TECHNOLOGY Bloomberg Businessweek August 20, 201822
THE BOTTOM LINE Veterans of Israel’s thriving tech industry
are flocking to health-related startups as investment in the sector
jumped more than 50 percent in the last two years.○ Startups say they can predict who’ll need what kinds of help during disasters, and whereCities Turn to AI to Save Lives
As record wildfires raced through California’s
wine country last October, devouring thousands of
homes, Sonoma County Sherif ’s deputies drove
up and down streets with sirens blaring, warning
residents over bullhorns to evacuate. Twenty-four
people didn’t make it, and more than half of them
were at least 70 years old. That suggests they either
couldn’t hear the warnings or couldn’t leave under
their own power, according to Sarah Tuneberg.
“Those people did not need to die,” she says.
Tuneberg’s company, Geospiza Inc., sells artii-
cial intelligence software that scours data to help
cities ind and protect their most vulnerable res-
idents during a disaster. She says the platform
can check multiple databases to guess which res-
idents, in this case, have hearing impairments or
use personal-care attendants. It then alerts emer-
gency managers about who’s likely to need assis-
tance. “It’s just too hard in the fog of war, given our
current technology, to pull those pieces together
in a timely fashion,” Tuneberg says. “That’s what
we’re trying to do.”
As climate change makes weather more
extreme, a new crop of startups—including
Geospiza, named for the adaptable inches made
famous by Charles Darwin—is trying to harness AI
to save lives by predicting damage from hurricanes,
wildires, and earthquakes better and faster than
humans do. Although the services remain largely
unproven, cities around the U.S., many still reelingpeople with skills gained at Teva: running clinical
trials, managing heavily regulated manufacturing
processes, or designing commercial strategies
for new products. In May a pair of former Teva
directors, backed by $60 million from investors,
founded 89Bio Ltd., which seeks to develop two
early-stage drugs purchased from the pharma giant.
Clexio Biosciences, formed in April by several Teva
veterans, paid the drugmaker for therapies and
technologies aimed at treating illnesses plaguing
the central nervous system.
Even some former Teva executives who have
emigrated are hedging their bets by allying with
entrepreneurs back home. Iris Grossman left inMarch, after the company shuttered research proj-
ects she had overseen, and is moving to Boston,
where she’ll be chief scientiic oicer of a biotech-
nology startup. At the same time, she and other
Teva veterans have launched TheRx Therapeutics,
a company in Haifa that seeks to use data mining
and AI to speed drug development. The Boston
venture helps “provide for my family, but this is a
short-term thing and I expect to be back in ive or
six years,” Grossman says. “The industry in Israel
is going in the right direction.” —Yaacov Benmelehfrom last year’s record disasters, have begun sign-
ing up for them. Geospiza has a contract with
Redmond, Wash., and has pilot agreements with
Multnomah County, Ore., which includes Portland,
and Jeferson County, Fla.
Another startup, One Concern Inc., assesses
building data, elevation, soil types, weather data,
and other factors to predict earthquake damage
block by block and identify which buildings are
most in need of reinforcement. After a quake, the
company says, it can recommend where to evac-
uate, send irst responders, and set up shelters.