BIRD - Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial R&D Foundation to Invest $6.55 Million in 6 New Projects

The approved projects, with an overall budget of $16 million, involve innovations in Environment, Electro-optics, Healthcare IT, and Quantum Computing

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- During its meeting on July 2, 2024, held in Washington D.C., the Board of Governors of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation approved $6.55 million in funding for six new projects between U.S. and Israeli companies. In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private-sector funding, boosting the total investment in all projects to $16 million.

The BIRD Foundation promotes collaborations between U.S. and Israeli companies in various technological sectors for joint product development. In addition to providing conditional grants of up to $1.5 million, the Foundation assists by working with companies to identify potential strategic partners and facilitate introductions.

The submitted projects are reviewed by BIRD staff and evaluators appointed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Israel Innovation Authority. The six projects approved by the Board of Governors are in addition to the over 1100 projects the BIRD Foundation has approved for funding during its 47-year history. To date, BIRD's total investment in joint projects exceeds $396 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of over $10 billion.

The projects approved are:

• Amarel Embedded Solutions (AES) (Yokne'am, Israel) and Gleason Corporation (Rochester, NY) to develop a Smart Machine platform to provide real-time feedback on the machining process.
• CyberRidge (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Molex (Lisle, IL) to develop a next-generation optical key technology for post-quantum photonic layer encryption.
• Datos Health (Tel Aviv, Israel) and Permanente Health Care Ventures (Portland, OR) to develop an effective digital-first home-based pulmonary rehabilitation service.
• Groundwork BioAg (Mazor, Israel), and Indigo Agriculture Inc. (Boston, MA) to develop a novel polymicrobial system that combines mycorrhizal inoculants enabling carbon removal and bacterial inoculants enabling efficient nitrogen acquisition for emission reduction in Agriculture.
• Quai.MD (Tel Aviv, Israel) and MUSC Health (Charleston, SC) to develop and implement a Clinical Process Automation Platform to guide providers in the emergency department.
• Quantum Art (Ness Ziona, Israel) and BlueQubit Inc. (Los Angeles, CA) to develop and optimize a quantum machine learning algorithm and a quantum processor configuration and methods.

Ms. Mojdeh Bahar, Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and co-chair of BIRD's Board of Governors said: "BIRD's impact is not to be measured only in the financial resources it provides but in the transformative partnerships the Foundation helps foster. I am proud of the hard work the BIRD Foundation team has put into bringing these companies together. The projects approved during this award cycle center on advanced technologies with great commercial relevance. I join my fellow BIRD Foundation colleagues in congratulating this cycle's grant recipients."

Dr. Alon Stopel, Chief Scientist of Innovation at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, and co-chair of BIRD's Board of Governors said: "The latest BIRD Foundation's Board of Governors meeting reviewed innovative projects submitted to the foundation, reflecting the creativity and resilience of Israel's innovation ecosystem. The foundation's investments help create Israeli American partnerships, enabling companies to accelerate their development processes and advance their products' time-to-market. Despite the challenges of the war this year, this collaboration yielded successful projects with potential for global impact in the fields of health, agriculture, and quantum computing."

Mr. Jaron Lotan, Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation, said: "In these challenging times, both in Israel and globally, the approval of these six innovative projects underscores the resilience and creativity of our collaborative efforts. The BIRD Foundation remains committed to fostering groundbreaking US-Israeli partnerships that address critical needs and drive technological advancements. We are proud to support initiatives that enhance our industries and contribute to a brighter, more sustainable future."

The deadline for submission of Executive Summaries for the next BIRD cycle is September 5, 2024. Approval of projects will take place in December 2024.

About the BIRD Foundation

The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation encourages and facilitates cooperation between U.S. and Israeli companies across a wide range of technology sectors, offering funding to selected projects.

The Foundation supports projects without taking any equity or intellectual property rights from the participating companies or the projects themselves. BIRD funding is repaid through royalties from sales of products that were commercialized because of BIRD support. The Foundation provides funding of up to 50% of a project's budget, covering activities from R&D to the initial stages of sales and marketing. The Foundation shares the risk and does not require repayment if the project does not reach the sales stage.

For more information, please contact: 
Limor Nakar-Vincent, Deputy Executive Director of Business Development and BIRD Energy
+972-3-6988315
[email protected]

SOURCE The BIRD Foundation