Brigadier General (Ret.) Pinhas Buchris ’91 is a longtime pioneer of Israel’s security, dedicated to serving the State both on the frontlines and in various leadership positions. He’s also a man who lives by his words.
Once, when asked what advice he would give to up-and-coming Technion students, he said: “If I have a message for (them), it is: ‘The daring is victorious.’ Don’t give up on your dreams even in difficult times. Studies and perseverance can lead to improvement and success, even when the environment seems hostile or difficult.”
His long and storied career and bold contributions to securing Israel make Mr. Buchris a true example of success born from daring actions, and the very embodiment of Israel’s core values, furthering freedom, justice, and peace for the nation.
Born in Yavnal to a family of immigrants from Tunis, Mr. Buchris served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for 10 years before beginning his studies at the Technion in 1988. Dedicated to protecting the welfare of his fellow Israelis, he was called up from the reserves and served for an additional 15 years, achieving the rank of brigadier general and serving as the commander of Unit 8200, the largest unit in the IDF focused on collecting intelligence for crucial operations, and Unit 81, a secret technology unit part of the Special Operations Division. Using his computer science background, Mr. Buchris helped develop and implement remote recording devices that could be planted in dangerous areas to gather intelligence instead of sending in soldiers.
During his service, Mr. Buchris participated in the daring Entebbe raid, a 1976 counter-terrorist mission to rescue civilians from a passenger flight hijacked on its Tel Aviv – Paris journey during a layover in Athens and taken hostage to Uganda. Mr. Buchris and his fellow soldiers rescued 102 of the 106 hostages held, making the operation a resounding achievement for the IDF.
Upon his release from the IDF, Mr. Buchris served as the director general of the Israel Ministry of Defense from 2007 to 2010. He is credited with spearheading various crucial defense projects during his tenure, including the development of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, the transfer of IDF bases to the Negev, and the billion-dollar cost-saving plan in army operations authored by McKinsey Consulting Co., which was approved just before his departure from the role.
For his longtime dedication and contributions to the State of Israel, Mr. Buchris was honored with numerous prestigious awards, including the Israel Defense Prize, the Israel Security Award, and a medal from the president of the State of Israel for his contribution to Israel’s security and economic strength.
A current venture capitalist and founder of State of Mind Ventures, Mr. Buchris’ previously held positions include CEO of BAZAN Group Oil Refineries, partner at Apax Partners, and special advisor of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.
When Ovadia Harari (z”l) ’64, M.Sc. ’67 immigrated from Egypt with his family as a youth, who could have imagined the trajectory his life would take, and the impact he would have on the State of Israel? From those humble beginnings, Mr. Harari went on to become one of the best aeronautical engineers Israel has ever produced, a longstanding luminary of its defense industry, and a dazzling example of leadership. His distinguished work allowed Israel to flourish on the ground and in the skies, and made possible a trail of firsts that advanced Israel’s aerospace capabilities to the loftiest levels.
His journey through the ranks of Israel’s aerospace industry is the stuff of legends. Mr. Harari first served in the Israeli air force, and his deep passion for aeronautical technologies drew him to Israel’s only Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
He was at the forefront of Israel’s defense industry, influential in the development of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) – of which he served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer for more than 35 years. With Mr. Harari leading the charge, IAI achieved numerous monumental advances, including entering the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market in the 1970s with the development of the IAI Scout, earning $1.28 billion in sales by 1989, joining the space race in the 1990s, and more, laying the foundation for Israel’s dominance in the aerospace arena.
Under his visionary leadership, IAI also tested the Arrow 1, the first family of anti-ballistic missiles for a new defense mechanism to protect Israeli citizens, which became the world’s first operational defense system against aerial missiles in 2000. Since then, the Arrow system has been upgraded multiple times and continues to provide protection to the State, serving as a testament to Israel’s unwavering commitment to security.
