BIRD - Israel_US Binational Industrial R&D Foundation to invest $4.2 million in six projects involving medical simulations, tuberculosis vaccine and reduction of air pollution- During its meeting last week, the Board of Governors of the Israel_U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, approved $4.2 million of funding for six new projects between Israeli and American companies. In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to $18 million.
The BIRD Foundation promotes collaboration between Israeli and American companies in various technological fields for the purpose of joint product development. Specifically, the Foundation assists by locating strategic partners from each country, making the necessary introductions, and providing conditional grants up to $1 million for approved projects.
The six projects approved by the Board of Governors add to the more than 800 projects in which the BIRD Foundation has invested over its 33 year history. To date, BIRD's total investment in these projects has exceeded $280 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than $8 billion.
Among the approved projects are the following:
Bet Shemesh Engines (Bet Shemesh, Israel) and Lean Flame (Washington D.C.) will develop and
commercialize a next generation, ultra-low emissions product for the commercial aircraft
industry, which will reduce air pollution significantly.
IBM Israel (Haifa, Israel) and Tensorcom (San Diego, CA) will develop an ultra-low power 60GHz wireless capability for short distance applications.
NanoPass Technologies Ltd. (Nes Ziona, Israel) and Infectious Diseases Research Institute,
(Seattle, Washington) will codevelop a novel microneedle technology for intradermal delivery
of tuberculosis vaccines.
Simbionix Ltd. (Lod, Israel) and Health Professions Conferencing Corporation (Tampa, Florida)
will develop a simulation module for laparoscopic hysterectomy. Clinicians will be able learn,
practice and receive feedback on performing the critical steps of the procedure, in a realistic
environment, without risk to actual patients.
* VCortex Ltd., (Kiryat Gat, Israel) and Presstek Inc. (Greenwich, Connecticut) will combine their
capabilities to design an automatic color control for digital printing, leading to more capable and
more productive digital press.