Approved projects will be awarded funding up to $1.5M 

TEL AVIV, Israel and WASHINGTON, Dec. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), the Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD), and the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation have issued a new BIRD Cyber Call for Proposals, focused on addressing critical cybersecurity challenges of mutual interest to the United States and Israel.

The goal of BIRD Cyber is to foster strategic partnerships to enhance the cyber resilience of both the United States and Israel. DHS and INCD have identified pressing cybersecurity needs that are not adequately addressed by the market and invite U.S. and Israeli companies to propose innovative solutions.

The program will support project collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies, or a company and a university or research institute (one from the U.S. and one from Israel), leading to demonstrations and pilot implementations of their solutions.

Project submissions should relate to technologies being developed in the following areas:

• Cyber protection for legacy medical devices;
• BGP hijacking remediation;
• Online face image self-enrollment compatible with international standards;
• Threat hunting on encrypted traffic; and,
• Human-machine (AI) interface tools for cybersecurity.

For more information about each topic please visit the BIRD Cyber topics explanation page.

BIRD Cyber will provide grants of up to $1.5 million per project, funding up to 50 percent of the combined research and development budget. A full description of the program's Call for Proposals and topics can be found on the BIRD Foundation website: https://www.birdf.com/bird-cyber/

The deadline for submission of Executive Summaries is January 29, 2025. Projects will be approved in May 2025.

Gaby Portnoy, Director General of INCD said: "The BIRD Cyber program is a vital initiative that directly contributes to Israel's national security. By fostering collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies, we are harnessing the power of innovation to address the complex cyber threats facing our nations. Through BIRD Cyber we aim to support the development of cutting-edge solutions that will strengthen both countries' cyber resilience and protect their infrastructure and resources."

Jaron Lotan, Executive Director of BIRD said: "We are pleased to see the progress achieved by the grantees of the first BIRD Cyber program and honored that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Israel National Cyber Directorate have entrusted BIRD to lead another BIRD Cyber program focused on critical topics that will strengthen the cyber resilience of both nations."

Further information on the program can be found at www.birdf.com

About the BIRD Foundation:

The BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation promotes and facilitates collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies across various technology sectors. BIRD offers funding to selected projects while avoiding any equity or intellectual property rights in the participating companies or their projects. BIRD funding is repaid through royalties generated from the sale of commercialized technology products developed with BIRD support.

The BIRD Cyber program provides funding of up to $1.5 million, up to 50% of a project's budget, beginning with R&D and ending with the initial stages of sales and marketing. The Foundation shares the risk involved in the projects it funds, requiring no repayment if the project fails to reach the commercialization stage.

For more information please contact:

Israel:

Mr. Tal Kelem, Director, BIRD Cyber Lead, tal@birdf.com, +972-3-6988304.

U.S.:

Ms. Andrea Yonah, Director, East Coast/Midwest, andreay@birdf.com,
Ms. Anat Bujanover, Director, West Coast, anatb@birdf.com,
Ms. Anat Ben-Yosef, Director, South U.S., by.anat@birdf.com

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SOURCE The BIRD Foundation