The events of the Six Day War highlighted the need for Israel to develop its own combat aircrafts. In the crucible of conflict, Mr. Harari played a pivotal role in the first project to fill this gap, which made history for its creation of Israel’s first ever home-grown defense aircraft. Led by IAI, the team successfully produced the Kfir, an all-weather multirole fighter jet developed based on the French model Mirage 5. More than 220 of these aircrafts were built. Soon after, Mr. Harari was also instrumental in creating its successor.
In an effort to replace the Kfir models, Mr. Harari spearheaded the IAI Lavi project as its chief engineer. Launched in February 1980, the program aimed to create an aircraft to be used for the close air support (CAS) and battlefield air interdiction (BAI) mission with a secondary air-defense mission. The resulting aircraft was a single-engine fourth-generation multirole fighter jet, taking flight for its maiden voyage in 1986 – a technological marvel that showcased Israel’s prowess on the global stage.
Though the Lavi project was discontinued soon after, it illustrated IAI’s advanced capabilities, and much of the technological knowledge gathered during its development helped make Israel’s first satellite launch into space in 1988 possible. Mr. Harari’s imprint on Israel’s aerospace landscape was indelible, his contributions immortalized in history.
Upon retiring from the aeronautical industry after an illustrious tenure with IAI, Mr. Harari was appointed as a guest professor at the Technion, a member of the board of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, and chairman of the committee of the Aeronautical and Space Sciences in Israel, where his wisdom continued to shape the future of Israel’s defense.
Mr. Harari received numerous awards honoring his unparalleled dedication and groundbreaking achievements, including the Israel Defense Prize in both 1969 and 1975, and the most prestigious distinction awarded by the State of Israel, the Israel Prize in 1987, for his contributions to the IAI Lavi project.
With Rosh Hashana honey in mind, ISRAEL21c visits an apiary to see how BeeHero produces insights for beekeepers and growers trying to feed a growing world.
When I dip an apple slice in honey on the first night of Rosh Hashana this Friday, I’ll remember suiting up for a bee encounter at the largest private beekeeping operation in Israel on Sunday.
Members of the press were invited to Boaz Kanot Apiary in southern Israel to see how ag-tech company BeeHero monitors the wellbeing of hardworkinghoneybees in 200,000 hives on five continents.
Honey is, of course, a valuable commodity produced from nectar by honeybees.
However, bees’ main role is pollination. Bees, especially easily transportable honeybees, unintentionally pollinate about 75 percent of the crops we eat as they fly around collecting pollen from flowers to feed their eggs and larvae.
But honeybee colonies are declining due to disease, pesticides, adverse weather and other life-threatening conditions. There aren’t enough bees to sustain pollination for a rapidly increasing world population.
“Our mission is to future-proof the global food supply by saving bees,” says Eytan Schwartz, VP Global Strategy for BeeHero.
In 2017, Boaz Kanot’s son, Itai, founded BeeHero with Omer Davidi and Yuval Regev.
BeeHero’s IoT sensors inside beehives collect essential data on temperature, humidity, acoustics and other parameters.
The hive data is then correlated with outside data, such as weather conditions, and analyzed in the cloud by advanced algorithms and AI.
BeeHero’s sensor keeping tabs on a hive. Photo courtesy of BeeHero
Beekeepers get real-time insights about colony health and productivity. Farmers get real-time insights to help them plan pollination strategies.
“BeeHero is the first company to continuously log data from hives 24/7, providing more transparency into the hives than ever before possible, and producing more insights for beekeepers and growers around the world,” said CEO Davidi.
BeeHero monitors the bees in this almond orchard. Photo courtesy of BeeHero
Regev, the company’s CTO, said the bees’ constant communication gives each hive a unique acoustical signature.
When bees communicate stress — for example, the queen is gone or the hive is overcrowded or lacking water or food — BeeHero “translates” the conversation for the beekeeper, who can then take action to avoid colony collapse.
“By connecting the hive to the Internet, beekeepers don’t need to go into each hive to check what is going on. They can just go into the app where we provide information for beekeepers to do their job better,” said Regev.
