Space Florida, Israel Innovation Authority Announce Ninth-Round Winners of Innovation Partner Funding

Exploration Park, Fla., and Jerusalem, Israel (June 27, 2022) – Space Florida, the aerospace and spaceport development authority for the State of Florida, and the Israel Innovation Authority, an independent, publicly-funded agency created to address the needs of the local and international innovation ecosystems, are pleased to announce the ninth-round winners of industrial research and development funding tied to the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program.

In October 2013, Florida and Israel established a $2 million recurring joint fund to support research, development, and commercialization of aerospace and technology projects that benefit both Israel and Florida. For this Call for Projects, 11 qualified joint proposals were submitted by teams of for-profit companies in Florida and Israel. Five teams have been selected for this ninth round of awards.

“Congratulations to all winners selected in our latest Call for Projects for the Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership,” said Lt. Governor Jeanette Nuñez. “This partnership between Florida and Israel is key for our aerospace industries. This collaboration helps to ensure a bright future and I look forward to seeing the results from this year’s winning companies.”

"Our long-lasting collaboration with Space-Florida on space related technologies yielded great success stories and projects that will truly make a difference in the aerospace sector," said Dror Bin, CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority. With an annual joint investment of $2 million, we strongly believe that the success of this collaboration between companies from both Israel and Florida, leveraging disruptive innovations and projects, will further strengthen the ties between the two states and economies. We are excited to note that this time the winning teams feature products and solutions that expand the envelop and scope of aerospace innovations, venturing to provide solutions to new space challenges and needs and implementing cutting edge technologies such as quantum computing. We wish the winning companies much success and look forward to seeing the success of their innovative products."

“As we approach a decade of partnership with the Israel Innovation Authority, we are proud of the development of innovative, world-changing technologies that our grants continue to enable,” said Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello. “Space Florida congratulates the winners of the ninth call for projects.”

The winners are as follows:

• KBR Wyle Services (Titusville, Florida) & Purammon (Israel): will collaborate to develop a new class of wastewater management system that is based on electrochemistry rather than current chemical/biological technologies. This new system will be designed to reliably operate in Zero-G environments and under other spaceflight conditions and restraints.
• LightPath Technologies (Orlando, Florida) & QuantLR (Israel): will join forces to develop a ground-to-satellite, ground-to-air, and satellite-to-satellite free space optical communication channels, which will be used for generation of quantum encryption keys, in a highly secure way. It is intended that this project can then be further developed for use in high-rate data transmission, optical communication both between satellite and ground station, as well as satellite-to-satellite communications.
• Redwire Space (Jacksonville, Florida) & StemRad (Israel): In a joint project entitled “Recycling of On-Orbit Plastic Waste into Personal Radiation Protection using Additive Manufacturing,” the companies will partner for the development of personal radiation shielding through on-orbit additive manufacturing. Previous work included printing radiation protection vest inserts on-orbit and developing technology to optimize printing of polyethylene.
• Censy’s Technologies (Daytona Beach, Florida) & MobiliComm (Israel): The goal of this partnership will be to improve the state of the art for remote systems communications for extended Beyond Visual Line Of Sight & Unmanned Aerial Systems or (BVLOS UAS) operations and make it a cost-effective solution. Novel construction of advanced technologies will enable a highly integrated multi-redundant simultaneous communications system, providing increased reliability and quality of service for command and control.
• ETA Space (Rockledge, Florida) & Helios-Project (Israel): This project will leverage each other’s expertise in cryogenic and chemical engineering, to develop an integrated Lunar oxygen production and liquefaction plant. The key deliverable of the project is a detailed design of a 10 metric ton per month pilot plant. The design goal is intended to test the integration of these two systems on a relevant scale for the Lunar surface.

Each company will receive their respective funding awards from Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority.Additionally, Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority would like to thank Enterprise Florida’s Israel Office for its collaboration and partnership in this Call for Projects.The next joint call for applications is expected to be released in September 2022. Florida-based companies interested in more information can visit www.spaceflorida.gov, while Israel-based companies can visit www.innovationisrael.org.il.

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About Space Florida: Space Florida was created to strengthen Florida’s position as the global leader in aerospace research, investment, exploration and commerce. As Florida’s aerospace and spaceport development authority, we are committed to attracting and expanding the next generation of space industry businesses. With its highly trained workforce, proven infrastructure and unparalleled record of achievement, Florida is the ideal location for aerospace businesses to thrive – and Space Florida is the perfect partner to help them succeed. www.spaceflorida.gov

About the Israel Innovation Authority: The Israel Innovation Authority, an independent publicly funded agency, was thus created to provide a variety of practical tools and funding platforms aimed at effectively addressing the dynamic and changing needs of the local and international innovation ecosystems. This includes early-stage entrepreneurs, mature companies developing new products or manufacturing processes, academic groups seeking to transfer their ideas to the market, global corporations interested in collaborating with Israeli technology, Israeli companies seeking new markets abroad and traditional factories and plants seeking to incorporate innovative and advanced manufacturing into their businesses.

‍Media Contacts:J
illianne Pierce|
‍Space Florida
‍954-557-9946
‍jpierce@spaceflorida.gov

‍Hagit Sela-Lidor
‍Israel Innovation Authority
‍+972-3-7157908
‍hagits@innovationisrael.org.il