City Notes: Five Israeli start-ups win TA-Berlin tech swap

A round up of news from around the nation.

By COMPILEDJULIE STEIGERWALD

MARCH 29, 2016 19:01

Updated: MARCH 29, 2016 19:00

Performing an examination at the ‘Teddy Bear Hospital.’ (photo credit: DROR ARTZI/JINI) — Performing an examination at the ‘Teddy Bear Hospital.’

(photo credit: DROR ARTZI/JINI)

CENTER

Five Israeli start-ups have been chosen as the first to temporarily relocate to the German capital under the auspices of an exchange program between the Tel Aviv and Berlin municipalities, it was announced on March 21.

Entrepreneurs from the Israeli start-ups Pzartech, Join VR Technologies LTD 4.0, Myndlift, Quiccaro and Shopeat last week began to swap their home desks for working spaces in Berlin as part of efforts to enter the European market.

The exchange program aims to encourage business collaborations between Israeli and German hi-tech companies and local entrepreneurs.

“Once they arrive in Berlin, the entrepreneurs will receive a coworking space and intensive consultations about the local start-up ecosystem,” said Dr. Stefan Franzke, a spokesman for one of the program’s patrons, Berlin Partner for Business and Technology.

“We will also network them with established companies and scientific institutions to find partners for collaboration.

Such an exchange of creative people is a real driver for innovation.”

In October 2015, the mayors of Tel Aviv and Berlin signed the collaborative deal to boost innovation between the two cities.

Tel Aviv maritime festival to take sail during Passover

Hundreds of participants are expected to take part in a maritime sports festival in Tel Aviv scheduled during the Passover holiday from April 18 to 28.

The Sail Tel Aviv-Jaffa 2016 festival is set to include various competitions and actives on the beaches and off the shore of the city. Events will include yachting, sailboating, windsurfing, kayaking, SUP (standing-up paddle boards), swimming and activities of all kinds for sea-lovers.

In what is expected to be the pinnacle of the festival, some 200 boats will compete on April 28 in a race beginning in northern Tel Aviv that passes along the city’s coastline en route to and from Jaffa.

The cost for participation in the festival’s various activities ranges from NIS 10 to NIS 100 during early registration.

For more details and registration visit the website: www.atarim.gov.il

NORTH

Safed medical campus to host kids’ ‘Teddy Bear Hospital’

Medical students and members of Bar-Ilan University’s Faculty of Medicine in the Galilee are due to host a special educational initiative dubbed the “Teddy Bear Hospital” for young children on April 11.

During the event at the campus in Safed, physicians and medical students will use as mock “patients” teddy bears and dolls brought by attendees to demonstrate healthcare practices in aims of dispelling fears of preschool-aged children over medical treatments and hospitals.

According to a faculty representative, last year’s event drew nearly 1,000 children, along with their families.

The Safed medical campus will transform into a children’s hospital during the initiative, demonstrating treatment on the stuffed animals in the emergency room, operating rooms, ambulance stations, and orthopedics department for children aged three to six.

Gifted music students to perform classical concert

A special concert to support a music program for talented children from northern Israel is scheduled to take place on April 16 at Tel Aviv’s Felicja Blumenthal Music Center.

The “Musicians of Tomorrow” concert will feature children from the music program of the same name performing classical works by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Franck, Schubert, Chopin, Klengel and da Silva among others.

“Talent and the next generation are two of the most important resources for the State of Israel. They represent its comparative advantages,” says the program’s director, Dr. Anna Rosnovsky.

All proceeds from the concert will go toward the Musicians of Tomorrow program, which consists of 18 students aged four to 18.

Concert tickets cost NIS 150 and can be booked at (03) 620-1185.

SOUTH

Ex-Ashdod Port union head indicted

An indictment was filed in the Beersheba District Court on Sunday against the former head of the Ashdod Port workers’ union, along with five other people.

Among the allegations listed in the indictment, Alon Hasson was accused of bribery, fraud, breach of trust of a public corporation and public servant, extortion, conspiracy, money laundering, tax fraud and fraud under aggravated circumstances.

Others listed in the indictment included former Ashdod Port Company CEO Shuki Sagi, David Hassan, Ori Belter, Yaniv Belter and the company Dana Logistics.

Boy, 7, drowns in Eilat resort pool

A seven-year-old boy drowned in a pool at a resort in Eilat on Sunday.

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene to find the boy unconscious and without a pulse. The emergency workers and a lifeguard performed resuscitation attempts while evacuating the boy to the city’s Joseftal Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The boy was a resident of the Arab town of Abu Ghosh who had been vacationing in the Red Sea resort town with his family.

Police have opened an investigation into the incident.