(Photo from recent CleanIsrael meetup).

Last Monday evening, the Arison Lobby at the IDC in Herzliya was full with founders of clean technology startups, VCs , investors, researchers and other cleantech professionals who gathered for the first Cleantech Startup Showcase, organized by CleanIsrael in conjunction with the new Institute for Renewable Energy Policy and Applied Research (IDC IREP). The event was sponsored by Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co.

The showcase featured presentations by 5 Israeli startups from the areas of energy, water and green technology sectors: Agam Energy, Emefcy, High Check Control, Phoebus Energy, and SOVNA.

“We chose these five companies from the dozens that applied because we wanted companies across a diverse set of sectors and stages of financing,” explains Gene Dolgin, the co-founder of CleanIsrael Network: “Agam develops novel turbine engines, Emefcy produces electricity from wastewater, High-Check builds real-time water contamination detection systems, while Sovna develops urban wind projects; and Phoebus – hybrid heating units.

“Of course, these are all also serious companies that interest both fellow entrepreneurs and investors.”

This was a first-of-its-kind event, and part of CleanIsrael’s goal is to create a vibrant and unified cleantech community in Israel. In past events, the group has hosted speakers from Better Place, Cleantech Group, Israel Cleantech Ventures, and Sindicatum Carbon Capital as well as entrepreneurs from EnStorage and SolarPower Israel.

Coincidentally, Green Prophet spoke earlier today with Zohar Zisapel, a founder of RAD, the company that owns RADVISION, a NASDAQ-traded company. Zisapel, who says he’s looking to solar and green tech, will appear soon in a story we’re writing for ISRAEL21c. Today we have a guest post from RADVISION’s Sagee Ben-Zedeff, on the greenness of video-conferencing technology:

Earlier this year, former US Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore spoke on a virtual panel that discussed the role of enterprise technologies in environmental matters, most notably climate change. Gore said that climate change is an “urgent crisis,” in which “scientists are practically screaming” at governments and citizens to take action.

It seems that there is a great deal of pressure, mainly in Europe and the US, to make an effort and reduce the carbon footprint. Climate change, global warming, pollution – all are threatening our lives, all are most probably our fault.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Gore called for action in a VoiceCon, a convention about enterprise communication, and that he chose to do so in a virtual panel. Communication and collaboration technologies, such as video conferencing, have long been considered “green,” and are now mature enough to play a key role in the enterprise “green” initiatives.

A proper disclosure – the event was organized by Cisco, the networking giant, to showcase its video conferencing technologies as a “green” solution. While the conference was held in Orlando, Gore spoke from a location near his home in Tennessee, his host, Cisco CEO John Chambers, was located in San Jose, and the moderator spoke from outside London. The panel included audiences in Orlando, London, Warsaw, Dubai and Paris. All were using Cisco’s Telepresence technology.

The fact that most of the people involved in the panel did not have to leave their homes or offices and fly in order to participate in this event may seem trivial, but even in 2008 video conferencing and other collaboration technologies are still considered “nice to have” by most enterprises, a fact that is quite alarming in light of the environmental crisis we are all facing.

Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is launching a 1 million U.S. dollar program to support the development of outstanding cleantech inventions by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The launch will take place on December 25th at the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University and feature a keynote address from Yehuda Bronicki, Chairman and CTO of Ormat.

Yissum’s business partners include companies such as Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more. “We are pleased to launch Yissum’s Cleantech Programme, in response to the growing need for alternative energy solutions, novel technologies to combat water shortage and cleaner technologies to protect the environment,” said Nava Swersky Sofer, President and CEO of Yissum.

“We hope that this initiative will assist in bridging the gap between the Hebrew University’s cutting-edge research in these fields and the product-based industry, leading eventually to the commercialization of new “green” technologies for the benefit of us all.”

Initially, five novel technologies were chosen, three of which aim to reduce the polluting effects of toxic substances and create alternative, clean, energy sources. These inventions involve the generation of clean fuel, detoxification of gasses emitted by burning fossil fuels and detecting toxic chemicals.

Burning fossil fuels for the generation of energy is the major cause of air pollution and global warming. The consumption rate of oil, gas and coal is estimated as the equivalent of 200 million barrels of oil per day, and approximately one million people die annually due to air pollution resulting from fossil fuel burning. Furthermore, fossil fuels are a diminishing energy source and their limited supply has a far-reaching political and social impact.