In his inspiring lunchtime keynote at the VITAL Summit, RAD Group Chairman Zohar Zisapel noted that Israeli companies were often created in response to Israel’s need to be creative in solving the country’s unique challenges in the area of security, vehicle safety, and communications, for example.  The high-tech companies that presented at the Summit exemplified Israel’s renowned self-reliance, creativity, and scientific application.  The investor community was impressed by what the Israeli entrepreneurs had to show. The large number of meetings that happened after each company presented confirmed this.
 
High-tech, software, and services companies were well represented at the VITAL Summit in Roanoke.  As expected, the entrepreneurs presented a wide range of solutions at the event that intrigued, impressed, and motivated the Virginia investment community.
 
“I saw a good number of solid companies that had great potential for expansion to the US markets.  The (follow up) meetings after each presentation provided the best way to understand the goals of the Israeli organizations and their specific capabilities,” said Phil Garfinkle, President, Navig8, Great Falls, VA.  “There were some ‘gems’ that had great potential for long term business success.  The VITAL conference was a great way to see which ones could be polished up, focused, and positioned for success in the US and worldwide markets.”
 
As with the companies in the life sciences sector, the companies that presented showed an appreciation for product cost-effectiveness, partnership requirements, and exceptional management.
 
Here is a synopsis of some of the high-tech companies who presented at the conference:
 
Green Clouds Ltd:  Green Clouds provides cost-effective and efficient aerosol generation solutions based on a unique technology.  The applications will solve problems for industrial, agricultural, and defense customers.  Green Clouds intends to create a new holding company that will oversee six new companies targeting specific US markets.  Green Clouds manufactures a family of Ultrasonic Aerosol Generators (UAGs) of different sizes, shapes, and production capabilities. 
 
Britannica Knowledge Systems:  Targeting airport security departments, Britannica Knowledge Systems (BKS) discussed its unique Competency Management System (CMS) e-learning solution.  CMS had been widely regarded by BKS’ Israeli defense customers.  CMS is based on BKS’ proprietary and highly effective learning content management system (HighLearn) and streaming content provide (HighLive).
 
CellPay:  CellPay provides a complete set of mobile payment applications that enable users to pay for goods and services, transfer funds, and conduct other financial transactions by using their mobile devices.  As the first mover in “m-payment,” CellPay owns patents, special algorithms, unique procedures, and extensive amount of know-how based on experience, customers and real life feedback.

Visionary: Visionary has developed a break thru technology in mobile vision and video transmission capability for the mobile and security industries.  Visionary is the first company to deliver on line video over narrow bandwidth screened on large virtual near-to-eye displays.
 
TACT System Testware:  The most successful software testing company in the world, Mercury Interactive, came from Israel. TACT looks to leverage that legacy by offering a large suite of software testing and validation services.
 
Merlynet:  Merlynet is a leading provider of comprehensive, highly integrated Web-Enabled Live Customer Interaction (WELCI) solutions for large enterprise contact centers and value-added IP/Telecom service platforms.  The company counts Telmex of Mexico as a customer and Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Deloitte-Touche, Oracle and Level-8 as partners.
 
SatSmart:  SatSmart is targeting service providers and fleet owners in the recreational boating and commercial transportation industries.  SatSmart develops and sells end-to-end telematic solutions and hardware, based on LEO satellite technology, with a unique Internet interface.  The company has four patents pending in the US.
 
Steadicopter:  Steadicopter developed and will produce completely autonomous robotic unmanned helicopters.
 
LexTran:  Company has developed a cost-effective combined air pollution control system.  Lextran addresses the growing global awareness and search for innovative air pollution control technologies.  The company’s technology meets the challenge of reducing acid rain emissions through a scalable combined technology platform.
 
Other companies showed solutions in the area of vehicle/road safety and traffic management. Israel’s historically unsafe roads have made products from companies such as Road Safety Devices mandatory.  The company offers an electronic transceiver that allows tariff-free communications between vehicles that both prohibits high-beam headlight blinding and transmits emergency distress and other messages.  DynamTech is another company that offers a transportation related solution. The company offers integrated management and security systems in the Vehicle Access Control field.  Cellint sells “virtual sensors” to traffic control integrators.  Cellint serves the traffic control market in general and the traffic data collection market in particular.
 
There were a number of other interesting technologies discussed in the security and software fields. For more information on the companies that presented high-tech solutions, please click here.