A MONTHLY REPORT COVERING NEWS AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES JOSEPH MORGENSTERN, PUBLISHER January 2012 Vol. XXVI Issue No.1 You are invited to visit us at our website: http://ishitech.co.il2

Israel is Awarded a Nobel Prize

The Nobel each prize varies from year to year. Prize is The Nobel Prizes are awarded without the world’s regard to nationality; the judges are, most pres- by the terms of Nobel’s will, the Royal t i g i o u s Swedish Academy of Sciences (physics prize. A m o n g co.il p r i z e s http://ishitech. a w a r d e d for science a sepa- rate peace In this Issue prize is is Awarded a Nobel PrizeIsrael is Awarded awarded. a Nobel Prize Ironical- Apple to set up Israel development center ly Alfred Protecing the coastline - from down Nobel was below the inven- Tegal invests in Israeli medtech startup tor Protecing the coastline - from down below of dynamite. This year’s prize in phys- Microsoft purchases Israeli video search ics was awarded to Israe;’s physicist New cardiac invasive technology Dan Schechtman. Israeli technology enables blind typing on a touchscreen The Nobel Prize, award is given for out- New Israeli technology can detect food contami- standing achievement in physics, chem- nation within minutes istry, physiology or medicine, peace, or 12,000 liters milk per cow literature. The awards were established UK: Irrigation system scoops green award by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a Yissum introduces a novel technology for manu- fund to provide annual prizes in the five facturing an anti-malaria drug in tobacco areas listed above. These prizes were The Israeli Economy - Summary of 2011 first given in 1901. Each prize consists of a gold medal, a sum of money, and a diploma with the citation of award. The amount of money available for

Copyright 2012: 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] Januarey 2012 and chemistry, as well as economic electrical conductivity, while possessing science), the Swedish Royal Caroline high structural stability. Quasicrystals Medico-Surgical Institute (physiology have also been found naturally. or medicine), the Swedish Academy (literature), and a committee elected Quasicrystalline materials could be used by the Norwegian parliament (peace). in a large number of applications, includ- The awards are made on December ing the formation of durable steel used 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, for fine instrumentation, and non-stick the Peace Prize being presented in insulation for electrical wires and cook- Oslo and the others in Stockholm. A ing equipment. prize is sometimes shared; several times the Nobel Peace Prize has been Israel is among countries who have won given to an organization. There may be the most prizes per capita. Of the ten one or more years in which a prize or prizes won, five were in the fields of sci- prizes may not be awarded; this has ence. happened most often with the Peace Prize. Apple to set up Israel development Shechtman experienced several years center of hostility toward his non-periodic inter- Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) has decided pretation (no less a figure than Linus to open a development center in Israel Pauling said “There is no such thing as focusing on semiconductors. The deci- quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists.”. sion was taken even before the compa- Pauling was apparently unaware of a ny entered into talks to acquire Herzliya- paper in 1981 by H. Kleinert and K. based flash storage solutions provider Maki which had pointed out the pos- sibility of a non-periodic Icosahedral Israel High-Tech & Investment Report Phase in quasicrystals (see the histori- Published monthly since January 1985 cal notes). The head of Shechtman’s Publisher and Editor in Chief research group told him to “go back Joseph Morgenstern, B.A. Chem. and read the textbook” and then “asked him to leave for ‘bringing disgrace’ on Technology Review Board the team.” Shechtman felt rejected. Prof. S.J. Joel-Cohen, MD, FRCS. FRCOG (1996-2002) Later,[when?] other scientists began to Prof. Hylton Miller, M.B. Ch.B. confirm and accept empirical findings Dr. Clive L. Carpel, M.B. Ch.B. of the existence of quasicrystals. Copy Chief Debbie Mor The Nobel Committee at the Royal Web Master Swedish Academy of Sciences said Marty vonBokel that “his discovery was extremely con- Graphics Consultant troversial,” but that his work “eventu- Daniel Morgenstern ally forced scientists to reconsider their Subscription Inquiries Tel-. +972-3-5235279 Fax. +972 3-5227799 conception of the very nature of mat- E-mail: [email protected] ter.” Through Shechtman’s discovery, Annual subscription $95.- per year, for 11 issues, several other groups were able to form Israeli residents add 17% VAT similar quasicrystals,[when?] finding Web Edition and Achives these materials to have low thermal and http://ishitech.co.il

