Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of May 24, 2009, investments picked up with Tigo Solar, GreenRoad and Peer39 all receiving funding in the eight digits. Aladdin Knowledge Systems, under new ownership, received a nomination for its innovative information security technology, while 3DV – recently purchased by Microsoft – isn’t the only Israeli motion sensor company the software giant is looking to for improvements to its gaming technology. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 8 Israel-related headlines from the week of May 24, 2009, check below.  

Cleantech
1. Tigo Solar Energy Secures A $10 Million Investment

2. GreenRoad raises $15m from DAG Ventures and existing investors

Investments
3. Peer39 Raises $10.5 Million

Information Technology
4. Finalists Selected for 2009 CompTIA SoftwareCEO Software Innovation Awards (Aladdin Knowledge Systems)

5. More for less (SoftXpand)

6. New Email Technology Boosts US Businesses

Miscellaneous
7. Peeling back another layer of detail on Microsoft’s secret gesture-control system for games

8. Nostalgia Sunday – Dubon

During the week of May 17, 2009, news focused on a California cleantech investors mission to Israel that was deemed successful and Israeli companies trying to build a global profile for themselves. In mobile and video technology, Waze announced its technology, which offers real-time traffic reports based on user input, and Yaniv Axen of SundaySky was interviewed. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 12 headlines, check below. 

Cleantech

1. UN Climate Talks: Cleantech IP Battle of the Year?

2. Will the Electric Car Make the World a Better Place?

Investment

3. Israeli Companies Seek Global Profile

4. China’s 4 trillion Yuan stimulus package: Israeli opportunities

5. IVA 2009 – Business as Usual?

Information Technology and Web 2.0

6. Waze: The traffic of the crowds

 7. B.O.S. to provide large-scale wastemanagement solution

8. Yaniv Axen, Co-Founder of SundaySky

9. AcCells Named a Mobile Innovation Grand Prix Nominee

10. Innovating Video Conferencing In Israel

Miscellaneous

11. Photo: Sandstorm Strikes Israel

12. Viva Tel Aviv!

During the week of May 10, 2009, solar power received significant attention between Aora’s solar panel technology and BrightSource striking the largest ever solar power deal in the United States. Better Place demonstrated its battery swap technology and Hacktics, an applications security company, raised 2.2 million Euro. OpTier, Correlix, and Promisec, along with 13 other Israeli companies were listed on Red Herring’s 100 and the social streaming video provider, Boxee’s plans to make its software available to the Windows market was discussed. For more on these stories and the rest of this week’s 14 Israel-related headlines, check below.

Cleantech

1. Aora Makes The Desert Bloom With Sunshine Flower Power

2. PG&E expands solar power plans

3. Better Place demonstrates battery swap technology in Japan

Investments

4. Mo’Minis Finds Mo Money For Mo Games

5. Applications security co Hacktics raises €2.2m

Information Technology

6. Intel Israel: Don’t just think fast, think ahead

7. Start-up Testuff Selected as One of the Best and Most Promising Start-ups by IGT

8. OpTier, Correlix, PromiSec Red Herring 100 finalists

9. ClickSoftware releases the integration between ClickSchedule 7.1 and mySAP CRM 3.1

10. WeFi Launches on Android, Enabling Automatic Connection To Best Available Wi-Fi Hotspot

Miscellaneous

11. Microsoft’s gesture-based game control to debut in 2010

12. Boxee Battles Big Media

13. Decline in demand for hi-tech jobs slows in April

14. Taylor Swift’s Music Is Safe To Drive To

During the week of May 3, 2009, BusinessWeek highlighted Israel’s cleantech sector and investors while Globes published an article that venture funds are looking for computing companies to invest in in Israel. Despite these promising stories, the worldwide venture industry continued to be hit by the slowdown in the first quarter. Not all of the Israel-related tech headlines were related to investments though, for these stories and others on Cyber-Ark, Tufin Technology, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and more, check below. 

Cleantech

1. Israel’s Clean Technology Pioneers

2. B-Solar, solar cell start-up, raises $3m from Genesis Partners

Investments

3. Slowdown Hit Venture Industry Worldwide In First Quarter

4. NVP, Greylock seek cloud computing cos in Israel

Information Technology

5. Tufin welcomes David Blunkett’s opinions on cybercrime awareness at Infosec

6. Sequoia-Backed Kenshoo Moves to San Francisco

7. Is Cisco abandoning Israel?

8. Cyber-Ark’s security helps keep Swine Flu under control

Miscellaneous

9. Barkat presents first master plan for Jerusalem in 50 years

10. The Digital Eve Israel 2009 Visual Blogroll

11. It pays to study computer science in Herzliya

12. Xbox 360 motion-sensor reveal rumored for E3

13. Israeli co says holds keys to stop flu’s spread

Tufin Technologies, which provides Security Lifecycle Management solutions, has really picked up steam since the beginning of the year. The company, which is five years old, has won three awards in recent weeks and recently attended the RSA conference (the largest infosec conference of its kind) in San Francisco, where the above video was recorded.

Last week it announced that its flagship product, SecureTrack, was named Best Enterprise Security Solution by SC Magazine UK, and received an honorable mention as the Best Security Management Solution.

According to Tufin’s Website, 

“Tufin’s Security Lifecycle Management solutions automate policy management for leading firewall and networking vendors including Check Point Software, Juniper, Cisco, Fortinet, F5 and BlueCoat, resulting in more manageable, efficient and cost effective security operations. Its flagship product SecureTrack, helps security operations teams to control and manage policy changes, analyze risks, and ensure business continuity. With SecureTrack, managers easily understand the big picture and align operations with corporate and Government security standards.”

 Tufin also made InformationWeek’s Startup 50 list of young companies recognized for delivering innovative, high value, enterprise ready solutions and was named best Security Lifecycle Management Solution by InfoSecurity Products Guide.

In addition to SecureTrack, the company offers SecureChange Workflow and the newly-released (at the RSA conference), Tufin Open Platform (TOP).

During the week of April 26, 2009, Israel celebrated its 61st annniversary while its first solar farm powering a small community was inaugurated. ETV Motors raised $12 million in funds and N-Trig announced its latest advancement in multi touch. Sadly, also during the week of April 26th, Israel’s hi-tech industry lost one of its beloved leaders and pioneers, Nahum Sharfman in tragic plane crash in Greece.  Sharfman was the founder of the security company CommTouch and the price comparison site, Shopping.com. For these stories and more, check out this week’s 12 Israel-related headlines below. 

Cleantech

1. Israel Inaugurates Unique Solar Farm

2. Solar Thermal: Which Technology Is Best?

3. ETV Motors Revs Up $12M

Investments

4. Venture capital investment in Israeli high-tech companies lowest in three years, report

5. Where did all that R&D go?

Information Technology

6. Intel bolsters cooperation with Israeli companies

7. N-Trig launching software to enable more versatile multi-touch displays

8. Start-up Axxana ties disaster recovery gear to EMC software

9. Will XP Mode Be Tough Sell For Small Businesses?

Miscellaneous

10. Israel celebrates 61st Independence Day

11. Can Israeli technology stop swine flu?

12. Plane crash kills high-tech leader