Morocco

Political framework for scientific and technological cooperation

The most important political framework for scientific and technological cooperation between the governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of Morocco is a Memorandum of Understanding on scientific and technological cooperation that was signed in 1998. There are also agreements on cultural cooperation concluded by individual Federal Ministries in 1987 and agreements on development policy measures in the areas of water, climate protection, environmental protection and the support of renewable energy which were concluded in 2008. An agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco was concluded in 2005.

Current key areas of cooperation

The joint German-Moroccan PMARS programme (Programme Maroc-Allemand de Recherche Scientifique, 2010-2012) currently forms an important key area of bilateral cooperation. It promotes the initiation and further development of bilateral cooperations between German and Moroccan institutions in science, research and technology. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Moroccan Ministry of Research (Ministère de l’Éducation Nationale, de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Formation des Cadres et de la Recherche Scientifique) are collaborating in this area for the first time and supporting both new and existing long-term partnerships in areas of research and technology in the two countries’ joint interest.

Further key areas of cooperation are reflected by the research projects outlined below, which are both bilateral and multilateral:

• The collaborative project between the German Water Partnership and the Moroccan “Pôle de Compétences Eau & Environment” has the aim of opening up new innovation potential in the area of water management and water research. In addition to the competences in the field of water management and water research which are being pooled in this project, the future investment needs in the areas of water supply and wastewater disposal in Morocco play an important role. The BMBF is funding this project in connection with the Federal Government’s Internationalization Strategy. 
• Morocco is a partner in the German-African researcher network BIOTA AFRICA (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa), which includes more than 400 researchers from 13 countries. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and research (BMBF) and a number of African institutions. The aim is to carry out extensive research into the flora and fauna of the entire African continent and to measure and reduce changes in natural environments. The regional network BIOTA Morocco focuses on the subjects of land use and vegetation dynamics as well as the transfer of environmental process analyses to land use planning on the edge of the High Atlas Mountains.
• One of the subjects addressed in the BMBF’s funding priority "Research for the Sustainable Development of Tomorrow’s Megacities” is the aspect of “energy- and climate-efficient structures in urban growth centres”. The funding measure is a globally oriented supporting component of the Federal Government’s “High-Tech Strategy for Climate Protection”. The focus of the project’s activities in Casablanca is on urban land management as an integrated factor in climate-optimized urban development. 
• The BMBF’s funding priority “Global Change of the Water Cycle” (GLOWA) aims to generate the basic knowledge needed to make decisions for planning and investment measures. To this end, computer-supported simulation models of river basins in different climate zones have been developed. The measures focus on developing science-based, inclusive strategies to secure the availability, quality and distribution of water. In Germany, the rivers under investigation are the Danube and the Elbe. The other rivers included in the study are the Ouémé River in Benin, the Volta in Ghana and Burkina Faso, the Draa in Morocco and the River Jordan in the Middle East. As part of the IMPETUS project activity in Morocco, all aspects of the hydrological cycle are being studied in two river basins in Western Africa: the Wadi Draa in South-Eastern Morocco and the Ouémé in Benin.
• Moroccan researchers can participate in the measure “study and research scholarships of today for the megacities of tomorrow”, which is open to applicants from Vietnam, India, China, Iran, Peru, South Africa, Ethiopia and Morocco.
• Since January 2008, Germany and Morocco have been working together in the EU project MIRA, in which the BMBF is involved via the International Bureau. The aim of the project is to promote dialogue between the European Union and the Mediterranean countries on the subjects of research and innovation and thus to intensify regional cooperation in connection with the EU’s neighbourhood policy and the Barcelona Process. The Moroccan ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training and Scientific Research is the co-coordinator of the MIRA project, which is financed under the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme (specific programme: “Capacities”). 
• Finally, there are close ties between German and Moroccan R&D institutions in the context of the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme. More than half of all projects in which Morocco is involved also include German partners (as of April 2009). These research projects focus on the areas of energy, the environment, nutritional science and medicine.

