Israel-US foundation funds nine energy projects

Posted on January 4, 2016

During its meeting on December 16, 2015, held in Tel Aviv, Israel, the Board of Governors of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation approved US$7.5 million in funding for nine new projects between U.S. and Israeli companies. In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to approximately US$21 million.

The BIRD Foundation promotes collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies in various technological fields for the purpose of joint product development. In addition to providing conditional grants of up to US$1 million for approved 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 U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and by the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) at the Israel Ministry of Economy and Industry.

The nine projects approved by the Board of Governors are in addition to the 926 projects which the BIRD Foundation has approved for funding during its 38-year history. To date, BIRD’s total investment in joint projects has been over US$300 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than US$10 billion.

The projects approved include:

BDR Technologies (Ness Ziona, Israel) and MagBioSense (St. Louis, MO): Ultra-sensitive Point-of-Care device for rapid detection of biomarkers.
ECOncrete Tech (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Besser Company (Alpena, MI): Bio-enhanced drycast concrete products that mitigate climate.
Elbit Systems (Haifa, Israel) and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems (Irvine, CA): Small-sat search and rescue application.
Forrest Innovations (Caesarea, Israel) and U.S. Company: Solutions to control diseases in potatoes.
Groundwork BioAg (Lod, Israel) and Marrone Bio Innovations (Davis, CA): Biological stacked seed treatment.
Kramer Electronics (Jerusalem, Israel) and iRule (Detroit, MI): Distributed advanced commercial control solution.
Screenovate (Ra’anana, Israel) and U.S. Company: Wireless display project.
VocalZoom (Yokne’am, Israel) and Vixar: (Plymouth, MN): VCSEL Module for sensing applications.
WSC Sports Technologies (Bnei Brak, Israel) and Krossover Intelligence (New York, NY): Custom highlights for amateur athletes.

The deadline for submission of Executive Summaries for the next BIRD cycle is March 9, 2016. Approval of projects will take place in June 2016.