Odysight.ai’s technology allows for constant monitoring of aircraft, sending alerts in case of malfunctions that could lead to accidents.

Israeli company Odysight.AI is working to reduce airplane accidents and make aviation safer. Odysight’s AI-based visual sensing technology monitors the conditions and critical safety components of hard-to-reach environments, such as planes, for the early detection of potential malfunctions that could lead to accidents. The system sends out an alert anytime it detects an anomaly. In addition to improving safety, the system significantly reduces maintenance costs and labor. The company has offices in Israel and the United States and plans to open bureaus in Europe this year. Odysight.AI CTO Eli Israeli is a Technion alumnus.

News reports over the past year indicate that airplane accidents are increasing. 

According to a report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the number of fatal air accidents in 2024 rose to seven with 244 fatalities, compared to 2023’s one fatal accident that resulted in 72 deaths. 

The data does not include deaths from security-related aviation incidents such as the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines jet — allegedly brought down by a Russian missile — that killed 38 people.  

In the report, the IATA described the increase as “a top concern for aviation safety requiring urgent global coordination.”

Odysight.ia

Now, Israeli company Odysight.ia (a combination of the words “odyssey,” “sight” and “artificial intelligence”) is working to reduce airplane accidents and make aviation generally safer. 

“We are changing the aviation world,” Odysight’s CEO, Col. (ret.) Yehuda Ofer, an entrepreneur and ex-Israeli Air Force pilot. 

Odysight’s AI-based visual sensing technology monitors the conditions and critical safety components of hard-to-reach environments, such as planes, for the early detection of potential malfunctions that could lead to accidents. 

Anytime the system detects an anomaly, it sends out an alert. The system is essentially a kit — a small, advanced computer with a set of specialized sensors, unique operating system, and levels of visual analytics and algorithms technologies.

“Our algorithm creates not only an alert in real time for the anomaly, but also a prediction, which is a crucial part of the technology. If you can see things that are there, but normally cannot be monitored, you have very valuable data for all the chain of maintenance,” says Ofer.

Alongside increasing safety, the system is said to significantly reduce maintenance costs and labor. “The most expensive thing in aviation for an aircraft is time on the ground” to carry out safety procedures, notes Ofer. 

Odysight also lowers costs because fewer maintenance personnel are required and the system can be more reliable than human employees, who are less and less inclined to go into this profession. 

“Our system does not go out for the weekend, does not drink, does not have a girlfriend; it is just there, watching and monitoring all the time,” adds Ofer.

From health to NASA

Founded in 2013 under the name ScoutCam, the company’s technology was initially developed for medical use to treat gastrointestinal disorders and perform minimally invasive surgeries. 

It was established by Prof. Benad Goldwasser, a veteran Israeli urological surgeon and a founder of several successful medical startups. 

In 2020, the company changed its name and pivoted its focus from health to aviation after the IAF approached the startup, asking for a potential solution following a helicopter accident that resulted in a crash. 

Odysight is still involved in the medical field, but “it’s not our main focus,” says Ofer, who has been with the company since 2022. 

Since pivoting, Odysight’s technology has been used by NASA in its Robotic Refuelling Mission 3.

“It’s a robot that goes outside of the space shuttle and attaches to a dead satellite in orbit, checking the fuel systems. If everything is okay — no cracks, no leaks — you can refuel the dead satellite,” explains Ofer.

Pioneers

Ofer says the big vision for the company is to expand and become the sector leader. “We are already pioneers, and we want to create a better and safer world,” he says.

Odysight recently became the first Israeli startup to announce an initial public offering in 2025, uplisting to Nasdaq with an IPO priced at $21.5 million at a company valuation of $129 million. 

“We raised the funds that are required, as well as sales and backlog,” adds Ofer.

The company employs 60 workers across its offices in Israel and the United States, and plans to open bureaus in Europe this year. 

One of the Israeli offices is located in Omer, some 40 km (25 miles) from Gaza in southern Israel. 

“We have people here from different industries and backgrounds, who never stopped working throughout the war, not even for one day,” Ofer tells. 

“The best of technologies cannot go forward from being a vision to a real capability without the people who are making the difference. It’s the people that push us forward.”