2 January 2012

Anobit Ltd.. over its chip components enables Apple to produce whatever it wants while main- Apple has hired Aharon Aharon, a vet- taining maximum secrecy and control- eran player in Israel’s high tech industry, ling expenditure. to lead the new development center. The company has a unique strategy that Although Apple is a global innovation includes securing ahead of time a large leader, the company is a relatively small volume of electronic components such investor in R&D. The producer of the as memories, communications chips, iPad and iPhone invested $2.4 billion in flow management and the like. Order- R&D in 2010, which was only 2% of its ing in advance requires large amounts revenue, much less proportionately than of capital but allows Apple to neutralize other high-tech companies. seasonal fluctuations in demand and to keep prices from rising. The fruits of the Apple’s deployment of R&D activities is strategy can be seen in Apple’s gross in line with this policy and the company profit margin, which is 40.5% of revenue has only one technology development - far higher than that of other hardware center, which is at company headquar- companies. ters in Cupertino, California. All activi- ties outside of company headquarters This strategy is what stands behind revolve around marketing, sales and Apple’s desire to acquire Anobit, which support. Strategic development is car- develops systems for improving NAND ried out at home. The planned Israel flash memories. Apple spends billions of center will therefore be the company’s dollars annually on buying flash memo- first such center outside of its California ries for the range of products it manu- headquarters. factures. Anobit’s memories, which are already inside Apple’s products, would Apple corporate VP R&D Ed Frank is result in savings of 10-20% for the com- currently visiting Israel. Frank’s back- puter giant in its purchases of memo- ground is in semiconductors and he ries. Apple’s new CEO , who has spent most of the last decade in replaced the late , has been senior positions at Broadcom Corpora- stressing streamlining the supply chain; tion (Nasdaq: BRCM), where he has setting up an Israel development center managed communications chips activi- sits well with this strategy. ties and R&D generally. Frank has been meeting with Israeli companies and high tech business people, although the pur- Tegal invests in Israeli medtech start- pose of the visit has probably not been up to identify acquisitions. Semiconductor equipment supplier Tegal Corp. said Tuesday (Nov. 29) it made a Apple’s strategy over the years has $300,000 strategic investment in Nano- been to have full control over most of Vibronix Inc., a privately held firm that the components in its products. Apple’s develops medical devices and products history with chips began in 2008 with that implement its proprietary therapeu- the acquisition of P.A. Semi, which today tic ultrasound technology. forms the basis for all the company’s computers and phones. Having control NanoVibronix (Nesher, Israel) is a medi- cal device company focused on creating

3 Januarey 2012 products utilizing its proprietary low- example occurring in 1978, intensity surface acoustic wave (SAW) when terrorists killed 37 Israelis technology, according to Tegal. The firm and injured more than 70 on the is developing a series of products aimed Coastal Road. at the treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds, Tegal said. DSIT of Givat Shmuel provides one of the most comprehensive The company’s first product, PainShield systems available for protecting MD has been cleared the U.S. Food sensitive installations from the and Drug Administration and achieved sea. Building on its technical CE Mark certification in Europe, Tegal and operational experience in said. PainShield MD is marketed for the sonar and underwater acoustic treatment of tendonitis, muscle pain and systems for naval applications, trigeminal neuralgia, Tegal said. DSIT has developed an innova- tive, cost-effective Diver Detec- “Our investment in NanoVibronix expands tion Sonar (DDS) system called the Tegal portfolio to new markets and AquaShield, designed to protect new commercial horizons,” said Thomas critical coastal and offshore sites Mika, Tegal’s president and CEO, in a against unauthorized intrusion of statement. divers, swimmers, SDVs (Swim- mer Delivery Vehicles) and Mini Protecing the coastline - from down Submarines. below DSIT supplies one of the most compre- According to the company, hensive underwater defense systems DSIT’s sonar technology has the available, to keep “bad guys” out of sen- longest range of any system on sitive installations. the market, making it perfect for long distance detection and Don’t be fooled by the beautiful, blue, classification. When a breach calm waters you see when you go to the is detected, an alert is reported, beach; the ocean is actually a danger- alerting security personnel and ous place. Not because of the sharks setting off systems to neutralize and jellyfish; there are plenty of even the threat. But just as impor- more dangerous creatures trolling the tant as detection is the ability to seas, such as terrorists, pirates, spies, ascertain which breaches are and more. At risk are harbors, ports, real and which aren’t –ensuring oil refineries, security installations, and that the alert is activated only even water desalination plants. While if a real threat, like a diver, as many of these sites operate security opposed to a fish, is reported. systems aimed at preventing unauthor- To avoid that, the DSIT system ized intrusion above-water, very few utilized powerful algorithms that possess underwater surveillance sys- ensure accurate reporting. tems. And Israel, with its long coastline, is no stranger to maritime terrorism. DSIT (now a subsidiary of a There have been more than 80 attempts large U.S. energy company, but to attack Israel from the sea, the worst with all development work done in Israel) has performed dozens

