The sea component in Israel’s security and resilience is of crucial importance. There is a significant gap between the importance of the sea to the State of Israel and the research activity in the field, which causes a lack of awareness of the maritime space and the lack of public discourse on the subject. Israel is considered an “economic island”, since most of its exports and imports are made by sea, due to its unique geo-strategic location in the eastern Mediterranean to the shores of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; the proportion of the high population living in its coastal strip of the Mediterranean Sea; Discovery of natural gas deposits in Israel’s economic waters; Israel’s absolute dependence on maritime trade (import and export); The sea as the engine of economic growth (blue economy), desalination of water from the sea as a main component of drinking water in Israel, as well as the sea as a single area available for new infrastructures and the evacuation of dangerous infrastructures from populated areas. All of these create challenges and opportunities in the marine sector.
The development of blue economy as a long-term strategy aimed at supporting sustainable economic growth and the establishment of the Institute for Maritime Policy and Strategy (MPS) at the National Center for Blue Economy and Innovation under HiCenter, the Center for Technological Entrepreneurship in Haifa Ltd., is a complementary step to the positioning of the city of Haifa as a capital of blue economy in Israel.
The Institute for Maritime Policy and Strategy (MPS) at the National Center for Blue Economy and Innovation in Haifa is an independent, non-partisan research institute that operates in the Israeli public arena in the fields of policy, strategy and maritime security (Maritime Security) in the broadest sense.
MPS vision is to be an interdisciplinary Israeli research institute and the center of knowledge, leading and unique in the world in the fields of maritime policy and strategy in its broadest sense, with an emphasis on the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea region.
MPS Mission is to conduct high-quality interdisciplinary applied research on policy issues related to maritime strategy and maritime security; to provide recommendations in these fields to local and national government decision-makers, and to the business sector; and to initiate and participate in public discussion on issues related to Israel’s maritime domain in order to increase public awareness of the importance of this arena for Israel’s resilience and security.
Milli Peled is the International Research Coordinator at the Institute for Maritime Policy & Strategy. Milli is an expert in Marketing & Business Development, with background positions at Google and in start-ups.
Milli has supported companies as a consultant since 2016, and serves as MPS’s Director of of International Research since march 2024.
She holds B.A in international relations and MBA in business administration.
Prof. Alexander Bligh is the Chief Scientist at MPS. Prof. Bligh is currently a Senior Research Associate at the University of Haifa’s Chaikin Chair in Geostrategy. In the past Prof. Bligh served as a the Chief Scientist, Ministry of Science, Technology and Space, Israel, Acting Dean, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities and Director, Middle East Research Center, Ariel University, and Advisor to the Prime Minister for Arab Affairs.