Like his father, former Israeli President Shimon Peres, our prizewinner has been committed to promoting innovation and economic progress in Israel. As the announcement for the prize states, the 63-year-old thus represents Israel as the "Innovation and Start-up Nation."
As chairman of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation and co-founder of the Pitango Fund, the successful business leader promotes start-ups and innovation. In addition, Peres opened the Israeli Innovation Center in 2018, the first and largest visitor's center of its kind. In the first year, over 75,000 people visited the center to learn more about the innovation model used in Israel.
The award ceremony for the 2020 Reinhard Mohn Prize was originally planned for last year in Gütersloh Theater before an audience of some 400 guests, but had to be postponed due to the pandemic. It was now held on a smaller scale at the Bertelsmann Stiftung and, simultaneously, online.