4 January 2012 of installations all over the world, and and evolve search and discovery of last week the company received its larg- entertainment content on Xbox LIVE. (It est order, with a contract valued at $12.3 makes even more sense when you con- million with an undisclosed Asian energy sider that Microsoft is in the process of firm – the largest contract ever for an integrating content from video and cable underwater security system in the oil providers such as Verizon, Comcast, and gas industry, the comapany says. HBO and Epix into Xbox Live.)

Benny Sela, DSIT’s CEO, said that “VideoSurf’s content analytics technol- “DSIT’s diver detection sonar systems ogy will enhance the search and dis- are continuously protecting ports, naval covery of entertainment content across bases, energy installations, ships, and our platform,” said Alex Garden, director VIP compounds around the world. How- of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Enter- ever, DSIT is constantly improving its tainment Business at Microsoft. “This systems and developing new solutions holiday we will launch voice search to provide our customers with a com- across our entertainment partners on plete package from detection and clas- Xbox LIVE. Over time, as we integrate sification to response to the threat. We VideoSurf’s technology into our sys- take considerable pride in the satisfac- tem, we are excited about the potential tion and trust of our current customers. to have content tagged in real time to We believe this is one of the primary increase the speed and relevance of the reasons for the increase of inquiries and search results.” requests for quotes for our underwater protection systems.” TechCrunch notes that ultimately, Micro- soft could use its newly purchased Microsoft purchases Israeli video VideoSurf technology for Bing’s video search, making search easier across search your devices. It might also ultimately Microsoft has paid out nearly $100 mil- allow Kinect users to search for content lion on an Israel-based company called across multiple entertainment providers VideoSurf, TechCrunch reported yester- within Xbox Live and use Kinect’s voice day. The acquisition is expected to bring search powered by Bing. more complex search capabilities to Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.

VideoSurf, which was launched in 2006 by CEO Lior Delgo, Chief Scientist Israeli start-up Takadu helps London- Achi Brandt, CTO Eitan Sharon, and ers save water COO Shai Deljo, allows users to search As water gushes through the labyrin- through a wide range of video content on thine infrastructure of the London water websites for specific videos. The tech- supply system, an ageing pipe creaks, nology can “see” the individual frames whines noisily, and finally bursts. inside videos, enabling fast and precise searching. Microsoft says that over time Within seconds, an alert starts flashing it plans to integrate the VideoSurf tech- on a remote computer in the tiny office of nology into its entertainment platform to Takadu - an Israeli start-up in Tel Aviv. help augment its Xbox 360 ecosystem

5 Januarey 2012

Once picked up, the information is trans- cut high resolution imaging. mitted to Thames Water - the utility company responsible for bringing water It is important to note that cardiac cath- to Londoners. eterization procedure provides pertinent significant on line information about the CEO Amir Peg on how Takadu works activities of the patients heart and the with water companies condition of the arteries which then allows the cardiologist to accurately “Almost instantly, we’re able to detect, assess the situation and carry out to alert, locate, and basically inform the best most accurate catheterization pro- utility that there’s something wrong,” cedure necessary. says Amir Peleg, Takadu’s co-founder and chief executive, pointing to a com- Prof. Ran Kornowski who heads the puter screen. Institute of Invasive Cardiology and initi- ated this project: “This is only a small The firm’s specialization is smart water stone in the age of new medical technol- systems. ogies where now instead of just explain- ing the catheterization procedure to the Thanks to Takadu, as well as to other patient and his family through words we measures, Thames Water managed to can now use the iPAD to show them achieve five annual leakage reduction visually, in a very clear and professional targets in a row. manner the entire medical procedure. It is a completely different and very excit- Last winter, it received the prestigious ing experience which truly allows for the 2011 Tech Pioneer award at the World doctor and patient to meet at eye level, Economic Forum in Davos. while also completely protecting the pri- vacy of the patients. It is also a very high New cardiac invasive technology level professional way to discuss the catheterization with other cardiologists A new advanced technology has been on line around the world. I believe that developed for the first time worldwide, at this application will pave the road for the the Invasive Cardiology Institute, head- initiation of many other imaging applica- ed by Prof. Ran Kornowski, at Rabin tions which can be downloaded on to Medical Center (Beilinson and Hasharon the I PAD, opening up a new wave of Hospitals) where all the pertinent infor- useful advantageous medical technolo- mation collected during the catheteriza- gies, beneficial to both the patient and tion procedure is sent directly to the I the physician, allowing for much wider PAD. This new application allows for the worldwide cooperation.” cardiologist to see the entire catheter- ization process on the I PAD screen, both for utilization with the patients and Israeli technology enables blind tin- the staff. Developed in conjunction with gon a touchscreen the Mckesson Company this applica- Inpris, a small Israeli company from tion allows the doctor the opportunity to Efrat, will change the way you type on sit with his patient and their family, and your smartphones. All you need is intu- explain the catheterization procedure in ition. a very simple visual matter, with clear Many people use smartphones these

6 January 2012 days, but sometimes the drawback of keyboard.” these phones is actually their high-tech touchscreen. The software is in final stages of devel- opment and is expected to be launched Many times, routine typing on the touch- within a few weeks. Yaron said that screen becomes more difficult because the software will first be available on we have to look at the screen while Android-based systems, adding that the typing, and also because the digital key- company hopes to “start a revolution in board actually covers about half of the typing on touchscreen devices.” screen area.

Along came Inpris, a small family com- pany from the community of Efrat, and New Israeli technology can detect took upon itself to create an alternative. food contamination within minutes The company has come up with the key- Bacteria contamination is one of the big- board of the future for smartphone and gest issues in the food industry. Accord- tablets. The keyboard uses an intuitive ing to The US National Library of Medi- way of writing based on the movements cine, in the United States alone about 48 of the fingers rather than pressing a cer- million people get sick from contaminated tain point on the screen. food each year. The common method of testing food and beverages for harmful “It’s an intuitive ergonomic keyboard,” bacteria with the use of petri plates is said Inpris CEO Nissan Yaron. “Instead cumbersome and can take up to several of the QWERTY keyboard that cuts off days, which increases the chances of half of your screen and forces you to infected products making their way onto constantly look at the screen, find the the market. characters and twist your shoulders, we tell you to sit down, relax, put your An Israeli company named TA Count hand on the screen and just type as you claims to be able to reduce this waiting wish.” time from days to a mere five minutes. Based on a discovery by microbiologist “Our keyboard is also transparent,” he Dr. Vladimir Glukhman, TA Count has added, “so if you decide to look at the found a way to determine in a matter screen, it doesn’t cut off the website that of minutes whether or not a particular you’re working on.” microorganism is present.

Yaron said that the new keyboard in “This is the same principle as the preg- essence requires the user to learn a new nancy test,” CEO Isak Duenyas told concept. NoCamels. “The process of identifying all the bacteria present takes a little “I give you a default way of typing,” he more time, but within five minutes we said. “That’s a new language, but at any can give the important answer – ‘can time you can change the way you type this be consumed or not?’” using your intuition. So study yourself, use your intuition to type on the touch- TA Count’s founders; Glukhman, Due- screen anyway you like, and you don’t nyas and Dr. Elon Kaplan, all worked have to use the 140-year-old QWERTY together at a company creating water