“Last year, the mortality rate of hives was 48% for regular beekeepers [in the United States]. For those using BeeHero, the number dropped to 27%.”
Staying comfortable
Abigail Klein Leichman suited up at Kanot Apiary. Photo by Efraim Roseman/Government Press Office
BeeHero Chief Biologist Doreet Avni, and we reporters, put on protective suits before examining the system at work in one of many bee boxes at Kanot Apiary.
In 90-degree Fahrenheit heat, the overalls, head coverings and disposable gloves were mighty uncomfortable, helping to illustrate the advantages of the BeeHero system.
“Ordinarily, beekeepers have to suit up, go outside in any kind of weather and inspect hives frame by frame. In an operation with thousands of colonies it’s almost impossible to do this,” said Avni, who has been researching honeybees for over 30 years.
BeeHero Chief Biologist Dr. Doreet Avni showing a frame from a hive. Photo by Abigail K. Leichman
Furthermore, the bees don’t like their hives opened. It disturbs them and lets in ambient heat or cold. They have to work for hours to restore homeostasis inside the hive.
“For almond groves in California, the rule of thumb is not to open hives if the outside temperature is below 16 degrees Celsius [60.8F]. With our sensors, beekeepers open only those hives there are concerns about,” said Avni.
On that hot day, the bees were venturing out of the hive only to bring back water.
Avni said BeeHero isn’t the first company to attempt replacing manual inspections with sensors but the others used sensors that were too large, too disruptive or too expensive.
This is why BeeHero has become the world’s largest pollination services company. The New York Times gave BeeHero a 2022 Good Tech Award, and this year CNBC named the company to its Disruptor 50 list.
Buzz-iness model
BeeHero has raised a total of $64 million, employs 65, and is now facilitating 10 million hive samples daily.
The company’s clients are mainly in the United States and Australia. A clientele is building up in Europe and Africa. In Israel, BeeHero is used in apiaries such as Kanot. Sales and operations are in California; R&D in Tel Aviv.
A beekeeper checking a hive monitored with BeeHero’s sensor. Photo courtesy of BeeHero
Schwartz explains that beekeepers get the sensor technology for free.
“Our money comes from growers, for whom we broker the hives. If you need 10,000 hives and you’ve been ordering them from an apiary on the other side of the United States or Australia, by the time you receive them you might be receiving empty or half-empty boxes that cannot provide the pollination you need,” he said.
“You also don’t know where to place the hives, taking into account field conditions and crop density and variety. When you order from us, we give you the exact number of bees you need, and we tell you precisely where to place the hives, maximizing the bees’ ability to pollinate the crops.”
BeeHero’s “Precision Pollination as a Service” technology also lets growers check if the bees are actually pollinating the flowers.
Schwartz adds that “by creating better hives with more bees, you reduce the number of hives that have to transported from place to place. You get better pollination with fewer boxes. We reduce carbon emissions in this way.”
Sweet ending
Our tour of Kanot Apiary ended in the honey extraction shed, where workers uncap each frame and place it in a spinner so the honey flows into a collection pan and is piped to a different room to be jarred.
While pollen provides protein for the bees, nectar provides energy. They preserve nectar by turning it into honey – similar to humans canning vegetables for future use.
Avni told ISRAEL21c that in a commercial apiary, bees don’t need as much honey as they produce from the nectar they collect. Some apiaries leave half the honey in the frames and others extract it all. Either way, the bees are compensated by the addition of sugar syrup to make sure they have energy to continue the colony.
Honey being extracted from hives at Kanot Apiary. Photo by Abigail K. Leichman
Reps from 10 startups spend four days meeting with British executives, investors and policymakers in collaborative events and discussions.
A delegation of climate-tech innovators from Israel enjoyed a morning welcome reception at the British House of Lords, opening a groundbreaking event hosted by Lord Ian Austin from June 26-29.
The UK-Israel Climate First Delegation was organized by Israeli climate-tech accelerator Climate First with the UK-Israel Business Bilateral Chamber of Commerce, which has fostered growth and investment between the UK and Israel since 1950.
