Environmental Innovation
Companies are more health-aware thanks to Covid-19
Israeli companies are increasingly looking to invest in innovative technologies which improve the environment and people’s health
12:4716.03.21
The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has made people more aware of their health and spurred companies to look for innovative technologies to address these concerns, relayed Deputy CEO and Director of the Technology Division at Tadiran,
Dany Vaknin, during a panel at Calcalist’s Environmental Innovation Conference. “Social distancing and wearing masks have helped people avoid the flu. People understand that if they physically protect themselves, with masks, air filters, or air treatment systems, their environment will become healthier, and less diseased. This has encouraged us as well.”
When discussing technologies that better the environment, Vaknin noted how his Israeli air conditioning company has taken a step forward to improve air quality. After surveying figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he noted that indoor air quality is up to five times worse than outdoors, a discovery that spurred Tadiran to take action, as well as statistics by the World Health Organization which surmised that 3.8 million people die every year as a result of indoor air pollution. “We want to be an innovative company and provide better solutions to our customers,” Vaknin said. The company’s technology converts air molecules that enter homes from humidity outdoors into hydrogen peroxide, and by doing so reduces the amount of bacteria, viruses, and mold in the air.
CEO of BreezoMeter Ran Korber, whose company monitors air quality, especially for those with chronic or underlying lung conditions, such as asthma and COPD, spoke of how BreezoMeter was founded out of a need in to make people more health conscious of the air they breathe and how it affects their health. “Billions of people are exposed to environmental hazards such as pollen, forest fires, etc. We’ve developed models to predict those hazards and give real-time recommendations, including forecasts to avoid such hazards.” People are more concerned with their health than ever, and the pandemic only exacerbated this awareness, he noted.
In addition, investment firms needn’t make a separation between startups that are profitable and those that aren’t, insisted Eyal Hoffman, Managing Partner at HighRoads, and investors are interested in companies that they believe will be successful and grow in the future. “If they make the world a better place that’s an added bonus,” he said. HighRoads, an innovation accelerator platform, which invests and supports early-stage startups in the fields of urban technology, is more concerned with a company’s potential rather than their financial yield, he said. “We’re interested in startups which aim to touch and change people’s everyday lives, whether it’s through transportation, real estate, construction, infrastructures, or communications.”
