The President of the Canary Islands announced this week the launch of the first joint call for research, development and innovation (R&D&I) between the archipelago and Morocco.
Fernando Clavijo made this announcement during the event in which the rectors of the two Canarian public universities, Francisco García and Luis Serra Majem; and the president of the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Hicham El Habti, signed a collaboration agreement which also included the participation of the Minister of Universities, Science, Innovation and Culture, Migdalia Machín, and representatives of Emerge, the association of Startups of the Canary Islands.
The call to finance projects in the Canary Islands and Morocco, co-financed by the regional government and the UM6P, will be launched at the end of this year. This line of aid will provide financial support to scientific and technological innovation initiatives developed jointly by researchers, entrepreneurs and companies from both territories and will be managed by the Ministry of Universities.
According to President Clavijo, the joint work will contribute to strengthening ties with the neighboring country and raising the Canary Islands-Morocco relationship "to the level that corresponds to it." "Africa is a priority for the Canary Islands and, without a doubt, our good neighborly relations with Morocco constitute a fundamental element to create a space of shared prosperity in this region and, in particular, in the Atlantic space that surrounds us."
The head of the regional Executive stressed that this call represents "the first initiative of this type to be launched between a Spanish regional government and an African country", beyond those promoted by the State through the Center for Technological Development and Innovation or the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation.
"We are not only creating a support mechanism for cross-border cooperation in science and innovation; we are creating a community of agents and people involved in giving hope to this world of accelerated and intense changes," he stressed during the event.
Clavijo defended the need to "advance towards the creation of a pole of cooperation of excellence in priority sectors and of common interest", such as energy, water, food security or health, "because the challenges are complex and have a direct impact on the stability of both countries."
Through this joint call between the Canary Islands and Morocco, the regional government continues to prioritize the incorporation of new public and private agents into relations between the Autonomous Community and the African continent.
In the same vein, Minister Migdalia Machín underlined the Government's strong commitment to strengthening ties with African countries to advance "together" in scientific responses to shared challenges.
"Connecting talent, working together on the transfer of knowledge is fundamental for the Canary Islands and for all our neighbors," she indicated after hoping that the agreement signed this Wednesday and the joint call for science and innovation will be the beginning of this collaboration.
Strengthening cooperation with Africa
During the event, the rectors of the ULL, the ULPGC and the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University, together with representatives of Emerge, signed a memorandum of understanding that lays the foundations for the technical and operational design of the call.
The president of the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Hicham El Habti, highlighted the importance of the agreement signed as it will allow working together on shared challenges with the public universities of the Canary Islands such as water, energy, climate change and agriculture, among others. He also pointed out the exchange of students and the call for joint projects as an example of the path to be taken, relying on "diplomacy through science."
For the rector of the University of La Laguna, the agreement signed comes to strengthen the commitment to the internationalization of the ULL with almost fifty agreements with African universities. Francisco García considered that these agreements will contribute to solving common challenges, especially thanks to the collaboration with the UMP6 as a leading academic center in research and innovation.
The rector of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria also considered that this agreement represents a further step in the archipelago's commitment to strengthening scientific ties with Africa. "The Canarian universities are on islands, but we are not isolated," said Luis Serra after referring to the agreement as a "great opportunity to collaborate in areas of mutual interest with joint seed projects."
The objective is that this agreement between the two Canarian public universities and the UMP6P also serves to facilitate access for Canarian and Moroccan researchers to other financing instruments made available by the Government of Spain, such as the CDTI programs in North Africa, and to reinforce the role of universities and research centers in the shared development of innovative solutions.
The call will allow to give continuity to the results obtained from the ‘Africa Canarias Challenge’ program, promoted by the General Directorate of Relations with Africa. The ‘Africa Canarias Challenge’ is a support program for entrepreneurship and innovation on the African continent that has been developed through Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco.
The latest edition has added the participation of more than 50 researchers and entrepreneurs from the Canary Islands and Morocco. The winning project, based on artificial intelligence for the automated estimation of bone age, has been developed by Miguel Martín Pérez (ULL) and Sofía Bourhim (NSIAS, Mohamed V University).