7 Januarey 2012 purification systems. They got frustrated Yet, they are able to produce about with the length of time it took for the test 150,000 tons of vegetables a year in results for water purity to get back. So greenhouses. Most of the vegetables Glukhman set out to research a solu- are exported to Europe and elsewhere, tion. accounting for about 60 percent of the total vegetable export of Israel. The trio established TA Count in 2009 through Kinrot Ventures, an Israeli incu- Israel is considered the pioneer in drip bator promoting water technologies and irrigation. The biggest drip irrigation received funding from Hutchison Water company in the world is the Netafim, fol- Corporation. lowed by Jain Irrigation Systems in India, which incidentally has recently acquired “Today the system still requires a micro- another company in Israel, now known biologist, but our future goal is to enable as NaandanJain. In fertigation, the exact the system to work automatically with amount of water and fertilizer is supplied no human intervention,” Duenyas says. to the plants. This has several advan- “For example today in Tel Aviv there is tages. One is that there is economy in a municipal tester who has to visit 54 the use of water and fertilizer. Fertigated different places. If he had this system crops are earlier-maturing. The harvest in the back of his car while driving from is higher, and is of better quality. Fruits one place to another he would already are usually sweeter. Genetics is also get the test results and pass them to the very important. Plant breeders in Israel authorities quickly. Instead of taking the are continually developing new varieties sample to the lab we hope to bring the that suit the growing conditions in Israel. lab to the sample.” These include crops that are not only high yielding but are also resistant to TA Count currently only tests water and pests and diseases, tolerant to drought plans eventually to expand to food and conditions and the like. Crops are not even pharmaceuticals. the only products grown in the Arava Israel: 300 tons tomatoes per hectare area.

How can vegetable farmers in a desert 12,000 liters milk per cow! produce 300 tons of tomatoes in one High-tech agriculture in Israel is produc- year per hectare? They don’t have fer- ing record yields in both animal and field tile soil and they have only little water, crops. And in the case of dairy cattle, yet the Israeli farmers in Arava , the they also have the highest production southernmost part of the Negev desert in the world – some 12,000 liters of milk in Israel, are producing just that. The per cow per lactation of 305 to 310 days. amazing feat is the result of technology That’s 40 liters of milk per cow per day. developed through sustained innova- tive research and development program, In comparison, the Philippine dairy farm- plus an active extension service that er is making just about 10 liters a day keeps the farmers abreast of the latest per animal. A former senator who has a developments in farming. The Arava dairy farm in Laguna says they are get- area is sparsely populated. There are ting an average of 9.7 liters per day per only about 600 families in eight settle- cow. ments consisting of about 3,000 people.

8 January 2012

There are a number of reasons why milk yield is high in Israel. One is supe- Other recently developed tags can detect rior genetics. The Israelis have devel- daily rumination-duration and lying dura- oped their own Israeli Holstein which is tion, supplying information about a cow’s claimed to be adaptable to harsh and nutritional and welfare status. varied climatic conditions. Most of the cows are inseminated artificially with According to the Ministry of Agriculture semen from proven sires. and Rural Development, linear program- ming software developed in Israel assists Research in feeding and nutrition is con- in formulating the lowest cost rations for tributing to the economical production of optimized feeding and production pro- milk. Dairy cows are raised in confine- grams. A feed controller is a mobile unit ment and are fed a diet based on a total attached to the mixing wagon which mixed ration (TMR). The milk cow’s TMR stores group-feeding data, and down- contains around 33 to 35 percent of for- loads it to the main computer. Data are ages (dry matter basis, mainly wheat interlinked with the herd management silage). The remainder, 63 to 65 per- software to generate intake reports per cent, is concentrates (grains and meals) head or group. and byproducts. The fact that the diet of Israeli cows contains relatively high Also, cooling systems developed in Isra- percentage of agricultural and industrial el and based on Israeli-made equipment, byproducts lowers feeding costs. At the are used in most dairy herds to help same time this reduces environmental maintain relatively high production and contamination. fertility levels in summer, and reduce production seasonality. At a kibbutz there is a wide planting of wheat. We were told that it was planted Israel produces enough milk for its grow- not for the grains but for silage for ing population. It could produce much cows. more than its present production but dairy farming is regulated by means of Advanced technologies developed in production quotas. These quotas are Israel are also making a big impact on set by the Dairy Board and prices are the efficiency of dairy farming in the controlled by the government. Accord- country. One example is a flow meter ing to special government regulations, which is attached to the milking equip- no dairy farm may produce or market ment. This automatically measures the unprocessed milk. milk flow and milking duration. It is also used as a means for early detection of This procedure helps to maintain the mastitis and udder infection. balance between supply and demand in the sector, while allowing continued Another is a tag containing an “activ- growth and reasonable profitability. ity meter” which is used to identify the cow and transmit the information to the Milk consumption in Israel has increased computer regarding the cow’s general tremendously since the country was activity, detecting the sick cows as well established in 1948. In 1950, milk con- as those that are in heat and that need sumption in Israel was about 90 million to be inseminated immediately. liters. By 2008, total milk consumption

