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Israel’s high-tech sector a rebounding powerhouse of innovation. During three years of political violence and a brutal global downturn, Israel's high-tech sector has been surprisingly resilient, churning out innovations such as Intel Corp.'s line of mobile-computing chips and systems that warn drivers they're falling asleep. Venture capital is returning to the country, companies are performing well and investor sentiment is improving. On Tuesday, Eastman Kodak Co. said it was buying Israeli-based Scitex Corp.'s digital printing division for $250 million. The deal came days after Kodak picked up Algotech Systems Ltd., an Israeli developer of medical-imaging archiving systems, for $42.5 million. In another sign of recovery, venture investment in Israeli high-tech companies has risen for three straight quarters, reaching $283 million in the most recent quarter, according to the IVC Research Center. However, that remains a far cry from the $1.1 billion raised in the same quarter three years earlier. Intel developed its new line of Centrino chips for wireless gadgets in Israel. This month, scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology created a tiny self-assembling transistor using DNA. The project, touted as a crucial step in the development of nanoscale devices, could help build speedier computers. Israel Technology Project in India to boost crops. A 250,000 hectare agricultural project 'Israel Technology' in Kuppam district of Andhra Pradesh will soon be implemented all over the state, helping Indian farmers to boost their crop yields substantially. Chinese fishermen saved by Israeli ship. 26 Chinese fishermen were pulled out of the storming Chinese sea Thursday morning by crew-members of the Israeli ship Zim Dalian on its way to She-Ko Harbor in China. Israeli Wireless LAN can span 10 kilometres. Rikei is to make wireless LAN products using technology from Israeli firm Alvarion which can supply access in a radius of 10 kilometres. The Breeze Access technology will support up to 512 end users and regulate contention so that individual users will get their fair share of the wi-fi cake. Alvarion’s BreezeNET products will target the base station and receivers at remote spots, islands and the like, which don’t have fibre access and probably never will. Israel to launch another Satellite. Israel's Amos-2 communications satellite will be launched into space a month from now. The Amos-1, launched seven years ago, serves radio and television stations in Israel (including Arutz-7), Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Ukraine, and elsewhere. The more advanced Amos-2, co-located at 4 degrees West longitude with Amos-1, will offer hot beam coverage of Europe and the Middle East, cross-strapped to accommodate direct access from eastern United States. CNN and Time Magazine name Israeli World's Most Influential Businessman. Time magazine and CNN News have named Israeli Shai Agassi, an executive board member of SAP, as the most influential businessman in the world for 2003. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are among the businessmen who have led the 'Global Business Influentials' list in the past. Agassi, 34, is chief technology developer of the world's largest business-software company, the German firm SAP. He is the youngest board member at SAP and the only non-German in the company's executive inner circle. Israel to the rescue of week-old Iraqi baby. A week-old baby from Iraq is currently undergoing heart surgery at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel. The girl checked into an Israeli hospital Tuesday for an emergency heart operation after European hospitals refused to accept her for treatment. The baby's trip was organized by the Israeli humanitarian organization Save a Child's Heart., which became involved after an American doctor working with U.S. forces in Iraq discovered the defects a day after Bayan's birth in a hospital near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, said Simon Fisher, the organization's executive director. Save a Child's Heart receives most of its funding from donations in Israel, the United States, Canada and Germany. It has provided medical treatment to almost 1,000 children -- including more than 300 Palestinians and several Jordanians -- since its founding in 1995. EU says Israel is at "top of the list" for relations upgrade. Commissioner for EU Enlargement, Gunther Verheugen told Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Tuesday that Israel is at the top of the EU's list for relations upgrading. Next month, a professional EU delegation will arrive in Israel for negotiations that will include upgrading trade relations and recognition of Israeli quality control standards. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi , the acting President of the European Union, has – in the past – suggested Israel be admitted to the European Union. Israel and Motorola to found $20m R&D fund. The joint R&D fund with Motorola follows the company's decision to develop its 3G wireless products in Israel, making Motorola Israel responsible for the R&D for its most advanced products. DNA self-assembles nanotube transistor. Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have used the self-assembly of DNA molecules to build electronic devices from carbon nanotubes. The DNA acts as a scaffold for positioning a single-walled carbon nanotube at the heart of a field-effect transistor, as well as a template for the metallic wires connecting the device. Researchers now plan to construct a device on a DNA junction. This will allow for more complex logic circuits." Israeli equipment helping check infiltration in Kashmir. Troops manning the de-facto border with Pakistan in troubled Kashmir claimed they were successfully preventing infiltration of rebels into Indian-Kashmir thanks to new thermal imaging cameras from Israel. The Israeli hand held thermal imagers have proved effective in tracking down 70 militant infiltrators in the last 6 months, with a range of up to four kilometres (2.5 miles). A police officer said the imagers had also resulted in the killing of 15 Islamic rebels trying to cross into India in Kashmir's Mendhar area. Israeli scientists develop new technique of cancer diagnose. Many patients can avoid the pain and risk of biopsies used to diagnose solid malignant tumors thanks to a new diagnostic imaging technique. The cost-effective technique was developed by a research team in the famous Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. The technique will enable doctors to distinguish between malignant tumors and benign lumps by scanning instead of cutting. The technique has been recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for detecting breast and prostate cancer, and it is slated for distribution as early as next year. Israel, U.S. developing laser cannon. A joint U.S.-Israeli laser cannon can knock down rockets in flight. The system, called Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), uses an advanced radar to spot and track incoming rockets and then fires a laser beam to destroy them. It has shot down a number of Katyusha rockets and artillery shells. The test marked the first time that a rocket has been destroyed in flight by a laser beam. Israeli study shows that excessive blood pressure lowering may cloud thinking of the elderly. Israeli researchers have found that lowering an elderly patient's blood pressure dramatically can cause them to think less clearly. The researchers studied about 500 people from the ages of 70 to 85, with varying degrees of blood pressure. After giving them a series of tests for cognition, memory, concentration, visual retention and verbal fluency, they found that men and women with normal blood pressures performed the worst, while those who had mild hypertension performed the best. Israeli study finds that cardiac enzyme, protein can predict long-term prognosis. Israeli researchers find that a specific cardiac enzyme and protein can predict long- term survival after major 'non-cardiac' surgery. The study is published in the November 5th issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Israeli company develops early-stage SARS diagnosis kit. An Israeli company is close to completing the first kit that can diagnose SARS at an early stage. This breakthrough will help medical workers and officials control the spread of the highly contagious disease: the earlier that SARS cases are detected, the faster sufferers can be quarantined and their environs protected. Israeli Breakthrough of Antibodies that Combat Autoimmune Diseases. Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease occur when the body’s protective cells fail to distinguish healthy tissues from harmful pathogens and malignant cells. In response, the immune system attacks healthy tissues and organs. Researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have discovered that the body possesses a second set of beneficial antibodies that suppress the activity of the self destructive immunity. Furthermore, using genetic manipulation, they were able to boost the restraining activity of the beneficial antibodies. Their breakthrough findings, led by Dr. Nathan Karin of the Department of Immunology, will be published as the lead article in the November 2003 Immunology. Based on these findings, Dr. Karin has developed a novel platform for the development of new therapies, and has submitted a patent application. Israeli spray boosts mechanized olive harvest. A device for spraying olive trees with nutrients and growth promoters that speed the olive harvest has been developed at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The team, headed by Dr. Ze'ev Weisman of BGU's Applied Research Institutes in Beersheba, created new technology that enables these substances to enter the plant tissue in a controlled and long-term process. |
Facts about the 100th smallest country, with less than 1/1000th of the world's population. |