Florida, Israel choose four winners for joint aerospace R&D funding
Projects include initiative to manipulate solar energy; create corrosion protection systems; boost advanced communications and allow in-space recycling of plastic waste
Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter
A joint Florida-Israel aerospace and tech fund that aims to strengthen ties between the two economies has chosen four winning projects that will be eligible for a total of $2 million in funding.
The chosen projects include an initiatives to manipulate solar energy; create corrosion protection coating systems; boost advanced communications and allow in-space recycling of plastic waste materials.
Space Florida, the aerospace and spaceport development authority for the State of Florida, and the Israel Innovation Authority, a publicly funded agency in charge of promoting the nation’s innovation ecosystem, announced the winners of the joint industrial research and development program on Tuesday.
In October 2013, Florida and Israel set up a $2 million recurring joint fund to support research, development, and commercialization of aerospace and technology projects that will benefit both Israel and Florida. The program was initiated with the cooperation and support of Enterprise Florida – the official Economic Development Organization of the State of Florida which assists Israeli businesses looking to locate and expand into Florida.
The four winning teams were selected for this seventh round of awards out of 15 joint proposals submitted by teams of for-profit companies in Florida and Israel.
“Florida is at the epicenter of the commercial space industry and today’s announcement of funding for the seventh-round winners highlights the bright future of the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program,” said Governor Ron DeSantis in a statement. “This funding will not only be instrumental in the growth of Florida’s space industry, but also for Florida-Israel relations. I look forward to seeing the great results these companies will achieve.”
The winning projects are:
Everix Optical Filters (Orlando, Florida) and SunCold (Israel) are joining forces to use and manipulate solar energy. The photonic crystal production they create will maximize the efficiency of solar power uses for cooling.
SynMatter (Exploration Park, Florida) and Green ICPS (Israel) are jointly developing one-layer corrosion protection coating systems with built-in surface treatment for innovative applications in the military, aerospace and aviation industries.
Made In Space (Jacksonville, Florida) and StemRad (Israel) are developing technology for the in-space recycling of plastic waste materials, aboard the International Space Station, into personal radiation protective equipment.
Censy’s Technologies Corporation (Daytona Beach, Florida) and MobiliComm (Israel) will get funding for the construction of advanced technologies that will enable a highly integrated dual-redundant simultaneous communications system, to provide increased reliability and quality of service for command and control systems, telemetry, and situational awareness.
The next joint call for applications is expected to be released in September 2020, the statement said.
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