Israel's Peres launches new technological innovation center

Israel's Former President Shimon Peres launched on Thursday a new center for technological innovation at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa.

The former president and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate talked of the important role technological innovation can play in bringing peoples in the Middle East together.

"I implore our neighbors -- let us cooperate and create a startup region," Peres said at the Israeli Innovation Center launching ceremony.

"Let us adopt the path of peace and innovation, which is always preferable to war and pain," the former president said, adding that innovation enables dialogue between different peoples.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin attended the ceremony, as well as Tel Aviv's mayor Ron Huldai and main figures in the Israeli high tech industry.

Netanyahu joined Peres's notion, saying "innovation and peace complement one another."

"Israel has much to share with its neighbors in the region. And this center will be the first step on the long path to building a startup region, an innovation region, a region of peace," said the prime minister.

Both Netanyahu and Rivlin lauded Peres's decades-long contribution to the state, and his cutting edge attitude towards innovation.

The Israeli Innovation Center, located at the Peres Peace House in Jaffa, is planned to be opened in 2018. It will present the story of Israel as the "start-up nation," with aim to inspire innovation and exhibit Israeli achievements in the field.

The center will showcase special exhibitions, house a digital library, a hub for entrepreneurs to meet and discuss future plans, and will offer courses and hackathons. Endit