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Commercial News from |
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IN THIS EDITION:
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► WELCOME |
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Friends and Colleagues, As the current world downturn continues,
the Israeli Economy is still flourishing. With the new Australian Government
putting more importance on Research & Development, and also Environmental
issues, If there is anything you need help
in sourcing from Israeli Gross domestic product quarter
4 2007: 167,657 million Exchange rate Australian
Dollar : Israeli Shekel - 1.00
AUD : 3.25 Richard Vesely
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► SUCCESS STORIES |
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Israeli start-up iMedix Ltd. has won the
Crunchies "Best new start-up of 2007" award at a
ceremony in iMedix has developed a combined health information search
engine and interactive platform. iMedix CEO Amir Leitersdorf and president
and CMO Iri Amirav founded the company, which beat Hulu, a video sharing
site jointly launched by NBC and Fox, and Internet television venture
Joost, whose developers were also behind Skype and Kaza. The Crunchies is a collaboration
project between GigaOm, Read/WriteWeb, VentureBeat and TechCrunch; the
2007 awards are first annual competition and award ceremony to recognize
and celebrate the most compelling start-ups, Internet and technology
innovations of the year. A total of 82,000 start-ups competing in 20
different categories entered the competition. Israeli start-up PLYmedia second in
The company has developed an interactive
web-based platform that lets users create their own pop-up videos. Israeli start-up PLYmedia Inc.
has won second prize at the Le Web 3 2007 competition for start-ups in PLYmedia has developed an interactive web-based platform
(BubblePly) that lets users create their own pop-up videos by inserting
comic-style speech and thought bubbles. 33 contestants participated in this year's Le Web 3 competition,
selected from 130 applicants. Companies were graded on seven categories
by a panel of judges. Goojet won first place for its cellular application
that enables calls between two countries to synchronize data. Israeli Efforts in Neurology
Among the Greatest Advancements in Science in 2007 Magazine names 3 scientists
from Scientific American magazine
has listed two Israeli neurological breakthroughs as part of the “50
most significant scientific breakthroughs in Prof. Beka Solomon developed
a novel therapeutic approach in the form of an experimental nasal spray
for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, based on friendly bacterial viruses. Scientific American is
a renowned popular science magazine covering noted scientific advancements
since 1845. |
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► ECONOMIC OVERVIEW |
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Israeli Economy Grew by 6.4% in Q4 2007 Despite global slowdown,
Government budget surplus of The government welcomed the new year
with an enormous budget surplus of Therefore, the talk of a risk of sliding into an economic
slowdown may be premature, as such levels of revenue and budget surplus
do not foretell of recession. Usually, tax revenue is an initial indicator
of economic trends and direction. Unemployment at 13-year low Unemployment in The number of unemployed persons reached 193,400 in November,
falling by 37,000 from more than 230,000 at the beginning of the year.
The unemployment rate has now fallen 4.4% from the 11% high
at the beginning of 2004. According to Central Bureau of Statistics
figures, the unemployment rate has been falling faster than expected,
by a monthly rate of 0.1-0.2% a month. If the current rate of decline
persists, unemployment in The average unemployment rate reached 6.7% in the fourth
quarter, compared with an average of 7% in the third quarter, 7.5% in
the second quarter and 7.8% in the first quarter. The average unemployment
rate for 2007 as a whole will be 7.3%. State
of The State of the Economy Index rose
1.2% in December 2007, the Bank of Israel reported today. The index rose 3.4% in the fourth
quarter. The Bank of Israel also revised upwards the State of the
Economy Index by 0.8% for the fourth quarter. The index rose 8.3% in
2007, after rising by 7.5% in 2006. The index rose 33.8% in 2003-07,
an average of 6.8% a year. The increase in 2005-07 was an even more
rapid 7.4% a year. The index figures show that the economy's rapid growth is
continuing, and that there are no signs of a slowdown at the moment.