Representatives were from Helios (large-scale carbon capture), Hydro X (hydrogen storage and transport), Criaterra (sustainable building materials), Daika (natural materials from wood waste), Gigaton Carbon (ocean-based CO2 removal and storage), Momentick (monitoring greenhouse gas emissions), QD-SOL (green hydrogen), Zohar CleanTech (decentralized waste disposal systems), Luminescent (isothermal heat engine) and NakAI (maritime cleaning and inspection robots).
“Our mission at Climate First is to empower companies that can help us meet our net-zero goals,” said Nadav Steinmetz, cofounder and managing partner of Climate First.
“Through this UK-Israel delegation, we are furthering that mission by bridging the gap between innovative Israeli companies and the UK’s vast network of investors, policymakers and business leaders. Together, we can unlock potential and accelerate the global transition towards a climate-resilient future.”
During their visit, the delegates interacted with British executives, investors and policymakers in collaborative events and discussions. Meetings were scheduled with Lord Browne, founder and chairman of BeyondNetZero; Generation Investment Management Just Climate Fund; Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital; J.P. Morgan ClimateTech; BlackRock Decarbonisation Partners; the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); and representatives from Prince William’s Earthshot Prize.
Prof. Gideon Grader awarded the Institut de France prize for developing the E-TAC process that enables splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Prof. Gideon Grader from Israel’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology was recently awarded the Grand Prix Scientifique research grant by the Institut de France for developing innovative green hydrogen technology.
The Institut de France, a nonprofit organization founded in 1795 that unites five French academies, encourages research, supports creativity, and funds many humanitarian projects.
Grader has developed a process — dubbed E-TAC — along with his Technion colleagues, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen by decoupling the production of the two gasses. This is achieved by circulating electrolyte solutions at different temperatures through the electrodes.
The professor later developed unique electrodes that move continuously between the separated sites where the hydrogen and oxygen are produced simultaneously, allowing for the E-TAC process to be continuous and not an isolated action.
The scientists say the method will enable long-term operation at a low cost and easier scaleup to industrial level.
In 2019, green hydrogen company H2Pro was founded using the E-TAC technology. The 100-strong company has since raised over $100 million from venture capital funds, including Bill Gates’ BEV fund, TEMASEK, and Horizon Ventures. H2Pro was recently selected by BloombergNEF as one of the most promising companies for solving the climate change crisis.
News arrives from Israel’s Technion Institute that they have developed a stable catalyst that can split water at extravagantly low energy-levels – and haven’t ruled out being able to split water with energy levels obtainable from the sun.
In fact, the hope of rapid transformation in the field is one of the reasons that AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals and Gasunie New Energy have partnered in a project aiming at “large scale conversion of sustainable electricity into green hydrogen via the electrolysis of water.”
Intended for Delfzijl in the Netherlands, the installation would use a 20MW water electrolysis unit, the largest in Europe, to convert sustainably produced electricity into 3,000 tons of green hydrogen a year – enough to fuel 300 hydrogen buses. A final decision on the project is expected in 2019.
Why — and why now — is green hydrogen such a big, big deal? Two reasons, really.
One, you’d solve the energy-storage problem of solar power, in a snap — you’d just split water to make hydrogen. (Don’t worry, when you use the hydrogen to, for example, power a car, the water re-forms out of the tailpipe. This isn’t a Water vs Fuel situation.)
Two, you’d have an affordable, biobased (hydrogen fuel) fuel you could make anywhere, in quantities exceeding the petroleum industry.
Scientists have not been able to crack the problem, in part because the catalyst that Nature evolved is complex, and has been described as the “the strongest biological oxidizing agent yet discovered”.
It comes down to controlling manganese, which is abundant and cheap, but the manganese catalysts yet developed never last and consume way too much energy.
Consequently, though Toyota has been working very hard on hydrogen vehicles, hydrogen as currently obtained via natural gas reforming is not green, nor competitively affordable. So, there might be a hundred hydrogen refueling stations in the US, about half of them in California.
