MIRA International Conference on Mediterranean countries and EU opportunities in research and innovation

This activity will be organized in closed cooperation with the BILAT Projects, in order to promote the participation of national political representatives of MPC concerned with the enhancement of the collaboration with the EU, as well as representantives of the business and S&T sectors. This action will be organized back to back with the "Fora" organized by WP 6 and WP 8 (EMIS) Awareness of the importance to join EU programs.

International Conference on Mediterranean Countries and EU Opportunities

22-23 October 2012 | Amman - Jordan

Description of the initiative:

The International Conference is aimed at spurring synergies and complementarities among different projects co-funded by European Commission under the 7FP ‘Capacities’ Programme in order to enable MPC to be protagonist of EU  strategies and initiatives for the period 2012-2020.

Conceived in the framework of the INCONET project MIRA –Mediterranean Innovation and Research Coordination Action, it is in line with initiatives of JORDANNET, as concerns the enhancement of Capacity Building of IP and the improvement of quantity and quality of participation from Mediterranean Countries -and Jordan in particular- in EU programmes.

To this aim a direct involvement of  MPC national policy representatives and exponents of business and S&T sector dealing with international cooperation in research and innovation has been envisaged. The work will be carried out taking into account two main dimensions  of cooperation: a bilateral one, here represented by Jordan-EU cooperation and a regional one, with the full involvement of all MPC partners of MIRA and other INCONET, like GCC.

Main Objectives:

• Spurring the principle of a renewed partnership and coordination of research and innovation actions, following the results of the “Euro-Mediterranean Conference in Research and Innovation” (Barcelona on 2-3 April 2012) and MoCo conclusions;
• Increasing awareness of the EU policies and opportunities in MPC and promoting networking among the attendants;
• Contributing to the definition of multi-annual strategies of  EU-MPC in science, technology and innovation;
• Sharing knowledge and best practises in managing EU projects, taking positive actions towards smoothing the managerial issues and promoting co-ownership and co-funding;
• Encouraging the establishment of national/regional joint centres for technology innovation in Societal Challenges linked areas (health, energy, transport, ...), by supporting smart specialisation at national/regional levels.

Issues to be debated:

• How to find concrete solution to existing barriers for cooperation;
• Meaning and possible results of the new strategy of co-ownership and co-responsibility of EU initiatives;
• Problems and opportunities for MPCs to coordinate -and eventually co-fund- EU projects;
• Role of IP in new FP – Horizon 2020;
• Explore fields where the common interest, including innovation outcomes and co-ownership, could results in short and medium term benefits;
• Initiatives and strategies to ensure the necessary participation of industry and INNO labs representatives to projects co-financed by European Commission.

Participants:

A delegation of three personalities for each MPC, representing respectively:  i) Policy makers and Institutions; ii) Academia/Research; iii) Industry/SMEs/Labs. 

EC representatives, EIB representatives, coordinators of ERAWIDE projects, coordinator and some key partners of GCC-INCONET, representatives of ESCWA, West Asia-North Africa Forum and all IP representatives of MPC, Coordinator and some key partners of MIRA and JORDANNET projects.

Duration: 2 days

Planned date: 22 October 2012

Venue :  5 stars hotel

Main Structure of the Conference:

Six Sessions, each devoted to key-note speeches and an open debate and a  Final Session for Final remarks and recommendations.

For each Session a Chairperson and a rapporteur have been envisaged.

The scheme is the following:

Co-organisation:

• HCST will provide organisational aspects / logistics, besides collaborating with CNR to the scientific aspects of the conference (agenda, preparatory documentation, etc.).
• CNR will contribute to the preparatory documentation, setting up of the agenda, invitation of speakers, dissemination of information, follow up of the Forum.

Reference person:

Secretariat and info: