Innovation, key to development

In a global situation marked by fierce competition and the internationalisation of markets, innovation is essential, today more than ever, as a synonym for growth and healthy, value-generating competitiveness. In this context, the Fès-Nord Regional Union of the CGEM, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation and the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University, recently organised a meeting-debate in Fez around the theme "Innovation and SMEs: regional and international specificities". Intended for business leaders and industrial operators in Fez and its region, this meeting was an opportunity to shed light on the various advantages of innovation and the support and accompaniment measures for research and development. For Driss Belkhayat, president of the Fès-Nord Regional Union of the CGEM, this meeting comes at a time when the economic climate is in perpetual change. "Competition today forces companies to continuously improve their performance and competitiveness. It has therefore become essential to innovate. Not innovating would lead the company to be unable to follow the evolution of markets and to let itself be overtaken by the competition without any resistance. Innovation must be part of the company's daily life, whether at the creation phase or in full development. Innovation presents a real advantage for the company, especially the SME, if it wants to last and resist the current economic crisis," he explained.

For his part, Saâd Hammoumi, vice-president of the SME commission of the CGEM, specified that the goal of this kind of meeting is to bring the world of business closer to the academic world, adding that the major concern of the SME commission of the CGEM is to help SMEs to innovate and consequently to develop internationally and strengthen their structures.

In order to promote innovation within Moroccan companies and develop research and technologies, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and New Technologies has set up the "Maroc Innovation" initiative. Present at the meeting, Soumaya Iraqui, Director of Innovation, Research and Development, and Advanced Technologies at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and New Technologies, highlighted the various aspects of this strategy. The "Maroc Innovation" initiative is based on a vision that consists of strengthening cooperation between public research organisations and industry and positioning Morocco in the club of technology-producing countries.

It is structured around 5 strategic pillars, namely, governance and the regulatory framework, support and financing, technological infrastructure, clusters (or competitiveness poles), as well as the mobilisation of talent for innovation," she stressed.

Regarding the objectives of this strategy, Ms. Iraqui stated that from a qualitative point of view, "Maroc Innovation" essentially aims to make innovation a key factor in the competitiveness of Moroccan companies, to exploit the research and development capacities of universities, as well as to disseminate a culture of innovation and partnership. "As for the quantitative objectives of 'Maroc Innovation', they concern the production of 1,000 Moroccan patents and the creation of 200 innovative start-ups by 2014," she added, explaining that to achieve these objectives, various financing mechanisms have been planned, including in particular the "Intilak", "Tatwir", and "Imtiaz" programmes, which can cover from 20% to 90% of expenses related to innovation and research and development.

It should be noted that according to the figures of the latest CGEM guide, Morocco devotes 0.8% of its GDP to research and development against 2.26% on average in the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As for the number of researchers, for every 100 active people, Morocco only has 1.87 researchers, against 8.54% in OECD countries.

The experience of the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University of Fez in the field of innovation was presented during this meeting by Ahmed Aboutajeddine, professor-researcher in the Innovation department at the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University. He stated in this context that innovation methodologies must be practised during the training curriculum of students, who are the business executives of tomorrow. "We have integrated innovative product design projects into the engineering training curriculum at the USMBA, to develop the spirit of creativity and innovation among our students. Since then, our students have designed machines for rapid prototyping, robots, scanners, and 3D printers, etc. Furthermore, we have set up the 'Innovation-in-action' platform, which constitutes a database fed by students, allowing them to share their most innovative ideas," he indicated.

-* The "Maroc Innovation" strategy aims to produce 1,000 Moroccan patents and create 200 innovative start-ups by 2014.

-* Morocco devotes 0.8% of its GDP to research and development, against 2.26% on average in OECD countries.

-* For every 100 active people, Morocco only has 1.87 researchers, against 8.54% in OECD countries.

Provider / Source : Afaf Razouki, Le Matin