In an article published in Nature Catalysis, Assistant Professor Galia Maayan of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology presents a molecular complex (also called an artificial molecular cluster) that dramatically improves the efficiency of water oxidation. It does so by biomimicry – a field of engineering inspired by nature (bio=life, mimetics=imitation). In this specific case, the inspiration comes from the process of photosynthesis in nature.
The molecular complex developed by Maayan is expected to change this situation. This cluster, which is actually a complex molecule called Mn12DH, has unique characteristics that are advantageous when splitting water.
Experiments conducted with this complex demonstrate that it produces a large quantity of electrons (electric current) and a significant amount of oxygen and hydrogen, despite a relatively low energetic investment. No less important, it is stable – meaning that it is not easily demolished, like other Mn-based catalysts.
An improved plasma thruster using Israeli technology can steer satellites out of harm’s way while using less power than chemical forms of propulsion.
Space is getting crowded.
In addition to the thousands of satellites already orbiting Earth, about 14,000 new satellites are expected to be launched by the end of the decade.
That translates into about 9,000 tons of space debris, says Igal Kronhaus, Technion professor-turned-space-tech startup entrepreneur.
It’s gotten so bad that the United States issued new regulations in 2022 that “won’t allow the launch of a satellite unless it has a convincing capability to move out of the way after five years from the end of the mission,” Kronhaus says.
Kronhaus started his company, Space Plasmatics, in 2021 to address the space junk problem while also improving satellite propulsion in general.
Space Plasmatics is developing plasma thrusters designed to navigate satellites to a different orbit or even back to Earth, using ionized gas in an electric field rather than the traditional propulsion method of chemical reactions.
The thrusters get their power from solar cells that are already mounted on the satellites. Solar-powered electric propulsion is now used in almost every satellite. High-powered versions could even propel manned spacecraft for missions to the Moon and Mars.
Electric propulsion was originally conceived in the 1950s as a way to get people to Mars – long before Elon Musk popularized the concept for the 21st century.
“Back then, there were no envisioned applications, other than human space travel,” Kronhaus tells ISRAEL21c.
Now, with satellites handling everything from GPS navigation to cell phone communication to spying on enemy nations, the use case has arrived.
Space hardware
Kronhaus was an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at the Technion for seven years. The technology for Space Plasmatics, he says, has been “incubating in my lab for the past decade.”
Space Plasmatics cofounder Andrew Pearlman. Photo courtesy of Space Plasmatics
“It’s very unusual for a professor to start a company,” Kronhaus says. “I’m paving a unique path here.”
Space Plasmatics cofounder Andrew Pearlman is a serial entrepreneur who has raised more than $150 million for 10 Israeli companies since his arrival here from the United States in 1981. He describes his role in Space Plasmatics as Kronhaus’s “coach, copilot and righthand man.”
“We’re exclusively space hardware,” Kronhaus says. “We can’t re-use our engines in cars or planes. We’re making a real, physical product, not just writing code. That makes it more difficult to convince investors to come in.”
But some have.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) took an interest in Space Plasmatics and invited the company to participate in the Astra incubator, co-run by the accelerator Starburst and IAI. The Israel Innovation Authority has also helped fund Kronhaus’s vision.
The Knesset last year pledged to invest the shekel equivalent of $180 million in the civilian space industry over the next five years. Start-Up Nation Central estimates the worldwide space economy is worth $400 billion.
Larger satellites
In June, Kronhaus signed a deal to develop its plasma thrusters for IAI’s satellites. This deal points to a shift in the industry.
For much of the past decade, tiny nanosatellites (CubeSats), just a few tens of kilograms in weight, were assumed to be the future of the industry.
Israel excelled at these small satellites.
“It’s no secret that we can’t launch over neighboring Arab states. And we don’t build huge rockets. So, we build smaller rockets with a smaller payload that are launched in the wrong direction!” Kronhaus says.
