Israel holds first ever Climate Innovation Summit
The summit’s main focus was to promote local and global discourse regarding the role of Israeli climate innovation in responding to climate crisis challenges
Mandi Kogosowski
| 03/11/2021
Left to right from the top: Isaac Herzog, President of Israel; Tamar Zandberg, Minister of Environmental Protection; Idan Roll, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Neil Weigan, UK Ambassador to Israel; Dror Bin, CEO of Israeli Innovation Authority; Uriel Klar, Director of PLANETech. Photo courtesy PLANETech
PLANETech, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the British Embassy in Israel, and the Israeli Innovation Authority hosted yesterday (Tuesday) the nation’s very first Climate Innovation Summit.
Attended by local dignitaries, and various representatives of tech companies and start-ups, the summit’s main focus was to promote local and global discourse regarding the role of Israeli climate innovation in responding to climate crisis challenges. Held as a hybrid event, both local and international audiences were exposed to Israeli innovation in the field, and to climate-related activities that Israel promotes through various channels.
In addition to mapping some 1,200 Israeli climate tech companies, a special focus was placed on nine local startups from diverse fields, all under the climate tech umbrella: agriculture, energy, biodiversity, weather forecasting, alternative proteins, circular economy, supply chains, materials, and mobility presented their innovations and their climate impact.
The nine companies are:
- SeeTree: monitors individual trees at a wide geographical scale, which enables high resolution intelligence on tree growth and maximizes carbon sequestration in forest conservation projects.
- UBQ Materials: the first Israeli company to join the UN’s “Race to Zero” campaign, developed a unique process that makes climate positive materials from unsorted household waste, and supports circular economy.
- Aleph Farms: a cultivated meat company, which produces meat directly from animal cell cultivation. This provides a sustainable alternative to farmed animal-based protein.
- ElectReon: aims to create the first electric city road in the world, providing wireless charging for electric vehicles as they travel, with no need to stop for charging.
- Wiliot: a new Israeli unicorn, is attempting to change the way supply chains are managed and helps reduce food waste and loss with IoT Pixel tagging technology.
- Beewise’s mission is protecting bees, one of the most important organisms for global food production threatened by climate change, by enabling the preservation of healthy and safe bee colonies.
- Tommorrow.io is developing a unique technology for weather prediction that helps manage climate security challenges and predict extreme weather events.
- StoreDot is developing novel materials that change the way we charge cars, and supports the transition to mobility electrification.
- Augwind is working on a long-duration energy storage solution by converting energy stored in compressed air into high-efficiency electrical energy, with no harmful environmental impacts.
"Climate tech is not just solar energy and electric cars, it covers all technologies that take part in the effort to decarbonize the global economy, and adapt to changing climate,” said Uriel Klar Director of PLANETech. “We encourage entrepreneurs to join the global climate tech movement and build new climate positive startups.”
PLANETech is a nonprofit climate tech innovation community established recently as a joint venture between the Israel Innovation Institute and the Consensus Business Group. It recently published an extensive report mapping Israel’s climate tech companies, investment and goals.
“Israel can and must be a global leader in meeting the challenges of climate change,” said State President, Isaac Herzog. “Israel’s thousands of cutting-edge startups, world class research institutions, and decades of experience in meeting the challenges of an arid environment, are already transforming the country into a global force of groundbreaking climate technologies.”
Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg, who is currently attending COP26 in Glasgow, sent a pre-recorded clip, in which she called “on all members of the global start-up ecosystem, to examine how their technology can contribute to addressing climate change – not as a superficial slogan, but as a true product development strategy.”
Idan Roll, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that “Fighting climate change is a goal not only for Israel but for the entire Middle East. We have a shared understanding with our regional partners that this is a common challenge that we must join hands to tackle.”
The summit’s main focus was to promote local and global discourse regarding the role of Israeli climate innovation in responding to climate crisis challenges
Left to right from the top: Isaac Herzog, President of Israel; Tamar Zandberg, Minister of Environmental Protection; Idan Roll, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs; Neil Weigan, UK Ambassador to Israel; Dror Bin, CEO of Israeli Innovation Authority; Uriel Klar, Director of PLANETech. Photo courtesy PLANETech
PLANETech, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the British Embassy in Israel, and the Israeli Innovation Authority hosted yesterday (Tuesday) the nation’s very first Climate Innovation Summit.
Attended by local dignitaries, and various representatives of tech companies and start-ups, the summit’s main focus was to promote local and global discourse regarding the role of Israeli climate innovation in responding to climate crisis challenges. Held as a hybrid event, both local and international audiences were exposed to Israeli innovation in the field, and to climate-related activities that Israel promotes through various channels.
In addition to mapping some 1,200 Israeli climate tech companies, a special focus was placed on nine local startups from diverse fields, all under the climate tech umbrella: agriculture, energy, biodiversity, weather forecasting, alternative proteins, circular economy, supply chains, materials, and mobility presented their innovations and their climate impact.
The nine companies are:
- SeeTree: monitors individual trees at a wide geographical scale, which enables high resolution intelligence on tree growth and maximizes carbon sequestration in forest conservation projects.
- UBQ Materials: the first Israeli company to join the UN’s “Race to Zero” campaign, developed a unique process that makes climate positive materials from unsorted household waste, and supports circular economy.
- Aleph Farms: a cultivated meat company, which produces meat directly from animal cell cultivation. This provides a sustainable alternative to farmed animal-based protein.
- ElectReon: aims to create the first electric city road in the world, providing wireless charging for electric vehicles as they travel, with no need to stop for charging.
- Wiliot: a new Israeli unicorn, is attempting to change the way supply chains are managed and helps reduce food waste and loss with IoT Pixel tagging technology.
- Beewise’s mission is protecting bees, one of the most important organisms for global food production threatened by climate change, by enabling the preservation of healthy and safe bee colonies.
- Tommorrow.io is developing a unique technology for weather prediction that helps manage climate security challenges and predict extreme weather events.
- StoreDot is developing novel materials that change the way we charge cars, and supports the transition to mobility electrification.
- Augwind is working on a long-duration energy storage solution by converting energy stored in compressed air into high-efficiency electrical energy, with no harmful environmental impacts.
"Climate tech is not just solar energy and electric cars, it covers all technologies that take part in the effort to decarbonize the global economy, and adapt to changing climate,” said Uriel Klar Director of PLANETech. “We encourage entrepreneurs to join the global climate tech movement and build new climate positive startups.”
PLANETech is a nonprofit climate tech innovation community established recently as a joint venture between the Israel Innovation Institute and the Consensus Business Group. It recently published an extensive report mapping Israel’s climate tech companies, investment and goals.
“Israel can and must be a global leader in meeting the challenges of climate change,” said State President, Isaac Herzog. “Israel’s thousands of cutting-edge startups, world class research institutions, and decades of experience in meeting the challenges of an arid environment, are already transforming the country into a global force of groundbreaking climate technologies.”
Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg, who is currently attending COP26 in Glasgow, sent a pre-recorded clip, in which she called “on all members of the global start-up ecosystem, to examine how their technology can contribute to addressing climate change – not as a superficial slogan, but as a true product development strategy.”
Idan Roll, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that “Fighting climate change is a goal not only for Israel but for the entire Middle East. We have a shared understanding with our regional partners that this is a common challenge that we must join hands to tackle.”