The Technion is the only Israeli university in the top 100 and ranks 89th worldwide

The U.S. National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has ranked the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology  first in Israel and second in Europe for the number of U.S. patents approved in  2024, with 43 patents registered last year. The Technion is the only Israeli university on this prestigious list, placing 89th globally.

Rona Samler, general manager of T3 – the Technion’s commercialisation unit, stated:

“I am extremely proud of our ranking among the world’s top 100 universities and our first-place standing in Israel for the fourth consecutive year. This recognition is a testament to the excellence of Technion researchers in scientific and engineering innovation and the institution’s strength in translating ideas into research and research into world-changing technologies. This is one of the key ways the Technion makes a lasting impact on society and the economy.”

Patent registration in the U.S. enables academic institutions to transform groundbreaking technologies into competitive global products, significantly benefiting consumers and industries worldwide.

Dr. Paul Sanberg, president of the NAI, emphasised: “By recognising this crucial step in the commercialisation process, we highlight the role of intellectual property in benefiting inventors and institutions while encouraging the development of technologies with a potentially significant societal and economic impact.”

The NAI ranking is based on data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for 2024 and includes 100 institutions and 9,600 patents.

Israeli medical startup AISAP, which is pioneering AI-driven diagnostics, has been recognised as one of the world’s most innovative and promising companies for 2025 by Fast Company. AISAP secured fourth place globally in the healthcare category, a remarkable achievement that underscores the international recognition of its groundbreaking technology and its impact on the future of medicine. One of their products, AISAP CARDIO, is the world’s first real-time AI-powered cardiac diagnostic platform. AISAP Co-founder Ehud Raanani is a Technion alumnus.

Autonomous Flying Cowboys Manage Livestock More Efficiently: Israeli tech startup BeeFree Agro has just delivered its first fleet of “autonomous flying cowboys” to a paying customer. The robots are eyes in the sky that will transform the way the world’s beef cattle are farmed. The drones supply a live feed for 30-minute missions over a ranch and provide high-resolution pictures that show the precise GPS location of every single cow, providing an exact count. Its first system went live in January in Brazil, where it currently manages around 3 million cattle. BeeFree Agro Co-founder and COO Dvir Cohen is a Technion alumnus.

The Woman Behind the Billion-Dollar Brain Surgery Breakthrough:Technion alumna Nora Nseir, founder and co-CEO of Nurami Medical, was recently featured by CTech in an informative Q&A. Nora speaks about founding the company with her partner, Dr. Amir Bahar, their products (which include an internal gel seal that degrades within the body once a wound is healed and a suture-free adhesive that can replace damaged meningeal tissue until new tissue grows), funding rounds, and more.

Ten Israeli-founded firms were chosen for this year’s Fast Company Most Innovative Companies lists in specific categories, three of which have Technion connections. In the enterprise category, aiOla is featured for helping industry reduce paper forms via AI and using AI-powered speech recognition for tasks like vehicle safety. In the security category, Dazz was featured for using AI to help find and fix critical issues within cloud infrastructures. And Silverfort, also in the security category, was featured for protecting every login and account in an enterprise. aiOla COO Alon Peleg, Dazz Co-founder and CEO Merav Bahat, and Silverfort Co-founder and CTO Yaron Kassner are all Technion alumni.

Conversational AI pioneer aiOla is cited for “rescuing legacy industries from paper forms via AI,” using AI-powered speech recognition for tasks like vehicle safety inspections in more than 120 languages spoken in various accents.

Dazz appears in the security category “for using AI to help find and fix critical issues within cloud infrastructures.” The startup was acquired by Israeli unicorn Wiz at the end of 2024 for approximately $450 million. (Wiz itself is in the midst of acquisition by Alphabet for a record $32 billion.)

Silverfort also won a place on the security category list, for “protecting every login and account in an enterprise.” The company focuses on identity security, integrating authentication into a single, easy-to-install platform that can instantly block compromised accounts, trigger multifactor authentication, and accelerate remediation time.

Israel’s oldest university is playing an integral role in tearing down walls between academia and business, helping the so-called “Startup Nation” better compete in future-facing industries at a time of rapid technological change. 

