On Monday, the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation announced that it has approved $8 million in funding for nine new joint projects in emerging technologies between U.S. and Israeli companies. In addition to the BIRD grants, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to $22 million.
The BIRD Foundation promotes collaborations between U.S. and Israeli companies in various technological sectors for joint product development. In addition to providing conditional grants of up to $1 million (up to $1.5m for exceptional projects), the Foundation assists by working with companies to identify potential strategic partners and facilitate introductions.
Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Israel Innovation Authority.
“The BIRD Foundation promotes cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies who possess strong technical capabilities and market insights. We are excited about the potential impact of this cycle’s selected proposals on industries of strategic importance to both Israel and the United States,” said Mojdeh Bahar, Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and co-Chair of BIRD’s Board of Governors, in a statement on the awards. “With technologies ranging from cybersecurity to smart medical devices and innovative therapeutics, from improvements to industrial manufacturing and fabrication applications to cost-savings in agriculture, the proposals outline plans for the development of unique products solving complex problems.
“Our long-standing collaboration with the BIRD Foundation has yielded outstanding technological innovations following successful collaborations between Israeli and American companies,” added Dr. Amiram Appelbaum, Chief Scientist at the Israeli Ministry of Economy and Industry, Chairman of the Israel Innovation Authority, and co-Chair of BIRD’s Board of Governors We are proud that, once again, the BIRD Board of Governors has selected projects reflecting a variety of sectors such as agriculture, medicine, cybersecurity, and construction technology. We are hopeful that projects supported by BIRD, if successful, will improve the health and quality of life for citizens of both countries and beyond.”
The nine projects approved by the Board of Governors are in addition to the more than 1000 projects that the BIRD Foundation has approved for funding during its 44-year history. To date, BIRD’s total investment in joint projects is over $370 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion.
Projects funded include: A construction technology (contech) venture by Kav-Medida (Herzliya, Israel) and San Francisco’s Skycatch to develop a high precision indoor scanning and analytics system to monitor progress in real time throughout all phases of construction.
Jerusalem’s Civan Lasers (Jerusalem, Israel) and Rexburg, Idaho’s AMET, Inc. will develop an Advanced Laser Welding System based on Dynamic Beam Laser.
Tel Aviv’s Sixgill and Somerville, Massachusetts-based Basis Technology Corporation will develop AI-based technologies, based on natural language processing, to identify emerging and imminent cyber threats.
Agridrones, an agtech company from Kfar Saba, Israel, is working with Riverside, California’s ISCA Technologies to develop an intelligent drone-fitted precision dispersion system for natural pesticides and pollination enhancement products.
The latest round of investment includes a large proportion of biotech and medtech startups. These include a partnership between Tel Aviv’s TempraMed Israel and Concept Group Corporation of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to develop thermal insulation to shield the EpiPen Auto-Injector from exposure to high temperatures that can degrade drug performance.
Additionally, Cordio Medical of Or Yehuda, Israel is partnering with Norwalk, Connecticut’s International Healthcare to develop and validate the HearO® system that remotely monitors Congestive Heart Failure patients.
Mego Afek of Kibbutz Afek, Israel and Napa, California’s Edamame Health are working to develop a Lymphedema remote patient monitoring system.
Jerusalem’s HIL Applied Medical Proton International is working with Alpharetta, Georgia’s Proton International to develop ultra-compact, affordable proton laser based beam therapy.
Finally, SirT6 of Ness Ziona, Israel and San Diego’s Regulus Therapeutics are receiving foundation funds to develop an innovative treatment for geriatric frailty based on increasing SIRT6 protein levels.
“The selected projects include breakthrough innovations that will benefit from both the U.S.-Israel partnerships and the risk-sharing funding mechanism provided by the BIRD Foundation,” said Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation, in a comment on the awards. “The awards can be a significant factor for companies seeking to raise funding, especially in an environment in which investments are often focused on less risky sectors.”
Last month, the BIRD Foundation, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Israel’s Ministry of Energy (MoE), and the Israel Innovation Authority selected six clean energy projects to receive $5.48 million in R&D funding. The projects selected are in the fields of Advanced Vehicle Technologies, Batteries, Energy Efficiency, Storage, and Water-Energy Nexus.
