Jaffa (TPS) – Israeli political leaders and several Israel’s high-tech entrepreneurs celebrated the launch of the Innovation Center at the Peres Peace House in Jaffa, Tel Aviv on Thursday morning, viewing it as a tool not only to showcase Israel’s numerous contributions to the world, but also to build connections between different groups of people.

“The Innovation Center that will be established here will showcase our national pride and will advance peace between people,” said formee President Shimon Peres, founder of both the Peres Peace House and the Innovation Center.

“Our innovative spirit has been recognized all over the world and, of course, my heart swells with pride when I see how many nations turn to the tiny State of Israel to learn from our bold innovations and to learn how to turn the impossible into the possible,” added Peres.

Peres expressed hope that his new project will build upon the peace efforts of the Peres Peace House.

“Innovation enables dialogue between nations and between people,” Peres said. “It will enable all young people – Jews, Muslims, and Christians – to engage in science and technology equally.”

The Innovation Center will not only provide entrepreneurs with the opportunity to become further acquainted with Israeli innovations, but also to meet like-minded individuals from other backgrounds. The center’s courses, hackathons, and other educational tools will be presented and given in a number of languages to allow different groups to benefit from all it has to offer and to enable them to seize upon future opportunities.

“This center will of course showcase achievements of the past, but will primarily focus will be on the path to the future,” explained Peres. “It will highlight inventions already created as well as those yet to be developed in fields such as science, technology, medicine, agriculture, and industry.”

President Reuven Rivlin also focused on the center’s connection between both past and future achievements.

“The Innovation Center inaugurated this morning shall create a link between the past and the future,” said Rivlin. “With one eye, it looks back to the accomplishments we have achieved and with its other eye, it looks ahead to the future, planning its next step.”

“It promotes science and technology with one hand and its vision for a model society with the other,” continued Rivlin.

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that his city was already following in the path of the Innovation Center’s model for society.

“This is the society that we are trying to have in the city of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, a city named for Herzl’s vision of a progressive, pluralistic, technological society with a Jewish majority living in peace and harmony with its Arab neighbors,” Huldai said.  “Therefore, I welcome the establishment of this center, here, in Jaffa, the start-up city of Israel, on the shores of the sea that connects us with the world.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also attended the launch ceremony, committed to spreading the Innovation Center’s vision to the rest of the country.

“We will continue to build upon our immense advantages, which is first and foremost our heritage, one that always sought knowledge,” Netanyahu said. “We will ensure that our state will be vibrant, progressive, developed, inquisitive and that it will operate n fields that no one has ever before considered all while we help many people around the world. We will remain on the cutting edge.”

The Innovation Center will depict the story of Israel transforming from the startup nation to the “innovation nation” through a variety of unique tools that will include exhibits, touch tables, and interactive games. There will also be a unique digital library, the only one in the world that will allow spectators to ask questions and receive answers about Israeli innovations.