Technion — Israel Institute of Technology was founded in 1924, 24 years before the establishment of Israel, on the idea that if a Jewish state were to come into existence, it would first need technical expertise to develop the country. 

Most of Israel’s railroads, highways and bridges were designed and built by Technion grads, along with its advanced telecom infrastructure, desalination plants and electrical grid. Chip design, aerospace engineering and optoelectronics all have a home in the university, which awards about 30 percent of all Israel’s engineering undergraduate degrees and half of its Ph.Ds. Pioneering work in micro-electronics started at the Technion, and innovations like the Iron Dome air-defense system were developed by alumni.

“The impact is really unparalleled,” said Uri Sivan, president of the Technion, during a visit to Atlanta along with startups from Drive TLV, a mobility incubator in Tel Aviv. 

But that competitive edge is at risk for all universities that keep their inventions locked in ivory towers and fail to keep up with the adapting needs of companies. 

“I believe that universities … need to reposition themselves, or in a sense they’re going to become somewhat irrelevant,” he told a group of entrepreneurs and corporate development executives during a keynote at Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners. 

He pointed to a fundamental shift taking place at the nexus between education and practice. This “changing interface” requires educators to be nimble and open to new modes of collaboration, said Dr. Sivan, an expert in physics and nanotechnology.

“When I studied 40 years ago there was a clear dividing line — basic research done at the university and applied research in industry; academic degree at the university, training in industry. This line is completely blurring,” Dr. Sivan said.

This started in computer science with companies like Google and Microsoft, but it’s happening today in a wider variety of fields like AI and quantum computing, where companies are often the ones driving primary research forward. 

Universities, for their part, are also working more intently on how their research can address real-world problems. The Technion spins out about 15 companies per year, and the university has learned to embrace commercialization while remaining committed to its primary role of education, Dr. Sivan said.

As spinoffs increase by a factor of three to five per year, the question has become how to keep faculty engaged while also enabling them to explore ways to capitalize on their research.  The university already allows faculty to consult one day a week for companies and take leaves of absence of up to four years. 

“Very few don’t come back,” he said.  

He pointed to the Dyson Institute in England as a new model for integrating work and study.

While it’s accredited to grant engineering degrees, students also spend much of their time working directly for the vacuum and electronics innovator. 

“Students don’t pay tuition — zero tuition. They spend half the week in the company hub, doing research … and they get a salary. So you can see that this is a disruptive event for academia.” 

One solution for the Technion has been to invite innovators on-campus to create an optimal blend of theory and practice. PTC, a Boston-based software company that helps manufacturers simulate not only the physical design of their parts but also their thermal and electronic properties. 

“They moved a body of about 100 researchers moved into our campus, and they’re completely integrated now into our academic system. So their researchers take part in teaching, they take part in mentoring students, mentoring graduate students, and they actually built some research facilities that are now available to all researchers on campus,” Dr. Sivan said. 

The approach echoes that of Georgia Tech, which has been a magnet for corporate innovation centers in Midtown’s Tech Square. Dr. Sivan had meetings at the university during his Atlanta trip, soaking in the atmosphere of a growing tech hub. 

“There is an entrepreneurial spirit in the air. That’s where we would like to be,” he said. 

Technion has also created a new academic position that serves as a reciprocal of the common practice of professors acting as consultants for industry.

With Research Associates From Industry, business leaders with knowhow in critical sectors spend a day or two per week in the university setting, working with students directly and integrating into research projects. 

In a university with 600 faculty, some 60 associates have already joined, including Intel chip designers that are providing greater depth to existing courses. Meanwhile, they gain access to students and cutting-edge knowledge. 

“They’re exposed to research which is more blue-sky than what they do in their companies,” Dr. Sivan said. 

Capitalizing on Constraints

Israel is not new to seeding the links between researchers and entrepreneurs. The Israel Innovation Authority has long funded such initiatives, and in 1977, the country worked with the U.S. to establish the BIRD Foundation to underwrite joint innovation between U.S. and Israeli companies. The effort has led to 16 joint projects involving Georgia firms as recently as 2021. 

