Israel Innovation 2.0

It’s hard to believe that anything else other than IBM’s acquisition of XIV happened in the technology sector in Israel during the week of December 30, 2007, but there was plenty other news. In the past week Giza Venture Capital raised funds for cleantech investments, Allot acquired Esphion, and the Jerusalem Post printed an expose on working in high-tech in Israel. This wasn’t all that happened during the week of December 30, 2007 though, so check out these headlines and the rest of this week’s 19 Israel-related technology headlines below.

Cleantech:
Israeli expert significantly boosts efficiency of solar cells

Israel’s Environmental Energy Resources signs waste treatment deal for $30 million

Taiwan helps Giza Venture Capital raise $150 million

Nanotechnology aids large-area solar cell

Investments and M&A:
Why did IBM buy XIV?

Allot Acquires Esphion for Network and Subscriber Protection Solutions

Customized advertising co Pudding Media raises $8m

NetApp to Buy Onaro

UK – Israeli video startup 5min signs with Encyclopaedia Britannica and raises $5 million

Israel Mix:
Inside the hi-tech bubble

Education ‘overhaul’ vital to expanding hi-tech exports

A leg up

90% of Israeli youth use Internet

Miscellaneous:
A Conversation with Yossi Vardi

JPMorgan Predicts 2008 Will Be “Nothing But Net”

Israel takes a lead on information security

Trojans 2 Crimeware Exploits Web 2.0 Technologies

Last Call: BluePhoenix Solutions Jumps

High-level group from Singapore to visit Israeli research facilities

Blogging is a phenomenon that isn’t just perceived as important in the United States, but in Israel, too. Back in October, I wrote a few posts about blogging in Israel and the different networks and platform technologies that I noticed being used. A lot of the attention I gave to blogging in Israel was in anticipation of attending the first annual WordPress Israel conference.

Recently, there was some discussion on the Digital-Eve Israel listserv (an email list for hi-tech professionals in Israel) about how to start a professional blog and which blog platform to use for it. In one of the posts, Miriam Schwab, CEO of Illuminea Marketing and Media and an organizer of the WordPress Israel conference, directed everyone to an entry on her blog about how a “really professional blog” is hosted on WordPress.

As there are several blog platforms aside from WordPress that are used by some highly-regarded professionals, including Blogger and MovableType, I decided to leave a comment disagreeing with the idea that “really professional blogs” are only on WordPress. I also included my belief that professionals just starting to blog should consider different platforms and that if the blog isn’t directly for their company, then it would probably be fine to start off on Blogger while learning the ins and outs of blogging.

Miriam’s response to my comment and Jacob Share’s short list of Digital Eve Israel members who blog (only 11!), piqued my curiosity as to how many Israeli companies (including VCs) that I have covered in my posts, have blogs. Surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, most of the companies I checked (especially the biggest companies, such as Teva Pharmaceuticals and Alvarion), don’t have corporate blogs. Many Israel-based venture capitalists on the other hand, do.

Here’s a list of a few of the Israeli companies that I have mentioned that do have blogs:
RedBend
eSnips
Metacafe
Gemini
Tvinci
Jajah
ooVoo
Aladdin
Commtouch

Here’s a list of some companies, including ones that I haven’t covered, that are noticeably missing:
Comverse
Commtouch
BluePhoenix
Magic Software
InfoGin
Alvarion
Vringo
Ness Technologies
Teva Pharmaceuticals
Voltaire

Update: August 8, 2008.