Microsoft and Calcalist to Hold Big Data Startup Contest

Microsoft and Calcalist announced Thursday a second Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Startup Competition. The final round of the competition will take place at Calcalist’s “Mind the Data 2018” conference, to be held next month in Tel Aviv.

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Microsoft will host representatives of the winning startup at the company’s Seattle headquarters. The winners will get an opportunity to network with Microsoft executives and other local tech companies through a program of roundtable meetings.

First and second place winners will be invited by Calcalist to participate in the newspaper’s Berlin conference next year, where they will meet with potential partners and investors. The invitation includes airfare and hotel costs.

The second place winning startup will also receive 20 hours of financial advising by KPMG Israel, as well as 20 hours of business advising and mentorship by Israeli enterprise software company Kryon Systems Ltd.

Competition judges will include Eyal Niv, a managing general partner at venture capital firm Pitango; Daniel Shinar, CEO of Tel Aviv-based venture investments firm ClalTech; Sivan Shamri Dahan, co-founder and partner of Israeli late-stage venture firm Qumra Capital; Yodfat Harel Buchris, managing director at Blumberg Capital Israel; Vertex General Partner Emanuel Timor; Microsoft Israel General Manager Shelly Landsman; Moran Ben Gigi, head of data and analytics at KPMG Israel, and Eyal Barzilai, head of big data at Israel's Leumi Bank.

Last year’s winner was Clew Medical Ltd., which uses artificial intelligence technologies to help intensive care units cut down on treatment time and costs by tracking patient data in real time and monitoring the capacity of healthcare providers.

Medical data management startup MDClone Ltd.came in second place in last year's competition. the company develops a system for ensuring patient confidentiality during the analysis of medical data. MDClone’s system generates “synthetic data”—datasets combining real and fictitious patients, allowing researchers to conduct tests without exposing sensitive medical data and compromising personal details.