That “wrong direction” requires more fuel, “so we have to reduce the payload we’re carrying even further.”
But now, the main market seems to be in bigger satellites that weigh several hundred kilograms, Kronhaus says. It makes economic sense – bigger satellites carry bigger payloads, which results in faster ROI.
Larger satellites are also what IAI specializes in.
The IAI arrangement is positioned as a trial to see if Space Plasmatics can scale up to IAI’s needs. Kronhaus is convinced they can and that IAI will become a paying customer.
How it works
For any rocket scientists reading this, here are a few technical details.
Kronhaus’s plasma thrusters are essentially a better version of a Hall thruster, a model developed in the former Soviet Union in the 1960s.
The thruster does need some fuel but uses nonflammable, noncombustible gases such as xenon and krypton.
Space Plasmatics’ microHET thruster prototype. Photo courtesy of Space Plasmatics
“The inert gas is in the propellant tank on the satellite,” Kronhaus says. “The Hall thruster feeds a certain amount of it to the engine at a constant rate. The electric field gives the gas the energy to ionize. There’s a nice blue plasma flame as the ions are accelerated. This acceleration is what produces thrust.”
Kronhaus says that Space Plasmatics’ tech also reduces the weight of the satellite, because normally it’s the fuel tank that contributes the most weight to the device.
Hall thrusters, however, are not for every space application. Landing on the Moon or shooting missiles require the higher power of chemical propulsion.
Space Plasmatics is still developing its thrusters. Assuming the company continues with IAI and/or raises more money, Kronhaus and Pearlman say a full working version of the company’s product should be ready by Q2 2025.
Competition
Space Plasmatics has plenty of competitors: Austria-based Enpulsion; Thrustme and Exotrail from France; Astra and Rafael from Israel.
However, Kronhaus is banking on Space Plasmatics’ high thrust and high fuel economy. “We improve the performance of a Hall engine at low power,” he says.
It doesn’t hurt that Kronhaus has a PhD in electric propulsion and is considered an expert in the field – in Israel and beyond.
Will Kronhaus’s technology and Pearlman’s business savvy be enough for this four-person company in Haifa to make a dent in the space-tech space? We’ll be watching.
The daily commute for many Israelis means long hours by bus or car, navigating a gridlocked central Israel – the heart of the country’s business sector.
Israel’s traffic jams are notorious. In 2021, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that the country’s transportation infrastructure was in worse shape than most of its other members – and singled out the congestion on the roads as being especially egregious.
But Israel – with its strong tech ecosystem and ethos of innovation – has devised a futuristic solution to dodge traffic jams by sending people and parcels to their destination through the air in unmanned aerial vehicles (also known as UAVs or drones).
Dronery’s UAV is designed to carry people through the air for distances of up to 30km (Mark Nomdar)
And this month, that solution moved even closer to reality, with the Israel National Drone Initiative (INDI) testing drones that can carry both passengers and goods.
INDI has been in development for the past four years, bringing together a variety of government bodies, including the Ministry of Transport, the Israel Innovation Authority (IIA) and the Civil Aviation Authority of Israel (CAAI).
The IIA says the drone initiative is preparing the groundwork for the regular use of these unmanned flying vehicles in Israel, building the technology, regulation and infrastructure ahead of their introduction.
The aim, it says, is not only to alleviate the human and environmental pressure on Israel’s roads, but also offer more efficient services and give the country’s high-tech sector a competitive edge on the global stage.
Israel has invested 60 million shekels (approx. $16.5 million) in the project so far.
This month’s tests involved 11 companies working in drone operation, including two whose aircraft are intended to transport people.
The companies carried out trial missions at multiple locations across the country. And Daniella Partem, who heads Israel’s drone project as part of her leadership role at the IIA, says her team was pleasantly surprised at how swiftly they were making progress.
The tests included groundbreaking autonomous flights by a pair of Israeli companies whose eVTOL (Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing) craft can carry two people at a time.
“We thought it would take longer to fly the eVTOLs in Israel,” Partem tells NoCamels, explaining that no other country is working in such an accelerated way in this field.
