US-Israel fund to invest $8.2 million in 9 new joint R&D projects

Featuring FIBA company WizeCare.


The Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation has approved $8.2 million in funding for nine new joint US-Israeli projects.

The grants will help these firms to get access to additional private sector funding, thus boosting the total value of funding available for all of the projects to approximately $20 million, the foundation said in a statement on Sunday.

The BIRD Foundation promotes collaborations between US and Israeli companies in a variety of technological fields. In addition to providing conditional grants of up to $1 million for approved projects, the foundation also works with the selected companies to identify potential strategic partners and make the necessary introductions. 

Projects submitted to the BIRD Foundation are reviewed by evaluators appointed by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Israel Innovation Authority.

The nine projects approved by the BIRD governors are in addition to the 982 projects that the foundation has approved for funding during its 42-year history.

To date, BIRD’s total investment in joint Israeli-US projects is nearly $350 million, helping generate direct and indirect sales of more than $10 billion, the statement said.

The newly approved projects are: … 

WizeCare (formerly Video Therapy) (Or Yehuda, Israel) and The Cleveland Clinic Foundation (Cleveland, Ohio) will develop tele-rehabilitation, a monitoring and detection platform for Parkinson disease patients. … 

Read the full article on Times of Israel here.