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Ninth Most Innovative Country According to an Updated Ranking Fuels A MONTHLY REPORT COVERING NEWS AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES JOSEPH MORGENSTERN, PUBLISHER September 2009 Vol. XXIV Issue No.9 You are invited to visit us at our website: http://ishitech.co.il Ninth Most Innovative Country According to an updated ranking fuels. Its abundant sun made the country a natural of an Economist Intelligence Unit location for the promising technology. The high report called “the world’s most annual incident solar irradiance in the Negev Des- innovative countries,” Israel was ert has spurred an internationally renowned solar rated the ninth most innovative research and development industry, with Harry country globally in 2008, and is Tabor and David Faiman, of the National Solar forecast to rise further to win the eighth position Energy Center two of its more prominent mem- sometime between 2009 and 2013. The innova- bers. At the end of 2008 a feed-in tariff scheme tion index ranks 82 countries based on their inno- vation capacity and forecasts their performance through 2013. co.il http://ishitech. Solar power in Israel and the Israeli solar energy industry has a history that dates to the founding of the country. In the 1950s, Levi Yissar developed Ninth Most Innovative Countrry a solar water heater to help assuage an energy New Google Insight tool developed in Israel India to acquire anti-aircraft missile system from Israel shortage in the new country. By 1967 around one DNA evidence can be fabricated in twenty households heated their water with the VC investment lowest in decade sun and 50,000 solar heaters had been sold. With Pitango to get China partner for venture fund the 1970s oil crisis, Harry Zvi Tabor, the father of Israeli high-tech companies raised $279m in venture capital in Q2 2009 Israel’s solar industry, developed the prototype Cautious optimism reaches Israeli VC funds solar water heater that is now used in over 90% ‘Ghosts go through walls’ of Israeli homes. Israeli engineers are on the cut- Promising new treatment for Alzheimer’s IBM explores data masking for better security ting edge of solar energy technology and its solar Anti-rocket defense system Iron Dome hits first try companies work on projects around the world. Mazor shares jump on report of first surgery Desert rhubarb - a self-irrigating plant Israel has embraced solar Magal gets airport, nuclear plant protection contracts AORA launches first hybrid solarized gas turbine power station energy. There is no oil on IPO market revives Israeli land and the coun- Israeli scientist adapts antibiotic that may fight genetic isease try’s tenuous relations with its Israeli researchers start pilot for new desalination technology oil-rich neighbors made the search for a stable source of energy a national priority. Israeli innovation and research has advanced solar technology to a degree that it is almost cost competitive with fossil Copyright 2004: Israel High-Tech & Investment Report Subscription, bulk copy and reprint information available on request Editorial Offices: P.O.Box 33633, Tel- Aviv 61336, Israel Tel-: +972-3-5235279 Fax: +972-3-5227799 E-mail: [email protected] September 2009 Insights for Search, launched a year ago, pro- was approved, which immediately put in motion vides cross-referencing of searches by geogra- the building of many residential and commercial phy, time, subject, and other properties. solar energy power station projects. The leding companies in the field include: 3Gso- Google developed the “Insights for Search” tool lar, Arava Power Company, Chromagen, DI.S.P., at its Israeli R&D center, Google Israel Ltd. Yet EDIG Solar, AORA, 3Gsolar, Enert Global, EWA Hebrew is not yet included in the 38 languages of Technologies, Luz II, Millenium Electric, Mille- the service. nium Solar, Pythagoras Solar, SolarEdge, Solel, and Zenith Solar. Google Israel managing director Prof. Yossi The success in desalination has attracted global Matias stated that the company was working on interest and currently an American multinational a Hebrew version of Insights for Search, but that company is negotiating to acquire an Israeli “it’s impossible to know how long it will take”. solar company. Since the forecasting tool of Insights for Search Another field of innovation is water desalina- extrapolates from past or cyclical trends, it can- tion. Israel’s annual rainfall is meager. How- not be used to predict something completely new, ever, on one side the country such as the meteoric success of Twitter. is surrounded by the Medi- terranean which provides it The new tool also includes an animated map that with an ample source of water enables users to see dynamic changes in specific for desalination. In 2005 the geographic regions over time. Google allows web- world’s largest desalination site owners to integrate comparative scenarios