Super Hot Solar Thermal, Solar Buildings in DOE-Israel Development Alliance

Greentech Media: Super Hot Solar Thermal, Solar Buildings in DOE-Israel Development Alliance | Green Light

When it comes to high tech, Israel can be thought of as a branch office of Silicon Valley.

Nearly every major tech company – Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, etc. – has built facilities in the country and actively recruits engineers at universities like the Technion. Several Israeli startups have also been swept up by multinationals. The country even has its own venture capital community with strong links back to the 650 area code.

To further foster the process, the Department of Energy and the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures have decided to collaborate and will provide $3.3 million in grants to four companies. One is HelioFocus, a novel solar thermal company (read more here).

Another is Tigo Energy, which specializes in software and electronics for solar (see video here). It will participate in a building integrated photovoltaic project.

And then there's Mississippi's SmartSynch, which will work with Motorola Israel on a smart grid management platform.

Technorati Tags: Solar Energy

Israel´s high-tech sector suffers as demand for high-tech exports drops

Israel Information Technology Report Q4 2009 - new report released

In H109, Israel´s high-tech sector suffered as demand for high-tech exports dropped by at least 10-15%, with as many as 10,000 sector jobs feared to be at risk. This represented a major concern for the Israeli government given that high-tech accounted for around 10% of Israel´s economy, with annual sales estimated at around US$25bn. Major IT firms were retrenching in Israel, including SAP, Cisco and HP.

IT is viewed as an important policy tool for the Israeli government´s 2008-2010 socioeconomic policy framework. The National Economic Council recently submitted a policy agenda to the government, which specified two main policy tracks of reducing poverty and achieving balanced growth. The first track is expected to emerge as the main priority.

Source: BMI