MIDC/General Interest News MarketReach America Homeland Security 2005 Participants Announced  Five Israeli homeland security companies have been selected to participate in MarketReach America, the MIDCís business development training and consulting program. The companies were chosen after an intensive application and screening process.
The participants include: - EMZ Microdevices, developers of autonomous micro sensors for the surveillance and detection market
- Britannica, developers of Natural Language Processing technology for the Internet and enterprise information retrieval environments
- Ofek International, developers of next generation aerial photography technology which serves as a tool for the management, control and planning of activities in anti-terror, military, and emergency situations
- Sak-It, developers of polyethylene films that prevent the penetration of biological/chemical warfare agents
- Bsecure, developers of a machine readable counterfeit protection system for value documents and merchandise
The selected participants will attend a five-day strategy and planning conference in Baltimore, Maryland in March; receive professional consulting from The Trendlines Group back in Israel to determine their optimal U.S. market entry strategy and action plan; and prepare for and conduct a U.S. business development trip to meet potential customers, investors and strategic partners. MarketReach America is a subsidized consulting program established by the Maryland/Israel Development Center and The Trendlines Group of Israel. The program was launched with the support of the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Foundation, and has received additional support from the Marvin Schapiro Family and Straus Foundations. For more information please visit our website, http://www.marketreachamerica.com/ US/Israel Venture Summit: March 15, 2005 ñ New York City  The MIDC is proud to co-sponsor the upcoming US/Israel Venture Summit, a premier venture capital conference uniting early stage and emerging Israeli startups with venture capitalists, private investors, corporate VCís and strategic service firms. The conference will feature speakers and panelists from the US/Israeli investment communities, and will showcase some of the hottest Israeli startups currently seeking venture funding.
For more information and to register please visit http://www.youngstartup.com Misgav Incubator Companies Raise Capital  The Misgav Technology Center (MTC) has announced that two of its portfolio companies, Enzy-Surge and Dune Medical Devices have raised capital. The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore is an investor in the MTC.
Biotechnology start-up Enzy-Surge, which is developing solutions for treating diabetes and pressure wounds, has raised $1 million in its first financing round. The proceeds will finance R&D of devices for cleaning wounds and clinical trials that the company expects to begin soon. Dune Medical Devices, a developer of surgical oncology technologies and products, announced the closing of a $5 million Series A funding round led by Apax Partners. Dune is developing surgical devices that assess the size and margin of tumors, and will eliminate the need for painful and costly repeat surgical oncology procedures. Profile of an Israeli Company in Maryland: VideoCodes  VideoCodes is a leader in the development of digital video broadcast processing applications. With headquarters in Gaithersburg, MD, VideoCodes specializes in software-based digital processing of Standard Definition (SDTV) and High Definition (HDTV) video streams without the need to decode and then re-encode the signal. VideoCodes' technology is designed for satellite communications, cable and DSL channels and allows objects such as logos, newsbars, and advertisements to be added to compressed video channels. This technology supports SDTV broadcasts as well as emerging HDTV broadcasts.
Venture Capital on the Increase in Maryland and Israel Venture capital investment in Maryland firms rebounded in 2004, reversing a three-year decline that mirrored a national trend. Venture capitalists invested $512.3 million into Maryland companies in 2004, an increase of close to $200 million from 2003. Many attribute the significant increase to technology transfer programs initiated by universities such as Johns Hopkins and the federal laboratories in and near Maryland, pumping technical know-how and technology into the private sector. Concurrently, the Israeli venture capital market experienced its own re-emergence in 2004. Over the year, 428 high-tech companies raised $1.46 billion from local and foreign venture investors, a 45 percent increase from $1.01 billion raised in 2003. This increase reflects the continuous recovery of the Israeli high-tech sector, as well as a surge in levels of capital invested by both Israeli and foreign investors. For more information, see: The Washington Post, "Venture Funding Up in 2004" IVC-Online, îIVC Survey: Full-Year 2004î
Mayor OíMalley Visits Israel Baltimoreís Mayor Martin O'Malley traveled to Israel last month, to meet with experts on homeland security. The Jan. 8-14 mission was sponsored and hosted by the Baltimore Jewish Council and The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore. As part of the economic development portion of the trip, the Maryland/Israel Development Center organized a dinner in Haifa for Mayor OíMalley with the leaders of Israeli businesses that have offices in Baltimore. Mayor OíMalley said he was ìimpressed by these business owners and operators and proud of their relationship with Baltimore.î The businesses included Advance Defense Technologies, Collective Protection Inc., Innovative Compliance Inc. and ISR Corporation. Upcoming Events
Follow the links under each listing to find out more
or to register for an event. IN ISRAEL: April 4-7, 2005
Building 2005
http://www.export.gov/comm_svc/detail_
tradeevents.asp?EventID=11175 May 24-26, 2005
Biotech Israel 2005 - 4th National Biotechnology Week
http://www.kenes.com/biotech May 31-June 02, 2005
Computax 2005
http://www.stier.co.il/SG_ENG/computax/main_com.htm June 20-23, 2005
Technology ñ The 18th International Exhibition for Technology Developments
http://www.israel-trade-fairs.com/technology/ June 22-24, 2005
Security Israel
http://www.securityisrael.com/frames/visitor_info.html September 3-8, 2005
International Federation Information Processing - IFIP
IN THE MARYLAND REGION: April 5-7, 2005
FOSE ñ Federal Office Systems Expo Washington Convention Center
www.FOSE.com, attendance: 30,000 April 18, 2005 Israel Life Sciences Road Show April 18-20, 2005
BIO-WINDHOVER: Business of Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies Conference http://www.eventseye.com/fairs/trade_fair_event_3529.html May 17-19, 2005
Technet International 2005 Washington Convention Center
www.afcea.org, attendance: 10,000 June, 2005
Maryland Digital Government Summit
Annapolis, MD
http://www.govtech.net/events/ August 27-28, 2005
NBC4 Digital Edge Expo
Washington Convention Center
http://www.nbc4.com, attendance: 35,000
For more information on any of these events,
please contact the Maryland/Israel Development Center.
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