9 Januarey 2012 reached 1,280 million liters. Each Israeli, processes automatically gathered real man, woman and child, now consumes time data and provides a wide range of an average of 180 liters per year. That’s analysis reports covering all the many about half liter a day. different factors that the herdsman must know about the herd – yield, health, fer- Milk produced in Israel is made into tility, nutrition and more. many processed products. After milk- ing, the milk undergoes a laboratory and Afimilk’s Rojman said that AfiFarm sup- quality test. It then continues through the ports strategic decision-making by using pasteurization process, after which it can scientific models for individual and herd be manufactured into butter, yoghurt, milk yield prediction, planning of cow cheese or other dairy products through replacements and strategic planning of totally automated systems. There’s a nutrition. wide range of over 1,000 dairy prod- ucts. AfiFarm also supports import/export data to and from external sources and fea- At the Afikim (Afimilk) dairy farm, the tures self-diagnostic and control capa- milking cows are really pampered. They bilities. are given feed throughout the day and are milked three times daily. The ani- UK: Irrigation system scoops green mals feed in a lower portion at the edge award of the house where they also defecate. Israeli-developed technology tested on Each day, a contractor who brings it to Staffordshire strawberry farm takes sus- a biogas company collects the manure. tainability prize. A “revolutionary” irriga- Afikim pays the manure contractor $140 tion and fertigation system in use at per animal per year. The biogas compa- a Staffordshire strawberry grower has ny, on the other hand, uses the manure taken an award for its sustainable use to generate methane gas for the genera- of water and fertilizer. The AutoAgronom tion of electricity. system, developed in Israel by the com- pany of the same name, uses sensors Afikim’s Daniel Hojman estimates that in the root zone to detect plants’ needs their high-milking cows eat $8 worth of before applying water and fertilizer auto- feed everyday. That’s small compared matically - a method it calls capillarity to the value of the milk produced. On the control of irrigation and feeding. average, after deducting the expenses on the non-milking animals (the replace- Tomer Kniznik, the firm’s UK represen- ment stocks and dry cows), the estimat- tative, said: “It’s a new concept which ed profit is between 23 and 25 percent we are introducing to the market here, of gross revenues. and we started working with several UK growers last year, including Tom Busby Afikim employs a user-friendly software at Dearnsdale Farm.” The manufacturer called AfiFarm Management Program has claimed the system can make sav- developed specifically for the dairy farm. ings of up to 30% on water use and 70% In a herdsman’s hands, AfiFarm is a on fertilizer. The award, presented by powerful analysis tool used for the man- the Sustainable Water Industry Group agement of daily operations and long- (SWIG) at its inaugural event in Lon- term strategic planning. The program

10 January 2012 don’s City Hall earlier this month, was an acknowledgement of the good results in Yissum introduces a novel technolo- water use, fertilizer use and yield expe- gy for manufacturing an anti-malaria rienced at the Haughton soft fruit pro- drug in tobacco ducer, he said. “That means your return The work was published in the latest on investment is very fast.” issue of Nature Biotechnology journal