plant, located along Israel’s generated by the feature on their websites. southern Mediterranean coast, started operation The water treatment plant provides 100 million cubic meters (mcm) of desalinated water per Israel High-Tech & Investment Report year. Published monthly since January 1985 Publisher and Editor in Chief The plant will provide about 15 percent of the Joseph Morgenstern, B.A. Chem. total household water in Israel when it’s fully operational. The consortium comprises Israel’s Technology Review Board IDE Technologies and Elran Infrastructures, and Prof. S.J. Joel-Cohen, MD, FRCS. FRCOG (1996-2002) France’s Veolia Water. The total cost of the proj- Prof. Hylton Miller, M.B. Ch.B. ect was $250 million. Dr. Clive L. Carpel, M.B. Ch.B. Copy Chief New Google Insight tool developed in Debbie Mor Israel Web Master Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) Marty vonBokel yesterday launched a new Graphics Consultant Daniel Morgenstern forecasting feature for its Subscription Inquiries Google Insights for Search, a new feature that Tel-. +972-3-5235279 Fax. +972 3-5227799 can extrapolate a search term’s future popularity E-mail: [email protected] based on its past performance. For example, a Annual subscription $95.- per year, for 11 issues, user can obtain trend data on a particular sub- Israeli residents add 17% VAT ject in order to make projections. Web Edition and Achives http://ishitech.co.il 2 September 2009 India to acquire anti-aircraft missile system ‘Today, DNA evidence is key to the conviction or from Israel exoneration of suspects of various types of crime, from theft to rape and murder,’ the team wrote in their India will soon paper in the journal Forensic Science International: acquire anti- air- Genetics. craft missile sys- tem from Israel in But the disturbing possibility is that DNA evidence a bid to bolster its can be faked. The team found current forensic aging defenses procedures could not distinguish between their own and protect its artificial DNA and real DNA samples. troops and tanks Lead author Dr Dan Frumkin said: ‘If you can from any aerial threat, a senior Indian Defense fake blood, saliva or any other tissue, you can Ministry official said Tuesday. engineer a crime scene. You have full control of the situation.’ “The Indian Defense Acquisition Council, headed by Defense Minister A.K. Antony and compris- Dr. Frumkin said: ‘If you have some source mate- ing the three service chiefs, has finally cleared rial from the person who’s DNA you want to fake, a multi-billion dollar deal to procure anti- aircraft such as a hair, a glass they drunk from, or a missiles from Israeli Aircraft Industries Rafael. The cigarette butt, you could extract a minute piece of Low- level Quick Reaction surface to air missile DNA using basic techniques you learn in your first called Spyder will help to protect India’s tanks and year as an undergraduate in biology on equip- armoured vehicles against enemy’ s air attack,” ment used in every biology lab. the official said, on condition of anonymity. ‘You can then produce billions of copies of it using The Spyder is a low-level quick-reaction surface- very cheap kits that are commercially available. to-air missile system which uses a combination The process (known as whole genome amplifica- of active radar missiles and infrared missiles to tion) is very, very easy if you have source DNA.’ track and intercept jets, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and precision guided munitions. The DNA can be applied to the surface of objects The Spyder system has 360 degree engagement or could potentially be incorporated into human capability and the missiles can be launched from tissues and planted in crime scenes. full-readiness state in less than five seconds after a target is acquired. However, a fake sample can also be created just The Spyder’s kill range is from less than one km using DNA profiles stored in police databases. to more than 35 kms and at altitudes from a mini- These are a series of numbers and letters that mum of 20 meters to a maximum of 9 kilometers. correspond to variations at 13 spots of a person’s The system is capable tracking up to 60 targets at genome. a time and can be operated in all weather condi- tions. The scientists built up a library of more than 400 DNA snippets that represented common variants DNA evidence can be fabricated at each spot. DNA evidence can be fabricated - blood and saliva taken from one ‘This library contains all of the different variants person can be made to appear as found in the human population and you can create taken from someone else instead, the desired profile,’ Dr Frumkin said. say Israeli scientists. Dr Frumkin is founder of the company Nucleix, 3 September 2009 which has developed a new test to tell whether firms, manages funds in excess of $1.3 billion in DNA samples are real or fake.
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