Israel Innovation 2.0

The week of February 22, 2009, was a fairly quiet one for Israel’s technology and business sectors… but there was still plenty that happened. News about Microsoft’s interests in purchasing 3DV Systems, a motion-sensing company, continued, as did layoff announcements. Tufin Technologies announced the general availability of its SecureChange Workflow software and IT Structures, an on-demand virtual enterprise software evaluation service, demonstrated its technology during VMworld Europe last week. For these stories and more, check out the rest of this week’s 13 Israel-related headlines below. 

Cleantech
1. DOE & Israel Update Energy Cooperation Agreement 

2. Ancient Jordanian wells radioactive, study finds

Investments, Economy and M&A
3. Stormy day for high-tech as layoffs, pay cuts announced 

4. Microsoft Set to Bring 3D Motion Control to Xbox & PC Games

5. Venture capital investments rise in China, India, and Israel 

6. A viable economy

Information Technology
7. Tufin Technologies Announces General Availability of SecureChange(TM) Workflow

8. Red Hat Targets VMware, Microsoft With Virtualization Line (Qumranet)

9. IT Structures Emerges to Take Center Stage at VMworld Europe

Miscellaneous
10. Financial crisis gives universities a chance to reverse brain drain

11. The Mobile Industry Meets Hollywood

12. Israeli ‘Spiderman’ attacks commuters

13. Nanotech activity in Israel jumps 150%

News
“Israeli nano-technology firm Explay and Luminetx announced that they have signed a collaboration agreement for Explay to develop and commercialize an ultra small mobile projector that will be a key component in the future development of the Luminetx’s VeinViewer.” (Globes)

Company Background
Since it was founded in 2001, Explay’s mission has been to develop the smallest projectors with the highest quality that can be used by itself or integrated into other technologies. During the SID 2007 conference this past May, Explay established itself as a leader in the nano-technology field when it introduced the oio, as the first truly mobile and fully operational nano projector.

Analysis: Market and Future
The deal to provide a biomedical company such as Luminetx with nano-technology is within Explay’s target market, but is not the center of it. This collaboration primarily exhibits the far-reaching possibilities for Explay to integrate its technology in a vertical market.

The real opportunity for Explay’s nano-technology will be to influence the consumer mobile device market and revolutionize the mobile lifestyle, which has driven the direction of the company’s research and development in recent years. While it will penetrate the portable media player market (i.e., digital camera, gaming devices and music players), it seems likely that the company will first focus most of its efforts on reaching the mobile handset market, which, when 3G enabled, allows consumers to display video, TV and Web and is a growing field with an estimated 528 million devices in use by 2010.

According to Insight Media estimates, by 2010 18M-55M Integrated Projectors will be sold and 7M-8M Companion Pocket Projectors. While the current and future market place shows demand, there are still several obstacles in nano-projection technology that can slow down the integration and production processes for Explay. The company also faces plenty of competition from Microvision, Texas Instruments and Light Blue Optics. Despite these challenges, Explay’s agreement with Luminetx signifies the wide-spread potential of this technology and marks the beginning of the different markets Explay’s products and collaboration will impact in the next few years.

Additional Resources
Explay: A Micro-Projector Application Extraordinaire
Explay Projects Big Business for Mobile Video
Interview with the competition, Microvision
Nano Projector Competition
Video: How to get a deal in 30sec