Before the new year, the Israel Innovation Authority announced that it would launch 3 innovation consortia, focused on photonics, metamaterials and metasurfaces, and black soldier fly breeding.
Aviv Zeevi, vice president of generation infrastructure at the IIA, explained that the investment for these new consortia “is a component of the authority’s strategy to inspire high-risk efforts within Israel’s technology industry, while presenting new core functions that will enable the penetration of revolutionary new markets. with disruptive technologies, whether for startups or giant companies.
The built-in photonics consortium will function as a tool for data processing, chips, and communication and interception systems.
In 2021, the silicon photonics market was estimated at $1100 million through MarketAndMarket and is expected to reach $4600 million by 2027.
Integrated photonic light is a springboard for quantum computer progression, Zeevi explained. This consortium will also seek to develop a small-volume lightweight gyroscope with mid-range accuracy for short navigation; laser comb for multichannel optical communications; and a platform for particularly the volume of high-power airborne laser systems.
The Israeli corporations in this consortium are Elop, Cielo, Quantum Source and New Photonics, as well as researchers Ilya Goykhman of the Technion, Avi Zadok and Boris Desiatov of Bar-Ilan University, and Uriel Levy, Dan Marom and Liron Stern of Hebrew. University. . Production of SiN4 parts will be outsourced and done through Tower Semiconductors.
The consortium of metatissues and metasurfaces will look for wise combinations of nano or microstructures to create synthetic electromagnetic tissues that allow the manipulation of the electromagnetic wave passing through the material.
This is meant to enable a highly effective redesign of energy fields and flows, to make unconventional mirrors, thin lenses, adjustable antennas, wide-angle absorbers and more. Applications would come with communications and optics.
Consortium members come with Elbit Systems, Ceragon, SatixFy Communications, Galel, Spectralics, SDC, PCB, OPSYS, FVMAT and IKOM, and study teams from the Technion, Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv University, Ariel University, Bar-Ilan University and Ben Gurion University.
The Black Soldier Fly consortium will seek to promote select proteins, synthetic intelligence and the circular economy in a study project.
The black soldier fly (BSF) feeds on biological waste and can turn it into quality products such as proteins and oils. Today, BSF products are licensed for livestock feed, but they may one day serve as the basis for human food, cosmetics, and medicines. .
The 8 Israeli corporations in the consortium are: FreezeM, Ambar, Shachar Group, NRGene, Neomena, Entoprotech, Bagira and Rafael Feed Mills, as well as study teams from the Volcani Center, MIGAL, the University of Haifa, Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University. They will collaborate in facets such as livestock, health, nutrition and scalability of BSF.