December 30, 2013

The Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation has approved $9 million in funding for 11 new projects between Israeli and American companies. The new projects are in the fields of Life Sciences, Electronics, Communication, Cyber Security and Homeland Security.

“The projects approved by the Board of Governors include innovative, relatively high risk, technology developments. BIRD’s support reduces the risk and increases the chances of commercialization in the global market,” said Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director of the BIRD Foundation.

In addition to the grants from BIRD, the projects will access private sector funding, boosting the total value of all projects to approximately $23 million.

The BIRD Foundation promotes collaboration between Israeli and American companies in various technological fields for the purpose of joint product development.

BIRD has already helped fund 878 projects in its 36 year history. To date, BIRD’s total investment in these projects has been over $308 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion.

The new approved projects include a joint partnership between Bonus BioGroup (Haifa, Israel) and Cellora (Boston, MA) to develop personalized regenerative medicine technologies; CliniWorks (Ramat HaSharon, Israel) and Pfizer (New York, NY) to develop a healthcare quality analytics and patient engagement portal; Gilat Satellite Networks (Petach Tikva, Israel) and Kymeta (Redmond, WA) to develop a portable satellite terminal; and MeMed Diagnostics (Tirat Carmel, Israel) and Diagnostic Consulting Network (Carlsbad, CA) to develop a point-of-care device to diagnose bacterial vs. viral infections, among others.

“The BIRD Foundation has achieved worldwide recognition, particularly for the rigor of its investment due diligence and the quality of its project management. It is also demonstrating best in class effectiveness for efficient international operations and financial accountability, ensuring a high return on investment for public expenditures,” said Phillip Singerman, Associate Director for Innovation and Industry Services at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and co-Chairman of BIRD Board of Governors.

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