Dr. Sivan told Global Atlanta in an interview facilitated by the American Technion Society that Israel reached a “tipping point” in its innovation ecosystem years ago, in part because it has had to operate with constraints on funding and a small internal market that has force companies to look outward for growth and investment.

“You need necessity and you need constraints: If you have unlimited sums of money, and you don’t really have particular necessities, you don’t have to be creative,” he said. “Being a small country under constant stress from the outside, with limited resources and so on, I believe, drives people to innovation.”

Dr. Sivan said he would like to see the Technion deepen its institutional collaboration with Georgia Tech and added that he explored the idea during a meeting with his counterpart there, President Angel Cabrera. 

His speech during the Drive TLV event was followed by a panel on 2035: Shaping the Next Decade of Mobility with representatives from Honda Innovations, Wheels LLC and 19Y Advisors. Atlanta-based Cox Automotive and Novelis are partners in Drive TLV. 

Pitches followed from the latest (10th) batch of Drive TLV Fast Lane accelerator startups:

  • Arbell Energy Ltd. 
  • Deontic
  • dataspan.ai
  • Monogoto 
  • NUGEN 
  • Whilx Technologies

A new all-cash deal came together after talks fizzled last summer

Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport is of course a graduate of the Technion, and after studying computer science on one of the special programmes that the Technion offers, he went on to set up his first company which he then sold to Microsoft. Assaf has appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine and was selected by Time magazine as one of the world’s leaders shaping the future. This is Israel’s biggest ever exit.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL -3.44%) agreed to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32 billion, in a massive bid to bolster its cloud business that has struggled to keep up with rivals.

The all-cash deal would be Google’s largest ever and also the biggest deal struck so far in 2025. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening that the talks between the two companies were advanced and an agreement could be reached soon.

Alphabet had been close to a roughly $23 billion deal for Wiz last summer, the Journal previously reported.

The talks fell apart, however, as Wiz and some of its investors had concerns about the time it would take for a deal to clear regulatory hurdles, among other issues.

Bankers and CEOs came into the year hoping for big deals, but market volatility and Washington turmoil have sapped confidence. Google moving to strike its biggest deal ever, and the biggest deal of the year, would be a test of the Trump administration’s antitrust appetite and a barometer for other tech deals.

Wiz, which offers cybersecurity software for cloud computing, is based in New York with additional offices in the U.S. and Israel. The startup partners with a number of the biggest cloud companies, including Amazon.com and Microsoft as well as Google, according to its website.

The acquisition could help boost Alphabet’s efforts in cloud computing, an important and growing business but one where it has lagged behind peers.
Wiz has enhanced security features that could help Google win more customers to its cloud service in a fiercely competitive market where demand is booming partly because of generative AI companies’ need for computing power. Google said Tuesday the deal would help artificial-intelligence companies get better security and use more than one cloud service.

A Wiz acquisition would also dwarf the size of Google’s largest deal to date, its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility that closed in 2012. Google also spent $2.1 billion on Fitbit in 2021—a deal that hit regulatory hurdles after it was announced—and $3.2 billion on Nest Labs in 2014. Other acquisitions over the years have included YouTube, DoubleClick, Looker and Waze.

Google will be testing regulators’ willingness to approve this deal at the same time it is already dealing with two antitrust lawsuits. In one case over its search business, a judge already ruled it is a monopoly and the parties are awaiting a remedies trial after the government (under former President Joe Biden) proposed forcing it to sell its Chrome browser. And in another case over Google’s ad technology business, the trial is over and they are awaiting a verdict.

Wiz’s valuation has soared since it was founded in 2020 by Chief Executive Assaf Rappaport and several colleagues, and is considered one of the fastest-growing startups of all time. It was valued at $16 billion in an employee tender offer late last year, the Journal reported.
The company is backed by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists including Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures and Greenoaks.

In an email to employees last July, Wiz’s Rappaport said the company would be aiming for an initial public offering. But the IPO markets have remained quiet in the past year, and Wiz had since resumed deal conversations with several parties, according to people familiar with the matter.

