Bad news about low water levels in Israel, are so frequent, the details stark, that I am starting to avoid reading such stories. Some good water news, for a change:
Technology incubators from Israel and California plan on working together to build water technologies of the future. Israel’s Kinarot-Jordan Valley Technology Incubator has signed a cooperation agreement with California’s Claude Laval Water and Energy Technology incubator (WET for short), housed on California State University’s Fresno campus, reports Globes.
Israelis have been doing a lot of California dreaming lately, and not long ago a number of entrepreneurs in water, energy, and agriculture returned from America’s West Coast, we detailed earlier.
Established in 2007, WET is a partnership between Fresno State’s International Center for Water Technology and the Central Valley Business Incubator.
Said Kinarot CEO Assaf Barnea: “The cooperation between us is on three levels: joint research, joint development based on innovative technology, and marketing water technology. The significance for us is the joint marketing of the products. The American incubator is like an industrial park, and the firms in our portfolio that want to meet other firms will find partners willing to listen there. We’ll join in meeting potential investors. The water technology market is very conservative, and you have to form close ties in order to make sales.”
Back in 2006, I interviewed Vancouver-based Stern Partners who then acquired Kinarot; in June this year they penned a deal with Los Angeles on water technology, allowing Israeli start-ups to use Los Angeles Department of Water & Power facilities for pilot projects.
::Globes
More California-Israel connections:
Israel Clean Technology Missions Returns From California Dreaming
California Revs Up For Israel’s Shai Agassi’s Better Place
BotanoCap Delivers Pest-Fighting Essential Oils
Image credit:becapplusmolly.
