Salmon made from plants, dairy without cows and the first flying taxi: what’s “next” among tech startups

From Jerusalem, Israel – A giant screen in the main auditorium of the Jerusalem International Convention Center lights up, amid the general darkness, and an animated version of Jon MedveCEO of the venture investment platform specializing in startups Our Crowd appears personified in a dozen avatars that speak different languages, to welcome the start of the company’s annual summit.

In one of these variations, in perfect porteño, he thanks the presence and congratulates the Argentina to go out world champion, which provokes one of the first rounds of applause from those present. Then, a few seconds before going on stage, the real Medved launches, by way of provocation: “Okay, but still I don’t know a robot that I can do that”, before flying to the center of the stage, dancing and clapping to the rhythm of the Californian group Redbone.

The power, the possibilities, the future but also the limits of artificial intelligence were one of the themes that ran through the OurCrowd summit he attended GlobeLiveMedia.

It was one of the most important investment fairs in the Middle East and the main one in terms of business opportunities for startups related to technology. It is no coincidence that it took place in Israel, the country on the planet that invests the most of its public budget in research and development and which gave way to the private sector through a series of tax incentives and the training of the workforce, which has led, for example, some 400 multinationals from all over the world to have already settled in their territory to be their base of operations and their platform for technological advances .

Some of the major issues of the current context were addressed during the Summit: the war in Ukraine, food insecurity, sustainability of food production processes, climate change, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, trade integration and investments between countries in the Middle East. In addition, public transport and the forms of financing that small technology companies that require high-risk investments have, among other problems. And there was the time of dazzling: technological advances in different sectors that aroused comments, applause, consultations and surprises in front of some 1,700 investors from all over the world who have come to Jerusalem.

One of the stars of the OurCrowd summit was the prototype of the first electric flying vehicle for personal use developed in the world and at the gates of its first certification for its qualification, developed by Air EV, an Israeli company. The idea is that it can be used with the same functions who has a car: to travel for pleasure, to go to work, for business transport, to transport products from one place to another.

In the company they assure that they have already sold 300 copies in advance and that they will start delivering the vehicles within two years. Information for those who are interested in acquiring it: the Air One model will not be a ship with a large autonomy, it will have a maximum flight time of one hour and an approximate range of 160 kilometers. There was at the Summit, for those who want to try it, a simulator to find out how the road traffic would feel and watch the rest from above.

Advances in food technology carried such weight at the OurCrowd Summit that there was a private pavilion, with dozens of exhibit booths from different startups. One of the most active has been that of Plantish, a company which has developed the possibility of eat salmon without even having to approach a salmon farm or a fishmonger: salmon made at herbal.

On stage, to test the fidelity of its product, Plantish brought in the famous Israeli chef Nir Zook cook a fillet of his salmon. Using a small grill, Zook did the live experience so that the thousands in the main auditorium could see his cooking live. There was also a tasting by one of the Master Chef Israel juries, Michal Ansky: He hinted that it smelled the same as a natural steak, it had the same flavor and also kept his texture. Those seated near the scene confirmed that the aroma was real.

Another startup that said present was ReMilk, with a similar idea. Where appropriate, produce milk and other dairy products no need for cows. The process used is yeast-based fermentation which produces milk protein, but does not include lactose, cholesterol and growth hormones.

Also on this list Sufrescaa company of Israeli origin which has developed a tool for prolong “life” fruit or vegetables: it is a peel, transparent, thin, without flavor or aroma and which can be used to cover them and considerably lengthen the ripening process of vegetables. The objective: to drastically reduce uneaten food waste, since they estimate that half of the fruits and vegetables are spoiled.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, D-ID – the company that introduced the multilingual avatars of Jon Medve at the start of the OurCrowd- Summit is working on different fronts. His idea is a little more ambitious than his peers in his sector: he seeks to create, directly, what he calls “digital humans”. His role, he assures, will improve in areas that are still hard to imagine, such as customer service, company presentations, personal assistance, etc. According Gil PerryCEO of the company, the market for digital human avatars will reach a value of 528,000 million of dollars.

The central idea is that the software they have developed can produce, with the simple input of a reference text and a photograph, in record time, a video of this person reciting these words, with a loyalty level much more advanced than other competitors. Perry assured that they were already working with a large group of multinationals from different sectors: consumer goods, entertainment, social networks, manufacturing industry.

Your system can recite more than 100 languages and generate some 270 votes. The first step of the three that ID-D sees for the AI ​​industry related to the human image is the possibility of having conversations with “digital humans” and, then, having much more complex interactions. One of the uses it will have, they illustrate, is technical assistance for various services.

TechSee is working on this particular aspect, which basically explored an AI-based solution to make less bulky customer service for service companies. A concrete example of how this would work: instead of long phone conversations that lead to misunderstandings, a customer could send the company a picture of the product, device or whatever they want to repair, so that the company has quickly from this first piece of information. , a difficult first link in the chains of customer service systems. With AI-processed imagery, the solution can be achieved much faster and at lower cost.

AI can also have a say in an airport security system. SeeTrue, in this sense, has tested software in part of Europe to make it faster – they believe that until 10 times– the baggage scanning process. “Fewer people are used, so it will require less money,” he said. Assef FrenkelCompany CEO.

The device is similar to a typical airport scanner, but a bit smaller. As soon as a bag is placed for analysis, the artificial intelligence begins its work. “Controllers need to see images all the time, day after day, hour after hour; it’s hard to always get it right,” says Frenkel. A live test showed that, for example, the software could identify a pistol made by 3D printingsomething that typical scanner images, and therefore the human eye, would not have been able to recognize.

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