Wiz will become an offering of Google Cloud and will continue to work on other cloud providers run by rival tech giants, the companies said.
“Wiz has achieved so much in a relatively short period, but cybersecurity moves at warp speed and so must we,” Rappaport wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs: it will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a standalone company.”

Wiz’s founders launched the company after selling their first startup, Adallom, to Microsoft in 2015 for $320 million. They worked at the tech giant for several years before leaving to start Wiz.

Jacob Nagel, a brigadier general who still serves about 80 days a year in the reserves, is one of Israel’s foremost security experts and has served as acting national security adviser. He is also a Technion alum and visiting professor who heads the Technion’s Advanced Defense Research Institute and is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a nonpartisan research institute based in Washington, D.C.

In August 2024, Prof. Nagel was asked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make recommendations for Israel’s security strategy and budget for the next decade. He formed a committee comprised of 12 experts and former high-ranking defence officials. The 130-page “Nagel Committee Report” was presented to the prime minister, defence minister, and treasury minister on January 6, 2025. All but 20 pages have been made public. We met with Prof. Nagel to discuss the committee’s key findings and the Technion’s role in their implementation.

Prof. Nagel, news reports about the committee’s report highlight two main points: First, Israel must be able to defend itself independently, and second, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must shift from a defensive posture to a more proactive and preemptive attack strategy. Is that accurate?

Jacob Nagel: That is partially accurate, because there’s much more to the report. When we presented it, I emphasized that while these two points are among the top five, the report includes over 80 recommendations covering a wide range of issues, including military preparedness, defence technology, manpower, and national security strategy.

One of the central themes is that Iran remains the primary threat to Israel. A significant portion of the defence budget must be allocated toward force buildup and preparedness for an inevitable confrontation with Iran. This includes investing in advanced weapons systems, intelligence capabilities, and cyber warfare. Another crucial shift is our transition from a strategy of containment and defence to one of offense and prevention. Preemptive attacks and proactive operations must be part of our military doctrine moving forward.

We also identified manpower as a critical challenge. The strength of the IDF is built not just on weapon systems but on human capital. The IDF faces a growing crisis in retaining top talent, and our recommendations focus on ensuring the best and brightest stay within the system. This requires enhancing career incentives, improving technological education, and fostering a stronger link among academia, the defence industry, and the military.

Regional Threats and Changes in Strategy

J.N.: Beyond Iran, we need to reassess our entire defence posture. We must ensure our capability to attack deep into enemy territory and enhance our missile defence systems. Additionally, we must adapt our ground forces and maneuverability to counter evolving threats. One of the key aspects of our recommendations is ensuring that Israel can independently produce critical defence weapon systems so that we are not dependent on foreign suppliers.

Some news reports claim your committee recommended preparing for potential conflict with Turkey. Can you clarify?

J.N.: They blew it out of proportion. Our report discussed the evolving regional landscape and emphasized that Israel must monitor and prepare for geopolitical shifts. For example, Turkey’s increasing presence in Syria is something we must pay attention to, but we never recommended initiating conflict with Turkey.

And what about Syria?

J.N.: The situation in Syria remains complex. The new administration, while not directly aligned with Iran, is still a volatile entity, originated from a terror organization. They understand that if they want to be recognized globally and stabilize their country, they must distance themselves from Iran’s influence. However, we cannot assume they will automatically become a reliable partner. We must remain cautious and watch their actions closely. Respect should be given based on behavior, not rhetoric.

At the same time, the Syrian military has been severely weakened, and their ability to threaten Israel directly is very limited. But we cannot let our guard down. We must ensure that terrorist organizations do not exploit the power vacuum to establish stronger footholds near our borders. Israel’s approach will be one of vigilance and readiness to act if necessary.

What is the current status of Hamas and Hezbollah? Can they be eradicated, or will they be replaced by other threats?

J.N.: Hamas, as a military organisation, has been largely dismantled. We have taken out 23 of 24 battalions. The only reason one remains is because it is believed that’s where most of the hostages are. However, Gaza still harbors thousands of terrorists and eradicating them will take years. The shift in our strategy is that we will no longer wait for threats to materialise — we will act preemptively. One other recommendation is for Israel to build underground infrastructure to protect our infrastructure and main systems.

