Israel-United States Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation (BIRD-F) is to invest $10 million in 11 projects in 11 advanced development projects in life science, communications, homeland security, and alternative energy. The projects have a combined budget of nearly $36 million. The companies participating in the projects include well established companies, as well as a number of promising young companies. The investments were approved at the foundation’s recent board of governors meeting held in Washington DC.
The latest round of projects has placed added focus on life sciences with projects such as the development of a liver cancer drug by Rosetta Genomics; the development of a new preservation technology for tissue intended for transplantation by Core Dynamics (formerly I.M.T. Interface Multigrad Technology Ltd.); and the development of a process for monitoring dairy manufacturing by NutriCognia.
The foundation has also continued to invest in homeland security, with a project for the development of an information sharing, incident and intelligence analysis system by Svivot Ltd. . Also included in the latest investment is a project for the production of bio-fuel from algae, capturing CO2 emissions from coal power plants by Algatechnologies Ltd.. In the electronics category, the foundation approved an investment in a flash based technology for high density SIM cards by M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers (Nasdaq: FLSH).
BIRD-F executive director Dr. Eitan Yudilevich said that the latest cycle was characterized by a majority of projects in the area of life sciences and a project in Alternative Energy. “The investments in alternative and renewable energy have significant business potential, as well as social value for both the US and Israel. We can expect breakthroughs in drug development, wireless communication and alternative energy. Alternative energy is of great importance in the US and in Israel, so I expect that additional companies will approach us in the future with proposals in this area. In Homeland Security both the US and Israel can benefit very much from industrial cooperation through BIRD projects.”
The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation works to encourage cooperation between Israeli and American companies in the various areas of technology, and provides free assistance in locating strategic partners from both countries for developing joint products. During its 29 years, the BIRD Foundation has invested in more than 730 projects, which have yielded direct and indirect revenues of about $8 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on June 25, 2006
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