Good News Israel presents unlimited recharging; wastewater plant refreshes Jordan River and much more.
By Michael Ordman
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Unlimited recharging
Israel’s Chakratec develops kinetic batteries with a mechanical flywheel to provide smart storage with unlimited charge/discharge cycles and no polluting chemicals. Chakratec has just won Ben-Gurion University’s Clean Technology Business Plan Competition. http://www.chakratec.com/
http://aabgu.org/bgu-negev-cleantech-initiative/
Apple seeks Israeli chip technology
The Wall St Journal reports that Apple is advertising in Israel for silicon and semiconductor design and testing engineers. It also notes that Johny Srouji, Apple’s Vice President of hardware technologies, is an Israeli Arab from Haifa.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/02/26/apples-focus-in-israel-chip-design/
The smartwatch designed by Israelis
No Camels has revealed that two Israelis are responsible for designing the latest generation of Pebble Time smartwatches. Itai Vonshak is head of product and UX and Liron Damir is head of design. The company has raised over $14 million in just six days on Kickstarter – a new record.
http://nocamels.com/2015/03/israelis-pebble-time-smart-watch/
US grant for Israeli agriculture research
Aiming to boost crop yields of plants like chickpeas and soybeans, the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment has been awarded a $789,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Hebrew-University-receives-789000-grant-to-boost-crop-yields-392802
Building microchip tools with New York
The State University of New York is partnering with Israel’s Office of the Chief Scientist to develop critical tools for the semiconductor industry.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2015/03/03/suny-polytechnic-institute-inks-2-9m-deal-with.html
Turn your smartphone into a tricorder
The optical filters developed by Israel’s Unispectral can identify an object’s hyperspectral signature – its unique chemical fingerprint. Applied to a smartphone camera, the data can be used to determine the object’s chemical components. Like a Star-Trek tricorder.
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/05/israeli-startup-can-turn-your-smartphone-camera-into-a-star-trek-tricorder/
Wastewater plant refreshes Jordan River
Israel’s Water Authority has opened a new treatment facility for wastewater from the city of Tiberias. The NIS 120 million-shekel project brings an end to a situation in which raw sewage flow was endangering the vitality of the Jordan River.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/New-Tech/Tiberias-wastewater-heads-to-new-treatment-plant-curbing-raw-sewage-flow-in-Jordan-River-392597
Saving Australia’s water
I featured Israel’s TaKaDu in January. Here is a more detailed report about the billions of liters of water that TaKaDu’s unique leaks and faults detection technology is saving in Australia’s parched states.
http://www.afr.com/p/technology/the_israeli_tech_start_up_saving_mRrbJ9PMc9x6U8s3C3oTFN
Grow more, water less
Israel’s CropX has developed an advanced adaptive irrigation software service, increasing crop yields whilst saving up to 25% of the water and energy used in irrigation of large fields. Three sensors placed in the ground send readings into the Cloud and CropX determines where to irrigate.
http://www.cropx.com/services/
Click here for all of this week’s Good News from Israel.