Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being seen as the "secret ingredient" to a multitude of difficult technical problems. In a specific example where AI has been successfully applied to a solution, Ravin AI has developed a product which allows fleet managers to track their vehicles and to determine if any have been damaged. This has a variety of economic benefits. Notably, the company has managed to obtain patent protection for their product in Europe. It is claimed that this is the first patent for drive-by visual inspection.

The programme, developed by a company called SightBit, uses information collected from surveillance cameras to determine who is in the water -- an adult or child, for example -- if they are moving or limp, and the current's movement at that location. If a threat is determined, the programme sends an alert to a tablet held by the user -- a lifeguard, in this case -- with urgent instructions to act. SightBit's chief executive Netanel Eliav told AFP that he developed the technology after identifying a shortfall in how closed-circuit footage was being applied to boost safety in the water. The programme has been in use for more than a year in Ashdod, a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast that chose to deploy SightBit technology in an area at a distance from the nearest lifeguard. "We chose to locate the technology in areas away from the lifeguard towers, so the additional'eyes' there help the lifeguards very much," said Arie Turjeman, director of Ashdod's coast division.

Seven Israeli and Israeli-founded companies were among over 400 firms featured by US business magazine Fast Company on its annual "World's Most Innovative Companies" for 2019. The monthly publication's editors and writers said they sought out groundbreaking businesses across 35 industries in every world region, listing the top 10 in 41 categories such as AI, Biotech, Branding, Health, Robotics, Food, Security, and Middle East, for a total of 410 organizations. Fast Company also released its annual "50 Most Innovative Companies" but no Israeli firms made that list. In 2018, Israeli-founded navigational app Waze was featured in the top 50 alongside giants such as Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify, and Israel had its own category with 10 top startups. An additional 5 Israeli companies and startups were featured in other categories.

On paper Israel and China are unlikely close trading partners. China, the world's second-largest country, is the biggest exporter on the planet. While Israel, a tiny strip of land in the Middle East, is only in 45th place on the global exporting league table. And importantly - Israel has always been a steadfast ally of the US. So given the current trading spat between the US and China, you would expect Israel to be firmly on the American side.

Fortune magazine last week released a list of "50 Companies Leading the AI Revolution," and the prestigious list includes three hot Israeli companies in the artificial intelligence sector: Logz.io, Fortune's infographic includes only six countries and features an equal number of notable AI companies from Israel (population 8.5 million) as China (population 1.38 billion) and the United Kingdom, and more than France and Taiwan. Only the United States has more companies on the graph. Fortune relied on research firm CB Insights' AI 100 list of the most promising artificial intelligence startups globally, based on factors like financing history, investor quality, business category, and momentum. The CB Insights list also includes Israeli companies Prospera Technologies (ag-tech at work in Spain, Mexico, and New York) and Chorus.ai

A company claims it can identify terrorists, paedophiles and ace poker players simply by looking at their face. Faception, an Israeli start-up, says its technology can spot character traits that are undetectable to the naked eye. The company claims its software classified nine of the 11 Paris massacre jihadists as terrorists from their facial features without inputting any prior knowledge of their involvement. It appears to have been so successful, the firm says it is now working with a homeland security agency to help identify criminals. Shai Gilboa, Faception chief executive, said: 'We understand the human much better than other humans understand each other.