Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) innovation laboratory is set to accept three new startups in the coming months. The new intake, among other things, is aimed at developing new technologies that will increase air cargo capacity.
IAI, a state-owned company, will open a selection process next week to choose the startups to work alongside three companies already operating under the sponsorship of IAI's Bedek Aviation Group's laboratory. IAI told "Globes" that dozens of companies had already submitted their candidacy, and that the selection process would be completed in three months.
As part of the selection process, IAI will choose companies with developments involving its core activities, including airborne cargo, based on advanced technologies capable of facilitating monitoring of cargo; technologies that can help automation, loading and unloading of cargo; etc. Technologies found to be suitable will be integrated into IAI's regular activities and future products.
For its part, IAI will provide the selected companies with physical infrastructure, such as experimental airplanes and advanced laboratories, and mentors and leading experts in various areas in order to expedite development processes in the various programs. In addition, IAI intend to assist the companies in obtaining appropriate licenses from civil aviation authorities around the world, and especially in access to customers in Israel and overseas with whom IAI already has business and commercial connections.
"We're looking for high tech"
Bedek's head of innovation is Assaf Tamir, and the head of the innovation laboratory is Zvia Baron. "In the first set of companies for the laboratory, we selected companies for streamlining the general activity of IAI's plants," Baron says. "Now, we're trying to focus the selection on companies involving in developments that can fit in with the conversion of airplanes to cargo figuration. This is a growing segment, given the substantial expansion of air cargo transportation. Over the past year, IAI converted 80% of all the Boeing aircraft in the world from passenger planes to cargo planes. Many companies prefer buying converted cargo planes for NIS 20-30 million instead of new cargo planes for $100 million."
The startups competing to enter IAI's innovation laboratory do not necessarily have to be defense or aviation companies. "We're looking for high tech; we'll adapt the technologies we choose to our needs. We already understand aviation. IAI's ability to take technology, test it in the company's facilities, and evaluate its feasibility from a business perspective, and later to take it to IAI's customers around the world - this is the added value that we're offering to these startups," Tamir says.
IAI chairperson Harel Locker says, "We want to recruit Israeli companies dealing in our core business, and this is a golden opportunity and a big step forward for a young Israeli company, because we're offering it IAI's knowledge-intensive platform and experience."
IAI executive VP and aviation group general manager Yossi Melamed says, "There's no reason why advanced technologies such as big data, analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and so forth, which have already been assimilated in other activities at the company, shouldn't also be used in the cargo and cargo delivery business. The ecommerce field is moving ahead with giant strides, and we see than a gap has been created between advanced commercial capabilities and the conventional delivery methods. There is no reason why we shouldn't do this same in this segment."
Baron and Tamir told "Globes" that one of the startups already working in the innovation laboratory had achieved a technological breakthrough in its activity and would soon be meeting with 20 potential customers around the world, mostly in Europe.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 22, 2018
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