Benchmark Drilldown · Updated 2026-05-04
MIST (Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology)
Lead ministry for AI policy
- Role
- Lead ministry for AI policy
- Region
- Israel
- Type
- Key body
Detail
MIST (Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology) is the lead ministry for Israel AI policy, which inherited AI policy from the predecessor Ministry of Science and Technology. MIST is the formal author of the National AI Program (2021) and the AI Policy on Regulation and Ethics (2023). Authority is largely policy-only — actual disbursement runs through IIA. Assessment: MIST functions more like Singapore SNDGO if SNDGO had no execution arm. Without owning a flagship execution channel like SNDGO's Smart Nation initiatives, MIST's policy outputs are slow to translate into deployed capability — this is the structural root cause of the 20% disbursement issue.
References
Continue exploring this region
Region overview
Israel Core Strategy
Israel's core AI strategy is National AI Program, with the public year marked as 2021.
Region overview
Israel Investment Scale
Israel's AI investment signal is: NIS 5.26B (~$1.48B) but only 20% spent.
Region overview
Israel Governance Model
Israel's AI governance model can be summarised as: Soft law + sector self-regulation, no horizontal legislation.
Region overview
Israel Core Strength
Israel's comparative strength versus Singapore is: Highest startup density globally, Unit 8200 talent pipeline.
Core strategy
National AI Program
NIS 5.26 billion five-year plan covering compute, talent and R&D
Core strategy
AI Policy on Regulation & Ethics
Regulatory framework relying primarily on industry self-regulation
Data note
Curated benchmark drilldown profile, last updated 2026-05-04.