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Research and innovation

Mediterranean

Policy background, UfM regional platform, roadmaps, projects and results, funding and events

Policy background

The Renewed Partnership with the Southern Neighbourhood, adopted in 2021 sets out a new agenda for the EU’s partnership with our partners in the southern Neighbourhood.

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is an intergovernmental institution that brings together all EU countries and 15 countries of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean to promote dialogue and cooperation.

Research and Innovation

The EU’s Global Approach to Research and Innovation aims to strengthen long-term regional cooperation through the creation of sustainable economies linking scientific and technological innovation with employment opportunities.

The EU maintains regional policy dialogue with Mediterranean partners in the context of the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation, as well as bilateral joint science and technology cooperation agreements with partner countries in the region. These currently include Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

Regional Platform on Research and Innovation

Co-chaired by the EC and Jordan, the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation brings the EU and all Mediterranean partner countries together for political dialogue, acting as a forum for the exchange of information and recommendations on research and innovation policy in the Mediterranean region. The platform aims at establishing a common information base, and identifying issues of regional importance to be addressed by research and innovation and requiring cooperative Euro-Mediterranean action.

Platform Members

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, The Netherlands, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Syria (Syria suspended its membership on 1 December 2011), Tunisia, Turkey.

Libya has observer status.

Priority areas and roadmaps for EU-Mediterranean Research and Innovation Cooperation

A major milestone was reached at the Ministerial Conference on Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation through Research and Innovation in 2017. The Valletta Declaration was adopted, entailing several agreements:

  • cooperating more closely on research about root causes of migration
  • developing a Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean (PRIMA)
  • promoting research and innovation to create "blue jobs" and growth in the Mediterranean (BLUEMED initiative)

Building on the Valletta Declaration, the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation has engaged in strategic discussions since 2019. 3 priorities to orient research and innovation collaboration at both regional and national levels were defined: Climate Change, Renewable Energies and Health.

Preparation of roadmaps

A regional expert group consisting of leading academics and practitioners in the 3 priority fields was commissioned to prepare roadmaps identifying possible research, innovation and capacity-building actions addressing urgent needs in the region. They were developed through public consultation events with the participation of a wide network of stakeholders and specialists in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

The expert group finalised the roadmaps by highlighting the following overarching policy recommendations:

  • significantly increase the exchange and circulation of knowledge and information in the three priority areas, together with the implementation of platforms for facilitating the availability and communication of timely and reliable data also accessible to stakeholders
  • promote demonstration of transdisciplinary projects on sustainable development in the Euro-Mediterranean Region
  • promote technology cooperation

The roadmaps aim to engage actors at large in the region (NGOs, scientific institutions, researchers, networks of Universities and citizens, the private sector and decision makers), as well as international organisations, financial institutions and donors. The targeted outcomes are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

 

State-of-play: implementation plan

An Implementation Plan, elaborated by the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation,  has been put in place to transform the jointly agreed priorities into specific actions, reviewing its progress while fostering synergies with existing instruments. Those priorities, as well as their respective roadmaps,  were endorsed at the Research and Innovation UfM Ministerial meeting in June 2022.

The implementation plan sets out set of implementing modalities resting on 4 main pillars.

Pillar 1: Mapping and analysis of research and innovation relevant projects in the region

The report, aimed at identifying and benchmarking existing cooperation against the roadmaps to identify gaps, was published in January 2023.

A EUROMED research and innovation cooperation project portfolio of 252 projects funded by Horizon 2020, PRIMA and the ENI CBC programme was analysed and assessed,  based on the project description, the relevance of the projects to the 3 priorities (Health, Renewable Energy and Climate Change) and their specific focus areas as outlined in the UfM’s Theories of Change and Impact Pathways (TCIP).

A second phase of this mapping exercise is currently ongoing to assess the potential scalability of a selected list of projects.

Pillar 2: Integration of needed actions into existing programmes 

The European Commission launched the Mediterranean Initiative as part of Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-2024 linked to the roadmaps. The European Commission is currently working towards the continuation of the Union’s participation in (PRIMA) under Horizon Europe for three additional years until 2027.