“Our main objective is to have this competitive, safe ecosystem operating in Israel, and as opposed to other countries, we’re very focused and have a managing aerial system.”
The two companies planning to carry passengers are Dronery, whose Chinese-made, Israeli-adapted craft can carry 220 kg in cargo and fly as far as 30 km, and AIR, whose homegrown AIR ONE craft can carry up to 250 kg and for a far greater distance of 160 km.
Their test flights involved taking off and landing in urban areas and the transportation of heavy cargo. Both sets of tests were conducted successfully using mannikins.
Dronery tests its UAV designed to carry people from one location to another (Courtesy)
The government says that the test flights will continue around the country for the next two years, with the aircraft flying long distances of up to 150 km while increasing the weight of their payload in order to prepare for passengers.
For Partem, this is just the beginning of a transportation revolution that could even see drones helping in life or death situations, such as delivering rare medications or ferrying patients between hospitals in emergencies. And the program is advancing satisfactorily.
“We’ve managed to move forward pretty quickly into creating this new ecosystem for drones and eVTOLs. And this is a very important milestone for us and the project; we’ve done over 19,000 sorties, in different places in Israel – up north, down south, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem,” she tells NoCamels.
“We believe that this whole technology is something that can really help solve urgent problems such as traffic and such as air pollution, and help us move things from place to place in a more efficient and safe way,” Partem says.
Safe Skies
With an active air force due to Israel’s security situation, the use of drones in the country’s heavily defended airspace inevitably involves some close coordination with the military.
The technology to manage the airspace and the “corridors” (think roads in the sky) that the aircraft will be using is currently being developed, Partem says.
Israel has tasked two companies with managing the airspace and, according to Partem, both will be employing the Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) devised by the United States.
Unlike in other countries, in Israel the airspace management will be overseen by the government, but the actual operation of the drones will be open to many companies, creating what Partem calls a “competitive ecosystem.”
Each company will have to register with the authorities and limit themselves to a predetermined route but will ultimately be responsible for their own craft and their contents. The UTM, Partem says, “only helps them fly together in one space.”
Partem is confident in the software and the hardware that comprises the safety measures in place for all bodies and interested parties, and cites an example of these security steps in action.
“We had a helicopter flying into the airspace where the drones are flying. And you could see how the drones made their way around the helicopter. We can really see that we can have a safe environment,” she says.
A startup that generates detailed 3D maps of underground utilities without the need for excavation is expanding into the UK as part of a project with one of the country’s largest railway infrastructure companies.
Tel Aviv-based Exodigo helps companies carry out construction projects by combining 3D imaging and AI technologies with GPR (ground penetrating radar) and electromagnetic sensors to give a clear picture of what’s underground.
Coles Rail used Exodigo’s technology to scan and map a project in Birmingham for part of a light rail expansion that will connect to the city’s Curzon Street Station.
The UK-based company encountered “uncharted services” that were not noted on any existing records. Using Exodigo, Coles Rail was able to detect over 280 below ground utility lines (including 51 additional lines that no other locator or records had detected), providing invaluable data that reduced redesigns and delays.
Exodigo’s tech can identify water and gas pipes, electricity cables, water sources, and other buried obstacles that could cause leaks, explosions or unexpected delays. Actual excavations are time consuming, inaccurate, expensive, and can cause leaks, explosions, or unexpected delays.
“Redesigns and service strikes as a result of incomplete or inaccurate subsurface mapping continue to be a problem in the UK,” said Trevor Moore, UK Director of Exodigo.
“In my time in the industry, I have seen these issues cause costly delays to critical projects and it puts lives at risk. Exodigo’s technology has the potential to mitigate many of the risks associated with large infrastructure projects by providing comprehensive information about what lies beneath the surface.”
Hamish Falconer, Project Manager on the rail extension for Coles Rail, said: “Excavating around buried services is one of our biggest risks, and the stat plans provided by statutory undertakers are in large part inaccurate.
