In recent news, it has been revealed that the research committee of the Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) will ward a total of NIS 13 million to a couple of startups in their developmental aphsea. This finance will be given as grants to 14 startups so that they can develop and design technology that focuses on improving government infrastructure.
Just yesterday, the committee made its decision public by publishing it. They also posted a summary of all the 14 startups that they initially plan on sponsoring.
Moreover, the Government Companies Authority (GCA) as well as the IIA, have been requesting various other companies to make proposals and send them in. They hope that this will lead to the development of innovative technologies, which can be tested on infrastructure. The government has taken up the responsibility to personally provide this infrastructure for testing.
A statement released informed that this is the third consecutive year in which government agencies and companies have allowed access to their infrastructure. For the past three years, Israeli startups have benefited from this generosity. This year, additional resources were pooled to market the program and increase its budget.
Yanki Quint, the Director of the Government Companies Authority, gave a speech regarding this recent good news. He stated that they had received numerous high-quality proposals that exceeded their expectations. He informed me that the programs selected underwent rigorous screening and were concluded to have the highest success potential.
According to him, these 14 startups will make a significant contribution to the economy of Israel. He added that the startups will contribute to public service and play an important role in enhancing the bottom lines of state-owned companies.
The initiative has been designed to improve, develop, and cut down on costs incurred by state-owned companies. The IIA and GCA hope that this will benefit all the citizens of the country.
Each company was thoroughly vetted by a different team of experts, who are employed by the GCA and IIA. Their job was to find the top-most promising programs to be given the grants. The grant covers nearly 50% of the costs of the project. On the other hand, a special concession was given to those startups that belong to geographically remote locations of the country.
The programs are inclusive of using drone technology to construct plans to build the roads of Israel. There will also be technology that can improve the desalination process of seawater. This is going to be done in collaboration with Israel’s national water company. A digital platform for the purpose of urban planning, Mekorot, will also be making a worthwhile contribution of its technology.
Additionally, Mobileye will be used to extract data for smart traffic management. The two organizations have also revealed that they will be making use of the technology that detects damage inflicted on unloaded products, which arrive at the Port of Ashdod. Technology will also be utilized to carry out a damage assessment by using remote sensing, weather data, and satellite imagery in wheat fields.