A journey to the center of innovation

בס"ד

Near the coast of Jaffa, stands one of its kind building. That building, where all of its doors faces the sea, is "The Peres Center for Peace and Innovation."
Going inside you'll discover a fascinating story and a unique visitor center that is one of a kind in Israel.

We were invited to review the new visitor center of The Peres center for peace & innovation that has been open for a run-up.
After parking at the free parking lot near the center, we went up to the street just to realize that the entrance is actually from the lower side that opens to the see and not for nothing.

Before visiting the visitor center, we gathered in the original office of the Shimon Peres z"l and heard about the history of the place.

Peres center for peace was established in 1996 by Shimon Peres, as a non-govermental non-profit organization. The purpose of the organization was to make the peace matter accessible for not just politicians, but for every citizen that has something to gain from peace and prosperity in the region.
 

The organization headquarters was in Derech Hashalom in Tel Aviv. And at first, they started to engage in implementing social programs for the ages of 0-120. They dealt with programs in sport (soccer plays between Jews and Arabs without a referee, so the kids would have to sort things out on their own), health (giving treatment to Palestinian kids, Training Palestinian doctors in Israeli hospitals), working with young leaders of different countries that are interested in peace and democracy, etc. , and later, they entered the innovation and Entrepreneurship field.

 

In 1999, the organization met with an Italian philanthropist that was willing to donate for the establishment of a new building in Jaffa in one term.
He wanted them to meet with an Italian architect, but since they wanted an Israeli architect, they were about to decline the proposition. He asked them to go and hear the architect's story, and they agreed.

It turned out that the father of the philanthropist had saved orphan Jewish kids during the Holocaust. He brought them to Italy and took care of their needs along the way. The Italian architect was a descendant of one of the families that were rescued, and he has a strong connection to Judaism and Israel, so they decided to go with him.

The building was planned in a way that there is alway transparency and light, so everyone can see to the outside and vice-versa. The doors of the building are all opening to the sea so that everyone is welcome to enter, and in 2009 the construction began to serve as the Peres center for peace and innovation.

 

Shimon Peres tried to think what else can they do and innovate. He decided to take two elements of possibility and need and combine them. The possibility was the new colossal building that most of its square feet weren't utilized since most of the center activities are focused in the communities. The need was the start-up nation that everyone talked about, but when one wanted to see it, there was no place to bring people to see it, not in the scope and size that was later established as a result.
 

Nobel prize of Shimon Peres

Medal of Honor by US president to Shimon Peres

One of the examples for that need was when the US president of the time, Barak Obama, wanted to see the start-up nation, but they were only able to show him a few things at the time since there wasn't a place that gathered everything.

Shimon Peres thought that there is a need for a place that gathered all of the innovations for delegations and groups, and even for Israeli elementary school kids who want to discover about Israeli innovations. Therefore it was decided to establish the innovative visitor center that anyone can relate with, from Israeli students, soldiers, leaders from around the world, entrepreneurs, companies, etc.

The goal of the visitor center is to show that Israeli innovation impacts and help make the world a better place and that the innovation focuses in people from different cultures, not just technology but science, education, etc.

We started our tour in the "Israeli expo" room (floor 1). In the Israeli expo room, you can see the most cutting-edge Israeli start-ups. From 350 companies that applied, only 47 innovative companies were elected, and each year they plan to update the exhibits to the most up to date innovations.

The room is divided into sectors where each sector focuses on a different field if it's health, agriculture, security, and space, etc.
Above each sector, you can find antiquity that is related to the sector. For example, above the space and security field, you can find arrowheads that in the past were considered innovative in the field of weapon and security, and nowadays they are considered obsolete. However, they were the inspiration for what came next.

 

In the health sector, we saw the Nano-Retina, a sensor that is implemented in the eye and restores vision in black and white to people who could not see until now. There was also an ALS medication (ALS is a disease of muscular dystrophy that gradually causes paralysis throughout the body), which allows turning this disease into a chronic illness that one can still function.

Since in 2017, the medication was not yet approved in the USA, a veteran that had the disease went to court to get permission to take the medicine. He got approval, and since then he stopped losing body functions, and even start regaining the ones he lost.

 

In the aerospace area, we saw a space invention that is connected to health. Experiments on earth for discovering a cure that might be good for one patient and deadly to another weren't getting advanced. Blood samples that were taken from patients and transferred to a Petri plate never grew back as they were in the human body.

With a tiny lab that is designated for space and works on artificial intelligence, they could understand their problem. In space, they saw that the blood cells grew back, and they found out that it is because of the zero-gravity in contrast to Earth gravity.
That small AI lab can test about 3,000 samples at the same time, and in the future, they are going to use a designated application that will be available on any smartphone.

Whoever wants to know if a medicine will be good for him or not, could pay a relatively negligible price of 1000$, run his details in the app and find out how a medication will affect him.

 

We also saw an armor that was developed by mimicking nature - from the armadillo armor. The shield is suited for astronauts and can be used if a nuclear disaster needs to be cleaned.

 

In the agriculture field, we saw an invention that helps turn food waste into something useful. Instead of throwing food, you can put it in the machine that turns it into cooking gas.

 

And another invention can track people who tossed contaminating chemicals to the sewage water network. This tracking can be done using an AI that was installed in the sewage network. It can track who caused the contamination and predict future events. The system allows municipalities, and water companies know who is responsible, fine them and close them until the problem is resolved. Thus, it will enable to save a lot of money in infrastructure, saving water, and protecting people's health.
 

We saw just a glimpse of the "Israeli Expo" room and headed to entrance floor where you will find "The Inspiration Hall" with a vast screen that showcases the Israeli developments that changed the world. And down the hall, you will go to the "The secrets of Innovation" room where you'll meet interactive screens with the figures of 12 Israeli entrepreneurs. You can hear how they came up with their idea, the difficulties they experienced, etc.
 

In the "Innovation Nation" room (floor 1) there's a timeline with a variety of Israeli innovations and innovation cubes. Each cube contains a meaningful moment and revolutionary development in the fields of high-tech, agriculture, medical and society, from disc on key invention, Rummikub game, iron dome to a small remanent of the Israeli air force flag that survived the explosion of the "Columbia" shuttle in which took part the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon z"l.
There are tables in the room for interactive touch game and an option for an escape room.

 

In the room next to it, you can find "The Study," a replica of Shimon Peres office, where he turned his dreams into reality.
On the second floor, you will get to "The Capsule" room." Using a virtual reality experience, you can see what the future holds in 2050 and at the end watch a touching movie about the life of Shimon Peres.

The visit to the visitor center of the Peres center for peace and innovation was a fascinating experience recommended for the whole family. It is so amazing to discover so many significant innovations that help the world and that came from our country.
As for now, the center is open for run-up, and in the day we arrived, there were some technical problems, but it didn't interfere with our enjoyment.

 

Peres center for peace and innovation
Opening hours: Sun-Thu: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
The tours are guided in groups of 25 )tour length: 90 minutes), price: 30 NIS
The tour is suitable for the whole family, but recommended from age 10 and up
You can book tours in Hebrew, English, Arabic, and Chinese
Reservations must be booked in advance in the center's website
The place is accessible for people with disabilities, with an elevator leading to each floor
Free parking adjacent to the building and overlooking the beach