Stem cell research leads to blood vessel Combating malaria is one of the eight Mil- to restore growth produces vessels to lennium Development Goals described restore blood supply in the United Nations Millennium Decla- Researchers at the Technion- Israel ration signed by all UN members at the Institute of Technology and Rambam year 2000. A key intervention to control Medical Center in Haifa are the first in malaria is prompt and effective treat- the world to create new blood vessels ment with artemisinin-based combina- using embryonic stem cells that were tion therapies. Artemisinin is a natural programmed in advance. compound from Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) plants, but low-cost artemisi- The breakthrough cells were cultured nin-based drugs are lacking because of in the lab in large amounts - enough to the high cost of obtaining the natural or use them for treating cardiovascular dis- chemically synthesized drug. Despite eases in patients. extensive efforts invested in the last decade in metabolic engineering of the The team was headed by Prof. Joseph drug in both microbial and heterologous Itskovitz-Eldor, head of the obstetrics/ plant systems, production of artemisinin gynecology department at Rambam and itself was never achieved. the stem cell lab at the Technion’s Rap- paport Faculty of Medicine, together with Now, Yissum Research Development Dr. Ayelet Dar-Vaknin. An article was Company of the Hebrew University of published online in the journal Circula- Jerusalem Ltd., the technology transfer tion. arm of the University of Jerusalem, intro- duces a novel method allowing artemisi- The research team produced cells called nin production in a heterologous (that is, pericytes, which are needed to build other than A. annua) plant system, such blood vessels and to ensure their func- as tobacco. The method was developed tion. by Professor Alexander Vainstein from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agri- They were produced during the differ- culture, Food and Environment at the entiation of embryonic stem cells using Hebrew University, and sponsored by a markers characteristic of cell mem- fellowship of Mr. Isaac Kaye. It was pub- branes. lished under the title Generation of the Potent Anti-Malarial Drug Artemisinin in When they were injected into mice leg Tobacco in the latest issue of the presti- muscles whose blood vessels had been gious publication Nature Biotechnology. almost fully blocked, the pericytes creat- ed new blood vessels and rehabilitated Professor Vainstein and his graduate the muscle cells that had been harmed student Mr. Moran Farhi have developed by the inadequate supply of oxygen. genetically engineered tobacco plants

11 Januarey 2012 carrying genes encoding the entire bio- chemical pathway necessary for produc- Israeli company launches Touchless ing artemisinin. In light of tobacco’s high technology biomass and rapid growth, this invention The XTR3D website introduces the tech- will enable a cheap production of large nology. “Gesture control any device. quantities of the drug, paving the way control any game,” the website for the development of a sustainable says. “XTR3D Gesture Control Interface plant-based platform for the commercial supports gestures up to 5 meters away production of an anti-malarial drug. The from the screen, in real life environment invention is patented by Yissum, which and with multiple people in front of the is now seeking a partner for its further TV.” development. The Tel Aviv company just received a Yaacov Michlin, CEO of Yissum said, large investment of $8 million. One of “Professor Vainstein’s technology pro- the big investors was U.S. company vides, for the first time, the opportunity “Texas Instruments”. Other companies for manufacturing affordable artemisinin clearly see a market in this technology by using tobacco plants. We hope that after the Microsoft Kinect gaming con- this invention will eventually help control sole did extremely well despite the $200 this prevalent disease, for the benefit price tag. But don’t get XTR3D confused of many millions of people around the with Microsoft’s popular gaming console. globe, and in particular in the developing Instead of using depth sensors, XTR3D world.” uses the 2D cameras on your smart- phone to create a three-dimensional About Malaria Malaria is caused by a effect. parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via mosquitoes. Symptoms “It can be installed into any consumer of malaria include fever, headache, and electronics device,” XTR3D spokesper- vomiting, and usually appear between son Roy Ramati said. He adds that it will 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If be offered at an affordable price to reach not treated, malaria can quickly become a broader amount of consumers. life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. You can look forward to giving your hands a rest when the technology launches in Over 3 billion people are at risk of malar- 2012. ia. Every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one mil- Cornell University received $350 million lion deaths. People living in the poorest from the Atlantic Philanthropies and its countries are the most vulnerable. Chairman Charles Feeney to support a New York City engineering campus Malaria is especially a serious prob- awarded to the university. lem in Africa, where 20% of childhood deaths are due to the effects of the dis- The donation, a record for the university, ease and every 30 seconds a child dies was announced Dec. 16 as an anony- from malaria. mous gift. The identity of the donor was