Hezbollah poses a greater challenge. Their forces are better equipped. Even after the severe hit from Israel they salvaged around a third of their 200,000 missiles. That’s why our approach in the ceasefire in Lebanon differs. We maintain a presence and act immediately against imminent threats, without waiting for approval.

Technological Innovation and the Role of the Technion

You mentioned a need for underground infrastructure. What does that entail?

J.N.: This involves both civilian and military infrastructure. In the wake of World War II, many cities — like New York — expanded underground to provide shelters and secure facilities. Israel must do the same. Our enemies have built extensive tunnel networks in Gaza and Lebanon; we must develop underground command centres, production and storage facilities, and shelters to maintain operational continuity during attacks.

This effort requires a long-term investment of billions of shekels and will take years to implement, but we have already begun. The Technion plays an essential role in this by developing the necessary engineering solutions, structural reinforcements, and underground defence technologies.

Researchers at the Technion are working on innovative methods to detect, neutralize, and even counter enemy tunnels utilizing advanced robotics, AI-driven mapping, and detection technologies. These efforts ensure that Israel remains ahead in underground warfare capabilities and military resilience.

How else will the Technion contribute to defence strategies?

J.N.: The Technion plays a vital role in technological education and research. Our expertise in aerospace engineering is unique and critical to the development of next-generation UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], hypersonic missiles, and directed-energy weapons, and the new Center for High-Speed Flight will contribute to advancements in capabilities, autonomous systems, and advanced propulsion technologies. The research conducted here lays the foundation for future aerial combat and surveillance capabilities. Additionally, the Technion is working on AI-driven decision-making, quantum computing, and space technologies — all of which will define the future of warfare.

The Technion is launching a high-performance computing centre. Will it also play a role in Israel’s security?

J.N.: High-performance computing is crucial for simulations, data analysis, and AI applications. The Technion’s work in this field supports various defence and civilian projects by enabling more sophisticated computational capabilities. Our advancements in quantum computing, AI, and deep learning are vital for the next generation of defence systems.

Additionally, one of my roles at the Technion is to bridge the gap between academia and the defence industry and defence forces. Often, researchers have groundbreaking ideas but don’t know that they could apply to national security. Conversely, the defence establishment has needs but doesn’t always know that solutions and ideas already exist in academia. My centre [the Advanced Defense Research Institute] helps connect these dots.

During the war, we rapidly turned academic concepts into operational solutions for the battlefield, demonstrating the power of collaboration between academia and the military. This includes advancements in swarm drone technology, cyber defence, and battlefield robotics.

BRIG. GEN. PROF. JACOB NAGEL WITH ISRAEL’S MINISTER OF DEFENSE ISRAEL KATZ.

The Hypocrisy of BDS

What do you say to supporters of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement who claim the Technion is some sort of arm for the military?

J.N.: It’s important to highlight that universities worldwide play a similar role in developing research that ultimately benefits their nations’ defence industries. This is not unique to the Technion or Israel. The United States, for example, has academic institutions like MIT, Stanford, Purdue, and many more that conduct dual-use defence-related research and collaborate with military and civilian entities. The idea that the Technion is a military arm is a complete misrepresentation. The BDS movement, which attempts to delegitimize Israeli institutions, ignores the fact that many American universities engage in similar kinds of research and partnerships. This double standard is not only hypocritical but also intellectually dishonest.

Final Thoughts

Any final words on the report and Israel’s defence future?

J.N.: Our report is about ensuring Israel’s security for the next decade and beyond. We need strategic, technological, and manpower investments to remain ahead of our adversaries. The collaboration among academia, industry, and the defence establishment is crucial to this mission.

At the end of the day, it’s all about protecting Israel and ensuring our forces have the tools they need to succeed. The Technion will continue to be a cornerstone of these efforts by developing technological innovations that will make Israel stronger and keep it safe.

What if the digital world offered not just sight and sound but also the ability to feel?

Imagine a future where technology allows us not only to see and hear each other from great distances but also to feel  – examining a sick patient or tucking in a grandchild from across the globe. Techion Professor Lihi Zelnik-Manor is on a mission to hone technologies that will realize these possibilities.

