Promised LandU.S. companies find new opportunities by partnering with Israeli firms.

Susan Rogers' search for a low-cost device to screenAmerican students for scoliosis led to an unexpected place: Israel.In 2003, through the Tel Aviv-based BIRD Foundation, anorganization that connects U.S. companies seeking technology withIsraeli firms that want access to U.S. markets, School Health Corp.in Hanover Park, Illinois, located an Israeli company to work withon product development. School Health, a 100-employee companyfounded by Rogers' grandfather in 1957, even got financial helpfor the project.

OrthoScan, the Israeli company School Health is partnered with,"has a product that's successful with orthopedicsurgeons," Rogers explains. "They were trying to makesomething that could be used for screening, which is what wespecialize in. We saw a really good fit." With the help of a$400,000 joint grant for OrthoScan and School Health from the BIRDFoundation, School Health hopes to sell its low-cost scoliosisscreener to American school nurses and health departments startingin late 2005.