Startups Respond to the Ukraine Crisis: Solving the Global Challenges – Sponsored Content

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the flow of vital food, medical, mineral and energy resources, and led to serious cyberattacks.

Nimble startups around the world are applying new technologies to address these challenges.

On May 2nd, OurCrowd will host an online discussion with experts and entrepreneurs poised to shake up the fields now under pressure from the war in Ukraine, including medicine, energy, food, cybersecurity and supply-chain logistics.

Guests include Dr. Galia Barkai, the director of Israel’s first virtual hospital; Gleb Kogan, director of business development at TytoCare; Freightos CEO Ziv Schreiber; Michal Levy, Senior Vice President, Agriculture Innovation, Israel Ministry of Agriculture; Rafi Mendelsohn, VP Marketing, Cyabra; Andrew Bennett, CEO of mPrest. Leah Stern, OurCrowd Partner for Global Communications, will host the discussion.

Soon after the invasion, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center set up a field hospital inside Ukraine. From a collection of tents near the Polish border, medical staff treated refugees and locals, and worked remotely with physicians back at Sheba using telemedicine tools.

“This field hospital will change the paradigm of what humanitarian aid can be,” says Dr. Galia Barkai, director of the Sheba Beyond program, Israel’s first virtual hospital.

Technology developed by TytoCare connected patients to clinicians with diagnostic instruments that allowed doctors to perform remote medical examinations.

“We can bring the highest-level physicians to the field without actually having to bring them physically,” Barkai says.

Remote diagnostic tools from Israeli startup TytoCare enable patients at Sheba Medical Center’s field hospital in Ukraine to be remotely examined by expert physicians in Israel (TytoCare)

Research shows that epidemics and pandemics are exacerbated by conflict. Canada’s SaNOtize has developed a nasal spray that protects against infection by Covid-19 and other viruses.

“In the absence of vaccination – which we see in countries like Ukraine – it is a great first line of defense to help protect the people from disease,” says Dr. Gili Regev, SaNOtize’s CEO and co-founder.

The war exacerbated serious problems with the global supply chain already highlighted by the pandemic, disrupting the export of energy, food, semiconductors and other commodities.

Freightos, based in Jerusalem, has developed a digital platform for international shipping that harnesses technology and data from global logistics providers, importers, air carriers and ocean liners to help companies find sought-after freight space – a booking.com for international freight, says CEO Ziv Schreiber.

International shipping is “a surprisingly outdated industry,” and what’s key to making it work better is digitization, as happened in the travel industry, Schreiber says.

The war has triggered a drive for greater energy independence, especially by European countries that rely heavily on Russian gas and coal.

mPrest, the company that created the software behind Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, is using its technology to help large electricity providers like the New York Power Authority manage their grids and integrate cleaner technologies.

This move to clean energy is happening,” says CEO Andrew Bennett. “Now you have an additional incentive, and that’s energy independence.”

In addition to violence on the ground, Russia is also waging an information war against Ukraine, spreading disinformation on social networks. Tel Aviv-based Cyabra uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to sift through publicly available information to pinpoint malicious activity.

‘Startups Respond to the Ukraine Crisis’ hosted by OurCrowd will be held online on Monday, May 2nd and available for streaming from May 3rd. To register, click HERE.