From the Chinese stock market crash that shook global equity markets to the obsession with hunting for unicorns, 2015 was a year filled with volatility and non-traditional capital flowing into the private markets. Israel felt the effects of these global trends, with an unprecedented $5 billion in investments, $8 billion M&A activity and a significant drop in IPOs (to $4 billion). Yet beneath the surface of these high-level statistics lies a wealth of interesting data.
Durante 66 años, esta granja colectiva en la cima de una montaña cerca de la frontera con Líbano ha dependido para su subsistencia de las manzanas, las vacas lecheras y, más recientemente, de una fábrica de blindaje de autos.
Hoy en día, sin embargo, su negocio de mayor crecimiento es Sasa Software, una startup de ciberseguridad que produce software para filtrar y proteger datos y redes. Desde su lanzamiento a mediados de 2012, la firma —que no da a conocer sus datos financieros— ha cosechado 90 clientes.
“No podemos estar aislados de todos los cambios”, explica Michael Piha, miembro del kibutz y vicepresidente de marketing de Sasa Software.
MEPs have called for tighter controls on European financing of Israeli companies. Lax regulation currently allows weapons manufacturers access to EU funding. EurActiv France reports.
The participation of certain Israeli companies in the EU's vast research and development programme Horizon 2020 has angered some European lawmakers.
En 2014, Israël n'aura pas usurpé son surnom de "Start-up Nation" (selon le titre du livre de Dan Senor et Saul Singer). Tous les records ont été battus cette année par la scène technologique israélienne, tant au niveau des introductions en bourse que des acquisitions. Tour d'horizon de quelques grandes réussites numériques de l'année passée.
This is the time of year that tech sites and tech pros come out with their “top 10 of 2014” lists, and Israeli tech pundits are no different. But what does “best” mean? The company that got the most investments? The firms with the best exits? The ones that won the most international awards?
A list could be drawn up of Israeli tech companies for each of those categories, and most of those lists would find it challenging to limit themselves to just 10. But in the final analysis, the purpose of tech is not development for its own sake, but to solve problems – to help people live healthier, more productive, more prosperous, and easier lives.
By 2050, one-third of the world’s energy will need to come from renewable sources, like solar or wind. No, this isn’t a statement made by environmental organizations, but by two of the world’s largest oil companies, British Petroleum (BP) and Shell.
For countries like Iceland, which is already generating 100 percent of its energy from renewable sources, that statistic doesn’t sound ominous, but for the majority of the world’s countries who are still dependent on fossil fuels, it’s time to start thinking about what will power mankind’s way forward.
When Hamas rained rockets on Israel in 2012 and again in 2014, the country was able to prevent widespread casualties and damage by activating the Iron Dome system, which intercepted and destroyed rockets fired at Israeli population centers and industrial areas. But rockets aren’t the only threat, or even the main threat. Experts are examining ways to find and foil enemy cyber-attacks against the country’s infrastructure, attacks that are already taking place in the tens of thousands.
What to do with rusty old shipping containers no longer fit to haul goods across the high seas?
Here in this southern Israeli town, they have been cleaned of rust, given a lick of paint and recycled into a chic but cheap living space, replete with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchenette and bathroom. Stacked atop one another, the worn boxes now constitute Israel’s first student village made solely of retired shipping containers.
An experimental working electrical wire made out of DNA, made by an Israeli-led team of scientists, could be a breakthrough toward building the next generation of computers.
Electrical circuits composed of molecules have long been the great hope for computer miniaturization. The main obstacle to their development has been finding the right wiring. DNA is a leading candidate, because it can self-assemble into complex shapes, which could make a tiny circuit. But nobody had been able to get DNA to actually conduct electricity — until now.
Between a third and half of the food grown today never makes it to market. Produce of all kinds is “lost” to spoilage and disease, due mostly to transportation, storage, and other logistics issues. As a result, hundreds of millions of people still go hungry – but they don’t have to, thanks to an invention by Israel’s Pimi Agro. By applying a formula based on hydrogen peroxide — “with a few key additions,” said Nimrod Ben-Yehuda, CTO and co-founder of Pimi – fruits and vegetables remain fresh and viable for up to 10 weeks, significantly cutting losses due to rot and deterioration during the transportation process.
