Enhancing cooperation on research and innovation in the Mediterranean: E-brainstorming meeting in the context of COVID-19
- UfM Member States will present the actions currently being performed to tackle the COVID-19 crisis through Research and Innovation.
- Experts, university networks and joint research initiatives from across the region will help identify the most urgent priorities to speed up cooperation in this unprecedented juncture.
2 April 2020. An e-brainstorming meeting of the UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation will be held on 6 April to strengthen regional cooperation in face of the COVID-19 crisis. UfM Member States will present their initiatives on research and innovation and define common priorities to speed up cooperation under the current global pandemic, not only regarding the immediate emergency but also the subsequent recovery phase.
In light of the impact that the current crisis will have on the economy, a new initiative promoted by the UfM Secretariat with the support of the German development agency GIZ will be presented. The initiative aims to enhance the nexus between research, innovation and employability.
Particular importance will be given to ways of speeding up information sharing and reducing the knowledge gap between countries through open science and open data, as the current crisis and the consequent recovery process will need, more than ever, the commitment and collaboration of decision makers, researchers, innovators, universities, companies and civil society.
This e-brainstorming meeting will be introduced by the UfM Secretary General, Nasser Kamel, and co-chaired by Maria Cristina Russo, Director for International Cooperation at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, and Arafah Dia-Eddin, Secretary-General of the Higher Council for Science and Technology of Jordan.
The UfM Regional Platform on Research and Innovation was launched last November 2019 in Barcelona by the EU-Med Group of Senior Officials on Research and Innovation.