“I love thinking about the applications of technologies that simulate the sensation of touch: providing medical professionals with new tools, helping people who are blind, and even enabling family members to virtually touch one another across geographical distances,” she says. “The extraordinary promise of such technologies motivates my work.”

The challenge of simulating touch — especially textures — is decades away from full realization. Currently, haptic systems, systems that relate to the sensation of touch, rely on simple vibration motors to simulate touch. These motors are used to provide sensory feedback in devices like haptic gloves or robotic arms, which allow users to “feel” when they grip an object. However, when it comes to simulating detailed textures like the roughness of concrete or the smoothness of fabric, the technology has been limited.

Prof. Zelnik-Manor is working on new innovations that aim to replicate the tactile experience of touching real-world textures. In one experiment, she and her team built a tablet with air pressure systems, which resembled an air hockey table, to simulate tactile feedback and explore the possibility of conveying images to blind individuals through touch. The project faced challenges as the team ultimately realized that humans struggle to understand complex spatial layouts through touch alone. Nonetheless, the experiment provided valuable information about haptic technology.

In a more promising recent experiment, Prof. Zelnik-Manor aimed to create a small device that resembled a computer mouse which could provide tactile feedback for users to recognize textures — a “haptic mouse” with an array of vibrating pins. The pins simulate various textures by stimulating the finger in a way that mimics the sensation of touching real surfaces. The device capitalizes on the brain’s ability to reconstruct textures as users move their fingers across the pins.

The device was tested against real-world 3D-printed materials, and results showed that while the device was not as accurate as physically touching the materials, it was still effective. In the experiment, participants were able to recognize textures with 86% accuracy using the haptic device, compared to 97% accuracy with the 3D-printed surfaces. The recognition process was slower with the device, taking around two minutes versus one minute with the 3D prints. Despite these limitations, the experiment demonstrated the potential of virtual haptic feedback for texture recognition, moving beyond basic tactile tasks to more complex real-world textures.

One of the most exciting applications of haptic technology lies in medicine, particularly in laparoscopic surgery. Surgeons currently rely on visual feedback to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy tissue. If haptic feedback could be integrated into surgical tools, doctors could “feel” the difference between tissues, improving precision and reducing errors. This advancement could be a game-changer in procedures like tumor removal or organ surgery.

The future of touch is just beginning to unfold. As research progresses, the digital world will become more immersive, offering not just sight and sound but also the ability to feel. Though such progress will take decades to achieve, Prof. Zelnik-Manor believes the charge fits squarely within the realm of academia and the mission of the Technion.

“To work on problems whose solutions lie 20 or 30 years in the future, this is the domain of academia,” she says. “While industry is driven to tackle problems with more near-term results, we as Technion researchers have the challenge and privilege of working on deeper, more complex mysteries.”

Technion plays a crucial role in Israel’s infrastructure, security and economy. Industries in which it has made life-changing advancements include energy, water and healthcare, and it’s impossible to look at the diverse student body, 20 per cent of whom are Arab, and not feel hope.

There’s a saying – conveyed in many ways – that to love another, one must first love oneself. Given, then, that the very foundation of Israel hinged on the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, it is no wonder that the country loves it so.

Described as the technological backbone of the country even before its establishment – expressed by the New York Times quite perfectly as “Israel’s hard drive” – the Technion was crucial in the infrastructure, security and economy necessary for the state’s survival, and without which it would simply not exist today.

Set up decades before the state of Israel was established through the prism of Zionism by visionaries including Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, and Theodor Herzl, it was understood that if the country was not only to survive but to thrive, it needed to invest in science and technology. A Jewish state alone would never be enough; it needed to benefit the entire world, starting with the local Arab population – more on this soon.

Rapid progress in biotechnology, drug development, and stem-cell technology.

For before anything else, without the means to defend itself, Israel could not survive, let alone make advancements in any other area. Fortunately, the Technion’s role in the country’s security is no less prevalent today than it was in the years leading up to and immediately after the state’s establishment. Missile defence systems, such as the remarkable Iron Dome developed by Technion alumnus Chanoch Levin that has saved thousands of lives and, most recently, David’s Sling and Iron Beam, as well as underground tunnel detection devices and drone technology, are just a few examples of the role the Israel Institute of Technology has supported in the protection of Israel and its citizens, through a plethora of disciplines offered at the university such as aerospace, engineering and computer science.

