The aim of the Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow 2009 is to investigate trends that are shaping the future and explore actions that could contribute to the betterment of tomorrow for Israel, the Jewish people and the world at large.

The two-day conference (October 21 to 22) in Jerusalem will also present 30 cutting-edge Israeli projects in the fields of alternative energy, water technology, stem cell research, advanced education, defense and counter-terrorism and communications technology.

Israeli projects include: Mihar Bio-Energy’s plan to use Israel’s Tamarisk trees as a biomass renewable energy source to replace coal; Agam Energy Systems’ prototype car engine, that will use just a fifth of the gas that internal combustion engines use today; and Madgal-CSF’s smart faucet that saves water and electricity.

Expected to join the 2500 Israelis slated to attend the conference are about 1500 participants from around the globe, such as American futurist Raymond Kurzweil, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Skype president Josh Silverman, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, banker Baron David de Rothschild and Indian guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.