Special activities of scientific and intermediary organizations

Numerous university and non-university research and education institutions are involved in collaborative activities with Moroccan partners. For example, there are collaborations between the German Research Association and the National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CNRST), between the German Archaeological Institute and the National Archaeological Research Centre (INSAP), and between the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam (GFZ) and the Universities in El Jadida, Fes and Marrakech, to name but a few. The Fraunhofer Society (FhG) and Moroccan partner organizations work together on a project basis, for example in the fields of rural electrification and water treatment. A teacher seconded by the German Academic Exchange Service works in Rabat, and the Goethe Institute runs offices in Casablanca and Rabat and a German Dialogue Centre in Marrakech. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) has been awarding research scholarships to Moroccan scientists since the 1980s. Since 1 October 2007, the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, together with the Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) of the University of Bonn, has been running a twinning project to strengthen competition authorities in Morocco.

Projects

BIOTA AFRIKA http://www.biota-africa.org/r
BIOTA Morocco https://bmbf.net/de/12482.php

Research for Sustainable Development of the Megacities of Tomorrow http://www.emerging-megacities.org
Urban Agriculture as an Integrative Factor of Climate-Optimised Urban Development, Casablanca, Morocco http://www.uac-m.org/

GLOWA - Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle http://www.glowa.org
GLOWA - Global Change and the Hydrological Cycle http://www.glowa.org/eng/impetus_eng/impetus_eng.php
INCO NET MIRA http://www.miraproject.eu/

Institution	Key research areas	Website
Centre Nationale pour la Recherche Scientifique et  Technique (CNRST)	All relevant research topics	http://www.cnr.ac.ma/
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique  (INRA)	Agriculture	http://www.inra.org.ma/accueil1.asp?codelangue=23&po=2
Université Ibn Zohr	Natural resources, environment, sustainability, IT, genetic research, earthquake research	http://www.univ-ibnzohr.ac.ma/
Ecole Mohammedia des Ingénieurs (EMI)	Management, logistics, finance, security and the environment, engineering sciences, energy	http://www.emi.ac.ma/spip.php?p
Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture de Meknès (ENA)	Plant and animal breeding, medicinal plants, biotechnology, natural resources and environment, agriculture, marketing, IKT	http://www.enameknes.ma/en/index.
Ecole Nationales de l’Industrie Minérale Ingénieurs  des Mines (ENIM)	Industrial design and management, IKT, environment, logistics, quality assurance, industrial mechanics	http://www.enim.ac.ma/
Institut National des Postes et Télécommunications  (INPT)	Engineering sciences	http://www.inpt.ac.ma/Pages/Default.as
Université Abdelmalek Essaâdi (UAE)	Mathematics, physics, biology, marine sciences, biochemistry, geology, architecture, economics, psychology, sociology, political sciences, languages	http://www.uae.ma/Portail/
Université Ibn Toufail	Chemistry, geo sciences, physics, mathematics, IKT, environmental research	http://www.univ-ibntofail.ac.ma/fra/ind
Université Moulay Ismail (UMI)	Art, IKT, humanities, natural sciences	http://www.umi.ac.ma/
Université Mohammad V	Development and social change, literature, religious studies, environmental research, history, linguistics, psychopathology, rural tourism, spatial development, jurisprudence, economics, political sciences, physics, energy and material sciences, chemistry, biology, geo sciences, mathematics, life sciences, IKT, engineering sciences	http://www.um5a.ac.ma/
Université Mohammed Premier	Pharmacology, natural resources, environment, chemistry, biology, biochemistry, IT, geo sciences, linguistics, communications, law and human rights	http://webserver1.ump.ma/
Université Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah	Cultural heritage, mathematics, engineering, IKT, new materials, ecosystems, geo sciences, public finance, econometry, political sciences, culture and literature	http://www.usmba.ac.ma/
Université Cadi Ayyad (UCA)	Humanities, jurisprudence, economics and social sciences, business management, medicine	http://www.ucam.ac.ma/marrakech/ru
Université Al Akhawayn	Sustainable energy management, IKT, software development, biotechnology, international studies	http://www.aui.ma/
Université Hassan II Ain Chok	Law, political sciences, management, economics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, IKT, physics, humanities and social sciences, medicine	http://www.uh2c.ac.ma/uh2c/index.php
Université Chouaib Doukkali (UCD)	Biology, biotechnology, environmental research, genetic research, nutrition and natural resources, engineering sciences, nuclear physics, IKT, geo sciences, linguistics, urban planning and rural areas	http://www.ucd.ac.ma/
Centre des Techniques et Matériaux de Construction  (CETEMCO)	Material and construction technologies	http://www.cetemco.ma/