gap year in israel

Israel is famous as a start-up nation, a place that is at the forefront of technological invention and innovation. Many Israeli inventions have changed the world and new technologies are coming out of the country all of the time. Here is a look at some of Israel’s greatest innovations.

Iron Dome

The Iron Dome missile and rocket interceptor was developed in 2007 and is the only system of its kind. It was voted Israel’s most influential innovation in a special survey carried out to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary. The Iron Dome was developed by a number of different companies and the Ministry of Defence working together. So far, it has intercepted and brought down more than 1,700 rockets and missiles fired at Israel from various regions. Its first major deployment was during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 when it has an incredible 90% success rate. It is impossible to say just how many lives Iron Dome has saved, and it truly is a remarkable piece of technology.

USB Sticks

The original Disk-On Key was created by M-Systems, a company founded by three Israelis. Dov Moran designed the actual device in 1989 but it wasn’t launched until 2000. Since then it has become an everyday tool for millions across the world. Back in 2005, PC World named the USB stick as one of the world’s top 10 gadgets in the last fifty years; it also received the Most Innovative Award from EDN in 1995. In the end M-Systems was bought by the US company SanDisk in 2006 for a massive $1.6 billion.

Firewalls

Back in 1993 Checkpoint Software Technologies was founded in a small flat in Ramat Gan by 25-year-old Gil Shwed and two of his friends. He wanted to develop ways to protect information and this ultimately led to the company’s first product, Firewall-1. He got the idea for the product from his military service in Unit 8200 of the IDF where he worked securing networks of classified information. Today the company is one of the world’s leading providers of IT security solutions, with over 100,000 customers and 2,300 employees across the world.

PillCam

The company Given Imaging was founded in 1998 by Dr Gabriel Meron and it soon went on to revolutionise the world of gastrointestinal diagnosis. The company developed a miniature camera, the size of a small pill, to visualise and detect disorders. Patients simply need to swallow the pill and the camera sends data to a computer and pictures of the patient’s insides. Of course, the camera is designed in such a way to make sure that the body does not break it down. Millions of people have benefited from PillCam and it was sold to Covidien for $860 million in 2013.

Waze

Waze is a smartphone navigation app that is now used by over 50 million people across the world. The company was founded in 2007 and then bought by Google for an impressive $1.1 billion in 2013. The app makes use of data from users and their telephones to provide real-time traffic updates and help people avoid congestion.