ITGumbo: spicing IT up

Introduction
The other night I was glancing through a friend's book on major scientific discoveries when I came across an interesting profile on John Tyndall, one of the first scientist's to explain the earth's natural greenhouse effect. What was most surprising about this article was to learn that Tyndall discovered this in the mid-1800s.

He wasn't the only one to discover it during that time nor was he the first. In the 1820s, Joseph Fourier found the greenhouse effect as well. Now, almost 200 years old, the issue of the greenhouse effect on the atmosphere is far from a new theory. However, with global warming manifesting itself more in recent years, the international technology community is more actively coming up with solutions to reduce or prevent the damage that it will or has caused. At the forefront of the revolution, especially when it comes to water-technology solutions, is Israel.

A country the size of New Jersey that's mostly desert, with some diverse terrain in its north, Israel has struggled with water shortages from little annual rainfall for most of its existence. With only a limited supplies of water, Israel has had experience dealing with water issues and finding solutions for decades. As the water situation gets worse -there hasn't been a lot of rainfall in recent years and 75% of the water is used for agriculture- Israel's water technology industry continues to develop and expand.

As part of that development and expansion and new water threats from global warming and environmental issues throughout the world, it is only natural that Israel would hold the WATEC Israel 2007 international conference, which was this past week. While the conference showcased of Israeli water technology and attracted interest from foreign companies, entrepreneurs and investors, the Israeli government and media took advantage during this time to highlight major water-trade and -technology deals between Israel and foreign countries such as Vietnam, Mexico and China that had been signed over the past week.

Such news this week made it clear that Israeli companies and the Israeli government are dedicated to finding solutions for the long run and to maintaining this sector. How will all this attention affect future investments and technology in Israel and abroad? Over the next few Fridays, I will answer this question as well as elaborate on important topics ranging from why the right time to invest in Israel as the future of water-technology is now, to what technologies are in practice in Israel, and what some of the top water companies in Israel are.

During this time and for your future reference, I will also be keeping a list of important news articles and online resources related to cleantech in Israel using social bookmarking tool, Diigo at this link.