Additional actions put in place by the European Commission include:

  • Under the ‘Clean Hydrogen’ mission of Mission Innovation:
    • implementing exchange of best practices and knowledge on hydrogen valleys with Mediterranean countries through the second sprint in 2023
    • exploring setting up specific Project Development Assistance for the Mediterranean countries to develop hydrogen valleys as of 2024
  • under the Global Health Joint Undertaking: 
    • promotion of participation of researchers from the Mediterranean region in the calls as contributing partners;
  • Under the European Partnership on Personalised Medicine and the one on Rare Diseases:
    • ongoing discussions with funding agencies from Mediterranean countries to join these Partnerships
  • Under the Horizon Europe Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’:
    • the establishment of the Mediterranean zero pollution Lighthouse and implementation charter.

Pillar 3: Stakeholders’ communication and coordination research and innovation platform

The European Commission has commissioned the co-creation of a UfM Research and Innovation Platform to build a joint knowledge management and communication framework (KMCF) to support the UfM Regional Policy Dialogue on Research and Innovation in the implementation of the roadmaps.

This is intended to provide an efficient framework for knowledge management and communication among relevant stakeholders and to develop a sustainable EU-Mediterranean learning and collaborative hub between stakeholders and across regions.

Pillar 4: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

A Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework is being created to measure progress in the implementation of the roadmaps and priority areas and ensure accountability. The MEL framework was adopted during the 29th Meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean Regional Platform in Research and Innovation on  4 October 2023.

 

Funding opportunities

Horizon Europe  

Horizon Europe, the European Union’s framework programme for research and innovation, is open to the world, which means that participants from almost any country can participate in most calls. The EU can fund the participation in Horizon Europe collaborative research actions of entities established in EU Member States, in countries Associated to Horizon Europe, and in low- and middle-income countries. Most Southern Mediterranean partner countries are included in this latter category.

Mediterranean Initiative:  The Horizon Europe work programme 2023-2024 includes 37 topics that are flagged as particularly relevant for cooperation with the Mediterranean region. The calls can be found here.

European Research Council

The European Research Council offers grants to researchers in all research domains for frontier research. Researchers from Southern Mediterranean countries are welcome to apply and if selected are eligible for funding to establish a research group in Europe.

Grants are available for researchers starting or consolidating their independent career and for advanced researchers. Synergy grants are also available, where a group of 2-4 Principal Investigators (PIs) may include one PI outside the EU or countries associated to Horizon Europe, to tackle together an ambitious research problem, with all funded by the ERC.

Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions 

Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions offer fellowships for post-doctoral researchers from Mediterranean Partner countries (and other countries) to spend up to 2 years in a European group – or for European researchers to spend up to 2 years in Mediterranean Partner Countries. Also offers opportunities for Southern Mediterranean institutions to participate in Doctoral Training Networks and Staff Exchange consortia.

NEXT MED

NEXT MED will continue supporting Euro-Mediterranean cooperation for the period 2021-2027 under the framework of the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and its specific ‘Interreg’ instrument which supports European Territorial Cooperation across regions and countries.

The Digital Europe Programme

The Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) is a new EU funding programme focused on bringing digital technology to businesses, citizens and public administrations.

PRIMA

The Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) is a joint programme which focusses on building research and innovation capacities and developing knowledge and common innovative solutions for agro-food systems, to make them sustainable, and for integrated water provision and management in the Mediterranean area.

BLUEMED 

The Bluemed Initiative is aiming at advancing a shared vision for a more healthy, productive, resilient, better known and valued Mediterranean Sea, promoting the citizens’ social well-being and prosperity, and boosting economic growth and jobs.

 

Projects and results

Research project database

EU-funded research projects involving the Mediterranean and Middle East

For previous framework programmes, please contact the Research enquiry service.

The Horizon Dashboard, is a one-stop shop for data and statistics on the EU Research and Innovation Programmes – from FP1 to Horizon Europe.

 

Contact

National Contact Points

The National Contact Points (NCPs) provide guidance, practical information and assistance on all aspects of participation in Horizon Europe.

European Commission

RTD-F2-ASSISTatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (DG Research and Innovation unit F.2: International cooperation)

Euraxess Africa 

Euraxess Africa  provides access to a complete range of information and support services for researchers in African and Mediterranean countries wishing to pursue a research career in Europe or looking for collaboration opportunities through Horizon Europe.

Documents

Factsheet5 April 2023
EU-Mediterranean cooperation in Research and Innovation

Horizon Europe is open to researchers and innovators from around the globe who are encouraged to team up with EU partners in preparing proposals. It will also include dedicated initiatives to support and strengthen cooperation with key strategic regions.

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10 MARCH 2023
Mapping and Portfolio Analysis of EUROMED R&I Cooperation
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