Iron Dome voted greatest Israeli invention of all time

Israelis voted for their all-time top Israeli invention. Which is yours?

By: Mara Vigevani/TPS

The Iron Dome missile defense system has been voted Israel’s all time top innovation in a competition organized by the Ministry of Economy in honor of Israel’s 70^th Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) celebrations, which will kick off Wednesday evening.

Iron Dome received 28 percent of the 115,000 votes cast in the online competition titled “70 Great Blue and White Inventions.”

The Waze mobile navigation app came in second with 17.77 percent of the votes, a fraction ahead of the drip irrigation system which received 17.75 percent. A mere 12 votes separated the two.

The Israel Innovation Authority presented 70 inventions for the competition, in which nine made it to the second stage.

The USB flash drive came in fourth with 10.96 percent of the votes, followed by the Memic’s micro-surgery robot with 9 percent. Water Gen, a technology to extract fresh water directly from the air, came in sixth with 8 percent of the votes, while Source Sandals, famous for their non-slip sole even in wet conditions came in seventh with 4 percent.

Closing off the list were Check Point Software Technologies for its firewall software and the Ofek reconnaissance satellites with some 2 percent each.

“During its years of existence, Israel has become a world power in everything related to technological and scientific innovation,” said Minister of Industry and Economy Eli Cohen.

“I am sure that the Israeli characteristics, including original thinking, boldness, rapid adaptation to changing conditions and the ability to circumvent obstacles will help us to continue to bring to the world Israeli innovation,” he added. “There is no dispute that the inventions that have just been chosen by the public as leading inventions are excellent examples of Israel’s ability to provide solutions to significant challenges, inspire the entire world and are a national pride for Israel.”

The Iron Dome is a missile and rocket interception system developed in 2007 by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries. Since its deployment, the system has intercepted more than 1,700 missiles and rockets fired at Israel, almost entirely by the Hamas terror organization from Gaza, although it has also downed mortar shells in the Golan Heights and intercepted rockets fired from Lebanon.

The system registered a 90 percent success rate during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014.

Waze is the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation application. Invented by Ehud Shabtai in 2006, it was sold to Google for $966 million in 2013, making it the most expensive application sold until that time.

The drip irrigation system was developed in 1959 by Simcha and Yeshayahu Blass and Rafi Mahudar. The technology was quickly adopted by Kibbutz Hatzerim in the Negev because it met its needs for efficient and economical water irrigation. The system quickly became a commercial success and is sold by Netafim around the world.