Call for participation: online consultation on future of research and innovation cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region
- The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) is seeking opinions on the future of Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation in the field of research and innovation.
- The UfM has defined three priority areas for research and innovation cooperation: health, renewable energy, and climate change.
- Results will be discussed at the UfM Regional Platform in Research and Innovation in June 2021
17 March – 7 May 2021. The UfM Regional Platform in Research and Innovation (R&I) is inviting the opinion, ideas and input of relevant individuals and organisations from across the region to help outline the future of R&I cooperation between the EU and the Mediterranean.
An online consultation call has been put out for higher education and research institutions, civil society, private sector entities and governmental organisations at national, regional and local levels. The survey will help UfM Member States to identify the right topics to focus on in each priority area, how to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, and what barriers to effective cooperation might be encountered.
Consultation answers will be taken into account and further refined by the UfM Expert Group into three Roadmaps, corresponding to the three priority areas of health, renewable energy and climate change. These Roadmaps will set out interventions for increasing collaboration capacity in the coming years, and will be discussed at the UfM R&I Platform in June.
To take part in the consultation:
Click here to register with the EU survey portal.
You will receive a confirmation email that will allow you to access the survey.
Submissions are accepted until 7 May.
Contributions are welcomed from both individuals and organisations.
The current COVID-19 pandemic further proves that science-based solutions, innovation and cooperation are fundamental to our ability to cope with crises, and continue progress towards sustainable development. This consultation process forms part of the UfM’s ongoing commitment to stimulating effective Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in this field as a vital step towards building an inclusive, resilient and prosperous region for all.
The consultation was launched at a kick-off event on 17th March, which discussed the context of research and innovation in each priority area, existing problems in R&I collaboration, and the different partners involved. Draft Roadmaps were presented, outlining ideas to promote the pooling of knowledge, sharing of best practice and evaluation of progress, as well as identifying capacity-building activities needed to implement them. For example, developing a shared digital platform and standardized method to calculate the share of energy from renewable sources in different sectors would allow comparable monitoring across countries.
R&I cooperation has already seen great successes in the region, for example with the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean (PRIMA), which has so far funded 129 projects based around sustainable agriculture and water management, or the BLUEMED initiative, which has created a research and innovation agenda specifically for the sustainable blue economy sector in the Mediterranean.
More information
A further virtual consultation workshop will be held on 21 April (9:00 CET), open to all stakeholders, to discuss feedback in each of the three priority areas. You can register for the event here.
