UNIMED

Mediterranean Universities Union

MPC partners and research

funding schemes

Istanbul

20 Match 2014

3/19/14

UNIMED Foundation

& offices

1991: Establishment of the Mediterranean Universities Union, formed of 24 Universities.

2014: Network of 90 Universities of 23 countries in the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Head Office: Palazzo Baleani, Rome, Italy

Regional Offices:

An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

University of Salento, Lecce, Italy

Opening Soon: Cairo and Algiers

Associated Universities countries

ALBANIA – ALGERIA – CYPRUS – CROATIA – EGYPT- UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - FINLAND - FRANCE – JORDAN - GREECE – ISRAEL- ITALY – LEBANON –

MOROCCO – MONTENEGRO – PALESTINE – PORTUGAL – SYRIA – SLOVENIA – SPAIN –

SWITZERLAND – TUNISIA - TURKEY

4

UNIMED main objective

UNIMED aims at promoting,

in a multidisciplinary perspective,

interuniversity research and education…

…in order to contribute to the

integration process between the two

Mediterranean shores.

UNIMED carries out the following

activities in favour of its members

• Promotion of the international dimension of universities;

• Planning and fund raising activity;

• Promotion of mobility in the Euro-Mediterranean region, for

students, researchers and academic staff;

• Organization of meetings, discussions, seminars and round

tables both at a national and international level;

• Training for academic and administrative staff of Universities,

particularly for the personnel of International Relations Offices.

Currently UNIMED has the following sub-networks:

Transports, Logistics, Intermodality

Renewable Energies and Environment

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Mediterranean Tourism

Mediterranean Diet

Aerospace Technology

Thematic Sub-Networks

UNIMED current projects

• FP7-INCO-2012-2: MOBILISE— MOrocco and the EU: strengthening BIlateral Links in

Innovation and Science for Economy

• FP7-INCO-2012-1, INCO-NET MEDSPRING Mediterranean Science, Policy, Research

& INnovation Gateway (Regional Project). Lead by the IAM of Bari

• FP7-SST- 2012: 3iBS The Intelligent, Innovative, Integrated Bus Systems – lead by

UITP - International Association for Public Transport

• FP7-SST-2013: Viajeo-Plus International Coordination for implementation of

innovative and efficient urban mobility solutions lead by ERTICO-ITS EUROPE

• Agreement with Aerospace Technology District (DTA) of Brindisi on Material

Technology analysis in Southern Mediterranean countries

UNIMED current projects

• TEMPUS: PRO-GREEN: Joint/Dual Professional Graduate Diploma and Professional

Degree in Green Technologies (Lebanon and Egypt) – Lead By the American University

of Beirut

• TEMPUS: INFOBC: L’INNOVATION DANS LA FORMATION POUR LES BIENS

CULTURELS : un nouveau curriculum euro-méditerranéen pour la préservation de biens

culturels – Lead by the University of Urbino (Italy)

• TEMPUS: eMEDia : a bottom-up approach for the design and pilot of a joint Master

Course in Cross-Media Journalism – (Tunisia) – Lead by UNIMED

• LLP –2013 – PRIDE: Professionals in Doctoral Education: Supporting skills

development to better contribute to an European knowledge society – lead by the

University of Vienna

• ENPI 2013 – FOP : Future of the past (Lebanon, Palestine) – lead by the Italian

Geographical Society

UNIMED current projects on Mobility

issues

Erasmus Mundus Action 2 – Project WELCOME - Lead Partner Politecnico of Turin)

Erasmus Mundus Action 3 – Linking Med Gulf - Synergies and innovation linking

the MENA region, the Gulf and Europe in Higher Education – lead by the University of

Barcelona

Erasmus Mundus Action 2 – PHOENIX - Europe - (Palestine, Jordan, Syria and

Lebanon) Intercultural Exchange For Internationalization: Research management,

student employability and Academic Excellence – lead by the University of Almeria

Erasmus Mundus Action 2 – HERMES: Development of a Higher Education and

Research Area between Europe and the Middle East - Strand 1 - Lot 2 (Jordan,

Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian territory, Syria) – lead by the University of Aix Marseille

ENPI 2013– MEDMOBIL : Supportive international approach to increase and improve

the mobility and exchange (Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan) – lead by the Chamber

of Commerce of Seville

10

H2020: the international cooperation dimension

Objective

Taking stock of opportunities for MPCs

in H2020 Work Programme 2014-2015

INCO in H2020 vs FP7

• No ad-hoc INCO Work Programme

• No Specific Actions having the inclusion of MPCs as eligibility criteria but

open topics

• Open topics

• Instruments: research & innovation actions or support actions (horizontal

issues, policy, cooperation and dialogue)

• International cooperation hidden accross pillars and challenges

Methodology

•Analysis of WPs 2014-2015 of H2020 identifying topics having

geographic focus or being of potential thematic interest for the

Mediterranean Partner Countries

•Grouping topics into four cathegories:

1) Direct geographic relevance (Mediterranean)

2) Indirect geographic relevance (ENP, Africa, S&T agreemets…)

3) International cooperation connotation (no geographic focus)

4)Thematic relevance (potential thematic interest for MPCs)

Brief outline of terminology Pillar I (Excellent Science)

Pillar II (Industrial Leadership)

Pillar III (Societal Challenges)

Horizontal Issues (Spreading excellence, Science for Society)

1. Health, demographic change and wellbeing 5. Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials

2. Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy

6. Europe in a changing world – inclusive, innovative and reflective Societies

3. Secure, clean and efficient energy 7. Secure societies – Protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens

4. Smart, green and integrated transport

Overall results

On a total of more than 500 topics, 3

are directly focused on

Mediterranean countries, 11 have an

indirect geographic relevance, 77

have an explicit international

cooperation connotation and 34 have

only thematic relevance for the

Mediterranean .

Focus on Societal Challenges

• The majority (82 out of 127) of the

topics identified in the four categories

belong to Pillar III – Societal Challenges.

•Food appears to be the most recurring

in the four categories.

• Considering direct or indirect

geographic relevance, the most

recurring SC are Climate and Societies,

followed by Food and Transport.

Mediterranean dimension of H2020 (1/3)

• The 3 topics with direct geographic relevance are all included in Pillar

III, and related to SC Food (1 topic) and SC Societies (2 topics)

• The 11 topics with indirect geographic relevance are included in Pillar I

(2 topics) and Pillar III (9 topics). The SC addressed by these topics are:

Food, Transport, Climate and Societies.

International co-operation connotation

As for the international cooperation

connotation at large, on a total of 77

topics, 11 are under Pillar I, 12 are under

Pillar II, 50 are under Pillar III and 3 are

under Horizontal Issues.

The bulk of topics which address International

Cooperation is under Pillar III. SC Security,

Food and Transport have an higher degree of

international cooperation activities

encouraged.

Conclusions (1/2)

• Mediterranean dimension in WPs 2014-15 is rather limited (3 topics, all in

SC Pillar).

• Important presence of topics addressing Mediterranean countries in

association with other countries/regions (11 topics, ranging from research

infrastructure, NCPs, small farms, climate change...)

• Extended set of topics encouraging international cooperation (77 topics).

These topics are open to all countries and are of potential interest for

the Mediterranean since they address relevant themes (innovation,

natural resources, health, agro-food, energy, transport, climate change,

sustainable development, security).

Conclusions (2/2)

Thank you!

Contact:

Marcello Scalisi Executive Director of UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union

m.scalisi@uni-med.net

3/19/14 Name 9

www.uni-med.net