“Exodigo’s surveys provide us with much more reliable data that can then be used to select safer excavation techniques around known services.”
Three researchers have been awarded top honors in the EuroTech Future Award, beating out 34 other participants. The jury evaluated the impact of the candidates’ work on achieving global sustainability goals, the excellence of their research, and their ability to effectively communicate their research to non-experts, including policymakers and citizens.
Anders Bjarklev, President of the Technical University of Denmark and President of the EuroTech Universities Alliance, emphasized the importance of the research community in addressing the challenges faced by Europe and global society. He highlighted the passion, pursuit of knowledge, and innovative spirit of the talented young researchers from the six universities involved in the EuroTech Future Award.
The third prize was awarded to Dinesh Krishnamoorthy, an assistant professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. His research focuses on applying artificial intelligence in medical research, specifically in personalized insulin dosing for diabetes care. Krishnamoorthy’s work aims to develop AI algorithms that can automatically determine the optimal insulin dosage for individual patients, making diabetes management more affordable and accessible.
The first prize went to Charlotte Vogt, an assistant professor at the Israeli Technion. Vogt’s research centers around carbon dioxide hydrogenation catalysis. She believes that catalysts play a crucial role in addressing global warming by converting CO2 into useful materials or fuels. Vogt’s work focuses on developing new and improved catalysts through spectroscopic experiments to enhance the efficiency of CO2 conversion processes.
The second prize was awarded to Zongyao Zhou, a postdoctoral scientist at EPFL in Switzerland. Zhou’s research focuses on membrane-based technologies for wastewater recovery and the exploitation of green energy. He has developed a microporous polymer membrane that can effectively remove antibiotics and heavy metal ions from drinking water and extract lithium ions from seawater. Zhou’s research aligns with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in promoting clean water and sanitation and affordable and clean energy.
The EuroTech Universities Alliance, a strategic partnership of leading European science and technology universities, aims to build a strong, sustainable, sovereign, and resilient Europe. The alliance’s partners contribute their excellence in research and education and actively engage in vibrant ecosystems and service to society. Together, they collaborate to accelerate research in high-tech focus areas and advocate for change, with a strong presence in Brussels.
The EuroTech Future Award recognizes the outstanding contributions of young researchers from the EuroTech Universities Alliance in securing a sustainable future. The winners’ research demonstrates their commitment to addressing global challenges and making a positive impact on society.
How can personalized and more effective treatment for insulin requirements be achieved through N’s accurate predictions?
N accurately predict insulin requirements for individual patients, leading to personalized and more effective treatment.
The second prize went to Lavinia Heisenberg, a PhD candidate at the Technical University of Munich. Heisenberg’s research revolves around the development of sustainable materials for construction. She is working on creating bio-based composites that can replace traditional, resource-intensive materials like concrete and steel, thus reducing environmental impact without compromising structural integrity.
The first prize was awarded to Jean-Paul Moreau, a postdoctoral researcher at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Moreau’s research focuses on the development of sustainable energy storage solutions. He has been working on a new type of flow battery that uses abundant and non-toxic materials to store renewable energy. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the energy storage sector and facilitate the widespread adoption of renewable energy sources.
The EuroTech Future Award recognizes the importance of research in driving sustainable development and addressing global challenges. Through their innovative work, these young researchers have shown their commitment to finding solutions that can have a real impact on society. Their ability to effectively communicate their research to policymakers and citizens is also crucial in ensuring that their findings are translated into practical applications and policies.
The EuroTech Universities Alliance, consisting of six leading technical universities in Europe, plays a vital role in fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers. The EuroTech Future Award is just one example of how the alliance supports and recognizes outstanding research that contributes to a sustainable future.
With the recognition and support provided by the EuroTech Future Award, these three researchers have an even greater opportunity to further develop their work and make a meaningful contribution to achieving global sustainability goals. Their dedication and expertise serve as an inspiration to the research community and demonstrate the potential of science and technology in shaping a better future for all.
