The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation recently approved $7.5 million in funding for nine new projects between American and Israeli companies. The projects also will receive private sector funding, boosting their total value to approximately $21.5 million.

Over the last 39 years, BIRD’s total investment in 931 joint US-Israel projects has totalled $330 million, helping to generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion.

The projects approved include:

• Cellect Biotechnology (Kfar Saba, Israel) and Entegris (Billerica, MA): Improved stem-cell selection system.
• Evogene (Rehovot, Israel) and Arcadia Biosciences (Davis, CA): Novel drought-tolerant wheat varieties.
• File X (Ness Ziona, Israel) and Brimrose (Sparks, MD): Real-time hyperspectral imaging system for pollution detection.
• Hinoman (Or Yehuda, Israel) and Benchmark Biolabs (Lincoln, NE): Vaccine for Newcastle virus disease from an aquatic plants source.
• Israel Aerospace Industries (Ben-Gurion International Airport, Israel) and Honeywell (Morris Plains, NJ): Sense and Avoid for UAVs.
• Kamada (Ness Ziona, Israel) and Baxalta (Bannockburn, IL): Treatment for prevention of lung-transplant rejection.
• Keystone Heart (Caesarea Business Park, Israel) and SurModics (Eden Prairie, MN): Novel medical device for cerebral protection during cardiovascular procedures.
• MedAware (Ra’anana, Israel) and Becton Dickinson (Franklin Lakes, NJ): Prescription Error Surveillance.
• Mellanox (Yokneam, Israel) and Chromis Fiberoptics (Warren, NJ): Polymer optical fibers for data centers.

Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and by the Israel Innovation Authority, formerly the Office of the Chief Scientist at the Israel Ministry of Economy and Industry.