US-Israel fund to invest $6 million in six new joint projects

An innovative treatment for depression, a multiple-satellite tracker and augmented reality tech for industrial assembly lines are among the projects selected for funding by BIRD

Shoshanna Solomon was The Times of Israel's Startups and Business reporter

Illustrative image of the American and Israeli flags. (3dmitry; iStock by Getty Images)
Illustrative image of the American and Israeli flags. (3dmitry; iStock by Getty Images)

A cybersecurity solution, a personalized neuro-modulation therapy for major depression and a continuous blood-pressure monitor are among the six new joint projects between the United States and Israel that will get $6 million in funding from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation.

In addition to the grants from BIRD, the six projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to $13 million, BIRD said in a statement on Sunday.

The BIRD Foundation promotes joint ventures between US and Israeli companies in various technological fields so they can create new products in tandem.

In addition to providing grants of up to $1 million for approved projects, the foundation works with the companies to identify potential strategic partners.

Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the US Department of Commerce, and the Israel Innovation Authority.

Since it was set up 44 years ago, BIRD has backed some 1,000 joint projects for a total investment of over $370 million, and helped generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion, the statement said.

The newly approved projects are:

Cyberint Technologies (Petah Tikva, Israel) and Secure Systems Innovation Corporation, dba X-Analytics (Arlington, Virginia) to develop an operational cyber threat intelligence capability to inform cyber risk financial decisioning.

GrayMatters Health (Haifa, Israel) and the McLean Hospital Corporation (Belmont, Massachusetts) to develop personalized self neuro-modulation therapy for major depression disorder using clinical biomarkers.

Over-Sat (Netanya, Israel) and MIL-SAT (Surry, Virginia) to develop a LEO Satellite End-User Mobile Terminal capable of tracking multiple satellites.

Sensifree (Kfar Saba, Israel) and the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, Ohio) to develop next generation non-invasive, continuous blood pressure monitor for hospital use.

Skillreal (Ramat Gan, Israel) and Siemens DI (Plano, Texas) to develop a high-accuracy AR system supporting workers on installation and assembly lines with automatic validation to increase productivity and reduce assembly errors.

YonaLink (Jerusalem, Israel) and Trialjectory (Closter, New Jersey) to develop a platform to enroll diverse patients from diverse sites in clinical trials by automating the clinical trial process, from patient selection to data management.

“In a world affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, with almost no cross-border, in-person meetings taking place during this time, BIRD’s role as a catalyst for the creation of new R&D partnerships has become even more impactful,” said Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation in the statement.

“The framework provided by the BIRD Foundation provides reduced risk and improved partnerships, attracting high quality, innovative proposals, which is reflected by the projects selected in this cycle,” he adds.

The deadline for submission of executive summaries for the next BIRD cycle is September 2, 2021. Approval of projects will take place during December 2021, the statement said.

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