Opportunities for Funding US-Israel Cooperation in Innovative Technologies

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Jul 27, 2011, 06:00 ET

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

The Next Call for Proposals has Been Issued by the BIRD Foundation. Relevant R&D Topics Include but not Limited to: Life Sciences, Cleantech, Communications, Electronics, Software, HLS, etc.

The BIRD Foundation announced its next funding cycle with a call for US-Israel joint project proposals focusing on innovative R&D collaborations between US and Israeli companies. To be considered, a proposal should have significant commercial potential.

The maximum conditional grant per project is up to 50% of the R&D costs associated with the joint project, and no more than $1 million per project.

The application process is web-based and requires prior discussion with the BIRD Foundation. Executive Summaries are due by Thursday, September 15, 2011. Final full scale proposals are due by Thursday, October 26, 2011. Decisions will be announced by mid December, 2011. Please refer to BIRD's website for submission details - http://www.birdf.com.

Examples of successful BIRD-funded projects include:

ReWalk - Helping Paraplegics to Walk: With support from the BIRD Foundation, Argo Medical Technologies and Allied Orthotics & Prosthetics are working together to develop the ReWalk device that allows a paralyzed patient to "walk" again.

Mobile Travel Tool: MobiMate, a provider of mobile travel services, partnered with Conducive Technology, to develop its newest mobile travel tool, WorldMate Live which predicts travel conflicts for road warriors and automatically provides solutions, often before a traveler even knows there is a potential problem.

New Drug for Gout: KRYSTEXXA(TM) (pegloticase), a PEGylated uric acid specific enzyme indicated for the treatment of chronic gout in adult patients that are refractory to conventional therapy. The drug has been developed by Mountain View Pharmaceuticals, and Bio-technology General (acquired by Savient Pharmaceuticals) and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

About the BIRD Foundation

The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation works to encourage cooperation between Israeli and American companies in the various areas of technology, and provides free assistance in locating strategic partners from both countries for developing joint products. During its 34 years, the BIRD Foundation has invested in more than 820 projects, which have yielded direct and indirect revenues of about $8 billion.

The BIRD Foundation supports projects without receiving any rights in the participating companies or in the project itself. The financial assistance is repaid as royalties from sales. The Foundation provides support of up to 50% of a project's budget, beginning with R&D and ending with the initial stages of sales and marketing. The Foundation shares the risk and does not demand that the investment be repaid if the project fails to reach the sales stage.

The BIRD Foundation works in full cooperation with the Chief Scientist's Office at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor in Israel, and with the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

For further inquiries:
Palo Alto, CA - Michal Miasnik, West Coast Representative
Tel: +1-408-398-1288 / [email protected]
Princeton, NJ - Andrea Yonah East, Coast Representative
Tel: +1-609-356-0305 / [email protected]

http://www.birdf.com

SOURCE The BIRD Foundation