The Israel High-Tech & Investment Report is a monthly report dealing with news, developments and investment opportunities in the universe of Israeli tech- nology and business. While effort is made to ensure the contents’ accuracy, it is not guaranteed. Reports about public companies are not intended as promotion of shares, nor should they be construed as such. 12 January 2012 announced late last night in a statement on Atlantic’s website. the Technion or Cornell,” said Technion Cornell and its partner Technion-Israel President Peretz Lavie. “We are going to Institute of Technology won a New York have something new.” City contest to build an engineering cam- pus with a grant of land on Roosevelt An engineering campus in New York Island and $100 million for infrastructure will help tie Cornell more closely to the improvements. The NYCTech Campus city and provide a more viable location is intended to bolster job creation in for companies that are spun out of the the city and may generate 600 spinoff school, said Ronald Ehrenberg, an eco- companies and $23 billion in economic nomics professor who directs the Cornell activity over the three decades, Higher Education Research Institute. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference. “The trustees and the president have long wanted to have a bigger presence Cornell, based in Ithaca, New York, and in New York City,” Ehrenberg said. “The Haifa-based Technion beat out six com- notion that you can be a great interna- peting bids, including one from Stanford tional university in the 21st century if University. Cornell announced the $350 you’re located in rural upstate New York million gift hours after Stanford said it doesn’t work.” was withdrawing from the contest. Cornell’s endowment was valued at $5.3 “Of all the applications we received, billion as of June 30, according to the Cornell and Technion’s was the boldest university. and most ambitious,” Bloomberg said. “In a word, this project will be transfor- Cornell counts among its alumni San- mative.” ford “Sandy” Weill, former chairman of Citigroup Inc. in New York; Abby Joseph Feeney, 80, graduated Cornell in 1956 Cohen, senior investment strategist at and co-founded Duty Free Shoppers, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, a retailing company. That company and former U.S. Attorney General Janet became the core of the Atlantic Philan- Reno. thropies, Feeney’s charity, which has made grants of more than $5.5 billion Akamai to Acquire Contendo for since 1984. $268M Technion, an 87-year-old Israeli science Network solutions provider Akamai Tech- and engineering institution with almost nologies (AKAM) said it has agreed to 13,000 students, counts Albert Einstein acquire smaller rival Cotendo for $268 as an early supporter. The scientist was million. president of the first Technion society, according to its website. Technion pro- Akamai said the combination of its tech- fessor Dan Schechtman was awarded nologies and expertise with Contendo’s the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Dec. integrated suite of Web and mobile 10. acceleration services is expected to increase the pace of innovation in the “We are not going to have an extensiof areas of cloud and mobile optimization.

13 Januarey 2012

Akamai competes with companies like 2010 to 104.1 in Oct. 2011. The Bank of Level 3 Communications (LVLT) and Israel Interest rate grew gradually from Limelight Networks (LLNW), providing a 2% in Jan. 2011 to 3.25% in June. In secure platform over which businesses between June to September, Bank of can engage users across Web, mobile, Israel interest rate was stagnant, and cloud, or a mix of private and public net- then was gradually decreased to 2.75% work environments. in Dec. 2011. Both imports and exports knew a recov- The Contendo transaction is expected to ery in the 1st half of 2011, with a decline close in the first half of 2012. in the 3rd quarter. Exports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 3.8% The Israeli Economy - Summary of in 2011, and imports of goods and ser- 2011 vices are forecasted to grow by 9.2% in The Israeli economy continued to with- 2011. stand the global economic crisis in 2011, which turned to be an important year for the Israeli economy also due to key socio-economic issues receiving more attention Wishing our

The following article summarizes key readers and events and developments over the last year in the Ministry of Finance and the Israeli economy, with links to further friends a Happy, information in articles posted over the last year by the International Affairs Healthy and Department in the ministry. Main Economic Indicators P r o s p e r o u s The Israeli economy continued to with- New Year stand the global economic crisis in 2011, while maintaining growth: Israel’s GDP per-capita is forecasted to grow by 3% in 2011. Also, Israel managed to decrease its unemployment to an historic low level, standing at only 5.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2011, and 5.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2011. Inflation in the last 12 months (Nov. 2011 compared to Nov. 2010) stands at 2.6%, within the target bandwidth of the Bank of Israel (1%-3%). Average monthly Consumer Price Index (where 2010=100) grew from 101.4 in Nov.

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