Start-up Joining Army Ranks

Start-up Joining Army Ranks

ihls security accelerator

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How Does the IDF Recruit Israeli Startup Industry and How Does AI Replacing Air Force Safety Officer?

The innovation center of the Israel Ministry of Defense and the IDF is launching its second batch: 90 start-up companies applied to the second cycle of INNOFENSE, an innovation program for dual-use technological projects in the civilian and security sectors, established by IMoD’s DDR&D (MAF’AT) in collaboration with the IDF Ground and Air arms and iHLS. Five start-ups will be selected to a six-month program after the examination of all the technologies.

Lt. Col. Ro’i Weitzfeld, Head of Innovation Branch, IDF: “The IDF considers it important to promote innovative developments with advanced capabilities, as they are organizational transformers and are able to break existing glass ceilings and move forward to an exponential progress of the organization.” The first cycle of INNOFENSE was crowned with success, demonstrated, for example, by Keotic, a company that has been incorporated into the Air Arm. Keotic was founded in 2018 as a developer of artificial intelligence that analyzes texts. The Air and Space arms identified the potential and decided to adopt this startup at the technological feasibility proof stages and harness it to the worlds of safety and control. The Air Force, which is known to be a temple of inquiry and learning, has used artificial intelligence technology to make interrogation processes more technological and intelligent. Keotic’s technology mimics the human learning process through artificial intelligence. The technology knows how to process documents in any language and in any field, and becomes an expert who knows how to produce insights and provide a response to any question.

Hundreds of thousands of safety inquiries have been entered into the system and each time the Corps takes a certain action – the system is asked a question: what can happen or what to watch out for – and gets all the knowledge, insights and conclusions learned in the past. As part of the Innovation Center, the Air Force examined the system and after recognizing that the technology was working, decided to integrate it into the Corps.

P., one of the program managers from MAF’AT, IMoD, explains: “INNOFENSE program enables the defense establishment to enjoy the wonderful ecosystem in Israel in the technological innovation arena. As in the case of Keotic, we are not just looking for security technologies but any technology that can improve and streamline the IDF’s capabilities in all areas.”

In the second cycle, IDF units sought advanced technologies in various fields, from security to completely civilian fields: cloud cyber security, the autonomous landing of drones, sensors operating in urban environments, blockchain, energy solutions, garbage disposal solutions, simulators, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and more.

INNOTECH, the cyber, innovation and HLS conference organized by iHLS, which will take place at Expo Tel Aviv on November 17-18, will present the activities of the Innovation Center and the potential for expanding cooperation between the IDF and the defense and innovation industry in Israel.

Register to INNOTECH