Tunis, 16/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Euro-Mediterranean area is an auspicious area for investment in research and innovation but, for such attractive capacities to be developed, improvements must be made to its economic, administrative and mostly financial environment and, as everywhere else including in Europe, this raises the question of relations between those on the innovative side - often universities - and those on the side of enterprise. The EIB, like the European Commission, have committed themselves alongside the Mediterranean countries, and a joint strategy is due to be decided in May by finance ministers.
This was the main conclusion of the day's debates in Tunis on 15 March on an initiative by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and its financial instrument in the region, the FEMIP (Euro-Mediterranean investment and partnership facility) in collaboration with the Tunisian Ministry for International Cooperation. Another conclusion to be noted was that concerning the role of SMEs, considered as the main source of innovation, that will play a natural role in the “generational renewal” of businesses, replacing those that are ageing and whose techniques and methods are entering obsolescence. These conclusions, drawn from the various interventions during the conference in Tunis, which is the 7th of its kind, mainly served to highlight the question of financial instruments often considered ill adapted to the extent that, when it comes down to it, few companies are eligible.
As EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive pointed out, the EIB had organised this conference to encourage exchange and renewed relations between innovative companies of the Euro-Mediterranean area, and between researchers and companies. He acknowledged, however, that the EIB's intervention in innovation and research in the Mediterranean region remains “modest” - hardly €300 million committed so far under FEMIP in Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine and, shortly, Syria. The EIB hopes nonetheless that a Euro-Mediterranean model of cooperation, exchange and synergies may be reached, with networking recommended by most participants. The model would be that of “neighbourliness”, said Frédéric Blanc, speaking on behalf of the FEMISE (Euro-Mediterranean network of economic science institutes).
The “weak link” in the process remains that of funding and synergies between innovators and the world of business, for which a solution would entail entities specialised in the transfer of technology conceived in partnership between universities and funding bodies. There are important things at stake, stressed Jean-Hervé Lorenzi, who chairs the circle of economists, as “innovation is at the heart of growth” in Europe as in the Mediterranean and, in the latter area, the future depends on the rise in technology in order to be competitive and to rank on the global market of new technologies. This means it is more necessary to “organise and create an environment” that is propitious for this rather than to acquire materials. “Technology is not just microchips” but is above all the way these are used and adapted. “The Japanese and the Koreans have managed to do this”, he said. The technological initiative is a difficult process to organise from the top down and should come from the bottom up, without too much intervention from public authorities, said Jean-Claude Prager, who heads an agency for the diffusion of technological information (ADIT).
In support of this, Nouri Jouini, Tunisian Minister for International Cooperation, underlined the need for an effort to be made in education in order to prepare for technological mutations. He, too, highlighted the risk of accentuating the “digital divide” between the two sides of the Mediterranean and underlined the need for a Euro-Mediterranean collective effort. “Effort must be made”, he said, “in three ways: - stimulation and best use of human potential, coordination of policies and research programmes, and the guarantee of appropriate funding”. Mohammed Pournik of the UNDP regional centre in Cairo, pointed out that there was a risk of making the “industrial desertification process” still worse in the Arab part of the Mediterranean, as there is no “engine for the development of the technological sectors” given that there are “no comparative advantages and little added value”.
Philippe Froissard, of DG Research at the European Commission, sought to reassure the gathering that his institution was aware of how important the stakes are. He said it believes the future of cooperation lies in promoting and supporting innovation. He mentioned several initiatives such as the INCO-Net-MIRA, which serves to identify the priorities of scientific and technological cooperation and the establishment of an observatory in this field. €19 million in Community budgetary allocations are currently earmarked for such cooperation, he said, adding that the main effort will be made in networking and in the creation of synergies between innovative companies on both sides of the Mediterranean. He announced the launch of the EMIS, the EuroMed programme for innovation and scientific research.
Froissard also went on to speak of the intention to send out researchers into the Euro-Mediterranean area. To illustrate the effort to be developed and the challenges to be raised, John Halloway, Director of the European Investment Fund (EIF), spoke of the European experience which, as he pointed out, also shows that the question of funding and the necessary liaison between researchers and companies constitute the main challenge to be raised. He also spoke of the inequalities that exist from one EU member state to the next.
By way of a conclusion to the debate, EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive said that the inventory thus drawn up will be forwarded to the finance ministers of the Euro-Mediterranean area whose meeting, in Brussels on 18 May, is expected to result in a regional strategy on innovation and the role to be played by SMEs. Closing the event, Tunisia's prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, spoke of his country's projects to ensure that the share in high content production may achieve 50% of the total of industrial exports from the country in 2016. In order to prepare for this, a joint investment fund of 50 million dinars (nearly €30 million) has been created. (F.B./transl.jl)