The manufacturing component of the index fell by 0.5% in November (the
latest available figures), after rising 2.7% in October. Services exports,
which include high-tech, rose by 13% in December, after falling 4% in
November. Citi: Q1 2008 – The Shekel
is the World's Strongest Currency "We are tracking
over 70 currencies and among them the shekel is the strongest currency
in the world since the start of 2008; the shekel is strengthening not
only against the dollar, but also against the euro and British pound,
and it is approaching its fair value after years in which it was undervalued"
– said Neil Corney, Citi Israel Treasurer In recent days, the dollar
has shown considerable volatility. After losing more than
1% two days ago, the American currency gained 0.75% yesterday afternoon
and its representative rate was set at 3.608 shekels. Corney added that
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► INVESTMENT |
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Hapoalim to acquire Russian bank for
$155m Bank Hapoalim will acquire
full ownership of Moscow-based SDM Bank for $155 million, reflecting
a multiple on shareholder's equity of 3.2. SDM had $48 million in shareholder's
equity at the end of the third quarter of 2007. Bank Hapoalim will later sell 25% of RBD to the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the same value. The bank
may make a further capital injection into SDM at a later stage to increase
its shareholder's equity. |
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► MEDICAL & PHARMACUTICAL |
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Teva receives approval for generic Epilepsy
drug Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that the US Food
and Drug Administration has granted final approval for the company’s
abbreviated new drug application to market its generic version of Novartis’
antiepileptic therapy Trileptal (Oxcarbazepine) tablets, in dosages
of 150 mg, 300 mg and 600 mg. Shipment of the product will begin in
the near future. The brand product had annual sales of approximately $690
million in the Teva is currently involved in patent litigation concerning
this product in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
A trial date has not been set. Petah Tikva-based Teva is among the top twenty pharmaceutical
companies in the world. The company develops, manufactures and markets
generic and innovative human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical
ingredients. Oramed begins oral insulin trial Oramed Pharmaceuticals
Inc. has begun Phase Ib clinical trials for its oral insulin
capsule. This trial's goal is to find the optimal dosage for the formulation
of the proprietary oral insulin delivery technology. The study utilizes
healthy human volunteers in order to determine the final formulation
of the oral insulin product. This trial follows the successful Phase
Ia trial, which was also conducted on healthy volunteers The Jerusalem-based company is developing an oral insulin
gel capsule for the treatment of diabetes. Most insulin is currently
delivered by injection. The company recently launched a second product
- an insulin inhalant. Oramed’s product includes enzymes, which are
attached to the insulin and protect it from the digestive juices. The
technology was developed at Hadassah Medical Organization by the mother
of Oramet CEO Nadav Kidron, Dr. Miriam Kidron, and by Dr. Hanoch Bar-On. Taro gets FDA nod for generic Zofran Taro Pharmaceutical Industries has obtained US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (“ANDA”)
for Ondansetron Hydrochloride Injection USP, 2 mg/ml for the prevention
of nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy. According to industry
sources, branded and generic injectable ondansetron products had Taro published preliminary results for 2007 in mid-February,
in which it posted a net profit of $21.1 million on $313 million sales.
The company had debts totaling $218 million at the end of December.
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► TELECOMMUNICATIONS & IT |
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Israel Among Top 5 Countries
With largest Presence at GSMA Mobile World 64 start-ups
generated over 1500 appointments at the Israeli pavilion The Mobile World Congress
Israeli exhibitors totaled
88, following the There are over 1000 communications
active start-ups in YAHOO! To Internet giant Yahoo!
is expected to open its research facility within a few months in the
Matam high-tech park in Yahoo!'s entry into the
Israeli content market is based on a strategic deal signed with portal
Walla! whereby the technology and databases will come from Yahoo! and
the search engine will be branded as Walla! Search, using the Walla!
AdVantage platform. Alvarion Ltd.
has supplied its Mobile WiMAX solution to TDS Telecommunications Corp.
for the Madison, Wisconsin-based provider's WiMAX 4Motion solution for
its residential and business customers. Alvarion did not disclose the
size of the contract. Alvarion Inc. president Greg Daily said, “With the quality
of service capabilities of 4Motion, TDS is able to bundle primary voice
and data, a strong indication of our technology superiority. In fact,
this deployment exceeded expectations because our professional services
team was able to accomplish this with the indoor self-install, even
with terrain like TDS, a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems Inc., has
1.2 million subscribers in 30 states. Amobee and Vodafone reach Italian deal Israeli start-up Amobee Media Systems Ltd.
will provide Vodafone Italia with ad-funded mobile video content to
the operator's 29.1 million Italian customers. Amobee's FreeVideo service
will allow Vodafone Italia UMTS users to access a wide range of high-quality,
local and branded video content for free in return for receiving relevant
commercial messages from major brands. Amobee has similar contracts with Vodafone plc affiliates
in the Amobee and Vodafone Italia's partners include mobile TV and
video services provider QuickPlay Media and the Dada Ad agency. UMTS
users with a video-enabled handset will be able to watch free news,
sport, comedy and music clips from media brands such as e-Class, Dorna
and Digital Magics. Amobee instantly processes the user's profile and
contextual information and selects a relevant "pre-roll" video
ad, followed by the video content and then a "post-roll" ad.