In this area the Technion has form; on March 17, 1948, just two months before Israel’s founding, the Haganah recruited physics and chemistry students from the university, among others, to Givatayim, where a radar detection unit was set up. Similarly, it continues to play a pivotal role in securing the country and its people, most recently in the ongoing war since October 7. There are too many examples to list, but they include some 3,000 students – 21 per cent of the student body – being called up as reservists and supported by the university with financial, psychological and educational help. Others include the Faculty of Medicine’s transformation of what usually functions as a car park in peacetime to a 2,000-bed fortified underground hospital and the establishment of the “Give Help, Get Help” scheme, which has been responsible for hosting dozens of internally displaced people, opening schools on campus for Technion staff children, clearing out bomb shelters, baking challah, organising blood drives, giving haircuts to soldiers and donating packages.

Companies including Google, Microsoft, IBM, Qualcomm, Yahoo!, Hewlett-Packard and others have established their operation near or even on campus, where they can take advantage of the Technion’s research power and outstanding graduates.

It’s because of all this that the Technion has also been able to live up to the nickname of “the Startup Nation”. According to Stanford Graduate School of Business research, the Technion is 25 times more likely to produce a US-based unicorn startup than any other non-US university. Industries in which the institute has made life-changing advancements include energy, water and health (with groundbreaking inventions such as the PillCam – a tiny, wireless, capsule-encased camera the size of a jelly bean and small enough to be swallowed, which hundreds of UK hospitals are using – and novel drug Rasagiline to treat Parkinson’s disease, approved by the American Food and Drug Administration in 2006).

Yet perhaps we need only look closer to home when we answer why Israel loves the Technion. Circling back to our earlier point of how the Israel Institute of Technology benefits not only the Jewish people but its Arab population, too, it’s impossible to look at the diverse makeup of the student body, 20 per cent of whom are Arab, and not feel an overwhelming sense of hope for the future.

It’s clear that the Technion feels exactly the same about Israel as Israel feels about the Technion, and there’s nothing quite like requited love, is there?

Business Intelligence Group Innovation Awards recognize ideas, organizations and people that are positioned to change how we experience the world.

The Philadelphia-based Business Intelligence Group honored three Israeli companies at its 2025 BIG Innovation Awards, which “recognize all ideas, organizations and people – no matter how big or small – that are positioned to change how we interact and experience the world around us.”

ICL Group of Tel Aviv won in the agriculture category.

This global specialty minerals company focuses on sustainable solutions for the food, agriculture, and industrial markets. Its agricultural products include fertilizers using minerals mined from the Dead Sea, and advanced ag-tech products to increase yield, growth, quality, and harvesting of crops.

Dr. Ofer Sharon, CEO of OncoHost. Photo courtesy of OncoHost

OncoHost of Binyamina (Israel) and North Carolina won in the healthcare category.

The precision oncology company’s PROphet platform provides reliable biomarkers to optimize immunotherapy treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. The platform’s initial commercialized test is the first and only liquid biopsy standalone proteomics test on the market and the first AI-based blood test to guide first-line immunotherapy decisions in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. In addition, OncoHost is developing PROphetirAE, a test designed to predict immune-related adverse events prior to the start of treatment.

Trax Retail of Singapore and Tel Aviv won in the retail category.

Founded in 2010 by Israeli entrepreneurs Joel Bar-El and Dror Feldheim, Trax developed a first-in-market image-capture solution that sees every product on a store’s shelves, coolers, displays, bar taps and back rooms. The BIG award is specifically for Trax’s signal-based merchandising system that provides brands and retailers with ongoing access to critical insights for addressing out-of-stocks, phantom inventory and pricing disparities. Trax is active in more than 90 countries.

The BIG Innovation Awards program receives nominations from across the globe. Nominees are judged by a panel of experienced business executives. They use a proprietary unique scoring system that “selectively measures performance across multiple business domains and rewards those companies whose achievements stand above those of their peers.”