The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced this week that it will be working bilaterally with Israeli counterparts through five separate divisions on projects meant to aid public security.
While the United States and Israel began annual bilateral meetings 10 years ago, recent days have their actual actions picking up steam. In September 2017, they signed off on a comprehensive chemical/biological project meant to fund new technologies to aid first responders in times of chemical or biological attacks, accidents or other incidents.
“We have big expectations from this new initiative,” Yaron Kron, head of the Technology Division within the Ministry of Public Security of Israel, said. “The intent is to improve the response capability of first responders to chem-bio hazards. We want our first responders to be better prepared when dealing with such events.”
Additionally, S&T’s First Responders Group is working within the collaborative environment of the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation on a cooperative activity to promote and fund jointly developed technologies. The end goal of this effort will culminate in the development of the Next Generation First Responder Apex Program, meant to keep first responders better protected, connected, and adept at situational awareness.
Thus far, they have identified 21 gaps in first responder capabilities. A total of $3.7 million has been approved for investment in four projects meant to address five of those gaps, which include indoor tracking and robotic search and rescue.
“When you combine innovation from two countries with different points of view and experiences, the results you get can be very creative,” Eitan Yudilevich, executive director of the BIRD Foundation, said. “The U.S. – Israel BIRD Foundation becomes a bridge between the innovation and the markets in both countries. It is an important bridge.”
BIRD is currently looking to expand its project listings and has also put out a call for proposals. They intend to select from the assembled list in June of this year.