HP to Buy Israeli NUR Microprinters
In a deal worth $117.5
million, HP expanded its graphic arts portfolio of digital presses and
wide-format printers with its purchase of "The large-format
print service provider market is growing rapidly, and with the acquisition
of NUR, HP is strategically building an even stronger portfolio of products
and will continue to drive innovation and growth with our industrial
wide-format printers," said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president,
Imaging and Printing Group, HP. NUR Macroprinters makes
UV-curable and solvent inkjet printers that are used for display graphics,
signs, billboards and other products. Hewlett-Packard
(HP), the multinational IT company, is a world leader in Printing Technology
which has been present in |
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► INFRASTRUCTURE & ENERGY |
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U.S. President George
W. Bush signed the American-Israeli joint energy research bill, which
will fund cooperative research and development (R&D) efforts by
the The program, to
be called "The Bipartisan United States-Israel Energy Cooperation
Act (HR 2730)” will provide opportunities for joint research and development
projects involving renewable and alternative energy and energy efficiency.
The goal of this bill is to reduce dependence on oil. R&D work will
focus on solar, biomass, wind, geothermal, wave and tidal energy, as
well as advanced battery technology and energy efficiency. The bill
also aims at greater fuel efficiency in automobiles and promotes ethanol
production. In Ben-Eliezer relies on increased desalination " "The water shortage can be solved
by technology," says Minister of National Infrastructures Benjamin
Ben-Eliezer. He added that if desalination production is boosted to
525 million cubic meters a year, it would supply 70% of The Ministry of National Infrastructures will shortly publish
a tender for a 100 million cubic meter a year desalination facility
at Soreq and a tender to boost output by current tenders by 75 million
cubic meters a year, which Ben-Eliezer says will solve the water problem.
He also hinted that had the Ministry of Finance approved the desalination
facilities in time, "it is doubtful that we'd be faced with such
a severe crisis today." Israel is Set to Promote
Electric Cars First cars to be on the
roads by 2011 The Israeli government
has announced its plans of becoming the first country to significantly
reduce oil dependency and pollution by adopting the concept of mass-produced
environmentally-friendly electric cars. Consumers will buy and own their
car and subscribe to energy, charging their car batteries in charging
spots to be spread around the country. The government has extended
a tax incentive on the purchase of zero-emissions vehicles until 2019,
making them more affordable. Combined with the lower cost of electricity
as opposed to fuel-based energy, the total cost of ownership for the
customer will be significantly lower than that of a fuel-based car. The announcement coincided
with an agreement between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and the |
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► INNOVATIONS IN UNIVERSITIES |
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Treating Desalinated Water Dr. Ori Lahav and his team, from the Faculty of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and the Grand Water Research Institute at the Technion,
have developed an innovative post-treatment process for treating desalinated
water following the membrane separation step. The goal is to supply
drinking water that, in addition to meeting Israeli standards for concentrations
of calcium and other required chemical parameters, also contains magnesium
ions in the concentration recommended by the World Health Organization
(WHO), in a low-cost and environmentally friendly way. http://pard.technion.ac.il/archives/presseng/Html/PR_oriE_16_03.Html Monitoring Babies Respiration A student's project in the Faculty
of Biomedical Engineering at the Technion, has become a start-up that
is developing an innovative device for monitoring respiration, especially
in premature babies, by using a novel method of recording and comparison
between the lungs functions. The company – Pneumedicare – began operations
in January ago in the Yozmat Haemek Technological Incubator in Migdal
Haemek and in December started clinical trials at the http://pard.technion.ac.il/archives/presseng/Html/PR_pneumedicareENG_07_01.Html Probe for Monitoring Soil Pollution There is a continues need for a reliable tool for monitoring soil pollution
and providing accurate information about the chemical composition properties
within the vadose zone pore-water, as well as to monitor the resulting
chemical properties of the flowing water and their contaminants. A prototype
is already tested at http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/NR/rdonlyres/930441DB-080D-4FA9-B1AD-592972BCA767/46901/VSPdaha.pdf Growing Prawns Faster A novel sex selection, monitored growth program for prawns has been successfully
tested by Prof. Amir Sagi, and Dr. Eli Aflalo and Dr. at the http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/NR/rdonlyres/DB3505F1-2D48-4E71-B43A-120952269433/46467/WebSiteAmirSagi.pdf Robotic Rats Scientists from Europe,
Israel and the USA are developing 'robotic rats' that will be able to
aid in rescue missions and planetary research, as described by Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Weizmann Institute of Science’s
Neurobiology Department, who researches the whiskers with which the
rats locate, identify and capture moving objects. http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/site/en/weizman.asp?pi=371&doc_id=5089 |
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EVENTS IN
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LINKS: Israel Trade Commission:
www.israeltrade.org.au Embassy of Israel:
http://canberra.mfa.gov.il |
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