Israel could establish a special regional investment fund (funded from public and private resources) to provide funding for building HEI capacity for regional engagement and provide incentive funds to institutions and individual faculty members for regional initiatives. These could emphasise increasing tertiary education access and opportunity for the region's population (especially target populations), engaging faculty members and students in teacher/learning and applied research projects related to regional priorities. Kentucky Regional Stewardship and various programmes provided by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) provide examples. Its focus should be on community-based medical education and new forms of health care delivery as well as generating of innovations that link Israel’s IT leadership with effective health care delivery (telemedicine and individualised computer-based medical records systems).