission and created collaborations between universities, hospitals, the private sector and the defense sector, which is an element somehow unique to the country, is very interesting.”
The researcher pointed out that the scope of the response and of the cooperation has also been able to accelerate the process to reach solutions in a remarkable way.
Among the many products presented in the report is the COVID-19 AI medical grade remote triage and monitoring system for healthcare providers and government agencies by Diagnostic Robotics, the toolkit for case management for developing countries’ governments and health organizations by N-Frnds, the early detection of patient deterioration through vital signs sensor monitoring system by Early Sense and the face covering air curtain mask designed to prevent infection from droplets by the Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center.
Yachin said that another aspect she found particularly interesting was the ability to take existing solutions and adapt them to the specific challenges presented by the virus.
“For example in the field of robotics, using robots for patients care to minimize the medical staff exposure has been significant. I was also impressed with the new initiative to design ventilation devices to be mass-produced at low cost. Both I believe will have an impact beyond the pandemic,” she concluded.