Hayadan > Corona: The Innovation Authority supports projects * Sheba: Many companies approach us with innovative technologies

Corona: The Innovation Authority supports projects * Sheba: Many companies approach us with innovative technologies

Dr. Eyal Tsimlichman, VP of Medicine and Innovation at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center: "The bottleneck is assigning a computer person for the implementation" * Tsimlichman said these things at the first global online investment conference to combat the corona virus, hosted by Kokirman Life Sciences and GoforIsrael with the participation of startups In the life sciences, global investors and leading corporations * The Innovation Authority supports multi-faceted projects to fight the Corona virus * The Authority's committees have chosen to support 35 selected projects for a total amount of NIS 22 million

The Innovation Authority supports projects for solutions to the Corona epidemic. The Authority's committees chose to support 35 selected projects for a total amount of NIS 22 million

This amount is the first approval of the total budget approved for the Authority, which is 50 million NIS, which also includes submissions from academic institutions, advanced production submissions, start-up companies and growing companies - the Authority is considering, together with the Ministry of Finance, to increase the budget for the votes of the readers.

The committee chose to support projects from a wide variety of areas of dealing with the corona from the concept that dealing with the disease should be multi-faceted, and not focus on one specific area:

• Sensors and remote patient monitoring systems and innovative diagnostic solutions
• Remote medicine for patients whose routine treatment has been affected as a result of the epidemic
• Monitoring the spread of an epidemic and population vaccination
• Genetic decoding infrastructures to support dealing with the disease
• Antiviral drugs
• Robotic systems for disinfecting buildings
• Industrial products for body and face protection
• Means for extensive tests such as: production of markers and automation of laboratory tests

Yesterday the applications were submitted for the additional (second) reader's voice in the growth arena and immediately after the holiday the second and last deadline for advanced production submissions will close - it is also expected to be of the same order of magnitude (companies, requested budgets, scope of grants allocated to it and the aforementioned areas).
The purpose of the calling voices was to accelerate solutions from idea to implementation and integration into advanced trends to deal with the virus, through technological developments or quick product adjustments. The emphasis is on the relevance of the proposed solution to immediately deal with the crisis, quick arrival time to the market or collaborations that guarantee functional continuity of the Israeli economy.

Minister of Economy and Industry, Eli Cohen: "The unique routes are designed to harness theinnovation and creativity in Israel for solutions to deal with the corona virus crisis, as well as to change work patterns, so that we can turn the crisis into an opportunity for the Israeli high-tech market. Also, with the decline of the corona virus, we intend to allocate an additional 1.5 billion NIS, as part of a plan to accelerate the economy and stimulate the industry, something that will help the growth and development of the Israeli economy."

Dr. Ami Appleboom, Chairman of the Innovation Authority: "Each of the selected projects is innovative in its field, we have already received over 750 applications, many of them good - due to the high demand, the committee had to give up additional quality projects."

The bottleneck at Sheba: the allocation of IT personnel to implement all the technologies

Hundreds of investors and startups from all over the world are participating in the "Covid-19 Innovation Conference", a global online investment event to fight the epidemic, initiated by the Kokirman Life Sciences investment house and GoforIsrael, with the aim of promoting solutions to fight the corona virus now and in the future.

At a panel of experts from Israel and the world moderated by Dr. Lauren Shoup, Co-Director of Cokerman Life Sciences, Dr. Eyal Tsimlichman, Vice President of Medicine and Innovation at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center, said: "We receive a lot of inquiries from companies that want to help in the fight against the corona virus, they are not used to working to such an extent. The initial screening for us is whether the application is easy and fast. Sometimes, a company has a great solution, they donate it, and the doctors like it too. But in the end, one employee from the computer department has to be assigned to install it, and here is the bottleneck, because everyone is working on installing equipment in hospital beds, setting up servers, and a variety of other urgent tasks, the computer people are very busy. We've implemented a lot of new technologies in the last month, but sometimes one IT guy is the deal breaker that makes it happen.”

Tsimlichman also told about technologies that are already being used in the Corona department at Sheba Hospital, such as technologies that allow a patient to be diagnosed remotely and sensors installed under the mattress in the patient's bed that can warn of early deterioration in breathing.

Prof. Philip Chalfon, president and founder of Genoscience Pharma, which develops a drug originally intended for the treatment of cancer, and which can interfere with the reproduction mechanism of the corona virus, announced during the conference the start of phase 2 of a multicenter study Using GNS561, a highly potent chloroquine analog, in patients with advanced or metastatic cancer and with COVID-19 in France.

Dr. Ami Appleboom, chairman of the Innovation Authority, stated that "one of the key areas that we must change in order to fight the epidemic and get out of it is the financial world. There is already a decrease in capital raising, therefore the model of the Innovation Authority, which is based on government money that we give and capital that our partners put in accordingly, is no longer sufficient. We issued three calls for technological projects that can help deal with the challenges of the corona virus and we have already received about 400 applications for financing solutions for the short, medium and long term. For this purpose, about 14 million dollars are needed in the first stage.
Since we are already seeing a decrease in recruitments, the Authority is expanding its efforts to raise capital, including a government fund that will use various financial tools, loans from banks, guarantees, recruitment from external investors and funds, and government bonds. We call on you, the investors, to contact us and join the movement because together we can win."

Dr. Lauren Shoup, Co-Director of Cokerman Life Sciences and moderator of the conference: "Startups in the field of life sciences have always contributed to humanity with innovative developments, but they have never been as essential as at this time. The corona crisis is a catalyst for a technological leap in the health industry, which needs flexible and innovative solutions in a variety of medical fields. We hope that with the help of our global network, which includes investors and strategic partners, we will be able to accelerate innovative solutions of groundbreaking startups."
He also called on the participants of the conference to join the fundraising campaign led by the Kokirman Investment House for "the Technion's emergency fund to fight the spread of the corona virus." Along with Dr. Lauren Shoup, the panels at the conference were moderated by Shai Ziman, a partner at Cokerman Life Sciences.

Other speakers at the conference were: Prof. Dror Mbaruch, head of a department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and the founder and chief scientist of Enlivex, Prof. Frederic Tangi, director of the field of virology at the National Institute for Scientific Research (CNRS and head of the Vaccine Innovation Laboratory, Pasteur Institute (France), Prof. Yi Ning, Vice President and Chief Scientist at the Chinese Medical Testing Services Group Meinian OneHealth Group, and Director General of the Public Health Research Institute at Peking University (Beijing), Dr. (Mrs.) Hiqing Ge - Director of the Respiratory Department at a hospital in the city Hangzhou in China, which was sent during the crisis to the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the Corona outbreak, and Shai Ziman, a partner in Cokerman Life Sciences.

The participating entrepreneurs presented innovative technologies in areas such as: vaccines, medical equipment, biotechnology, pharma, diagnostics, robotics and digital health. Many of the startups "discovered" that their technologies have become more relevant than ever. With the outbreak of the crisis, many of them changed their strategy, abandoned the original plans for a moment and are now focusing their efforts on the fight against Corona.
For example, the Israeli startup Respinova, which developed a device to improve the ability to breathe and move for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); Enlivex, who developed a treatment to prevent system collapse through a blood transfusion that underwent a special procedure, and the company is convinced that it can be suitable for system collapse resulting from the corona virus; Genoscience Pharma - a drug that was originally intended for the treatment of cancer and can interfere with the reproduction mechanism of the corona virus; and the PreciHealth company - which developed self-use micro-injectors that will improve remote medicine capabilities during isolation.

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