Médinnov: the Euro-Mediterranean network of innovation

Médinnov: the Euro-Mediterranean network of innovation

" Knowledge and expertise no longer suffice. It is now necessary to undertake "... " The exodus of intelligence is getting increasingly out of hand "... The economic actors of the Mediterranean countries debated together during the Medinnov network symposium without mincing their words. This third edition took place on 20th November 2007 in the MDI (House of Industrial Development) premises on the Marseille-Provence technopole in Château-Gombert, within the context of the Mediterranean economic week (Marseilles, 19-24 November 2007). Despite the public transport strikes that disturbed the organisation, this annual event stayed on the rails and recorded a good success. According to the organizers, the "Château-Gombert Manifest" was approved by more than twenty Mediterranean participants, hence confirming Medinnov as the “Euro-Mediterranean network of innovation.”

Some 115 public and private economic actors of the Mediterranean countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, Iran, Italy and France) attended the afternoon meeting (they were little more than 80 in the morning): representatives of universities, industries, technopoles, investment promotion agencies, incubators, competitiveness clusters, capital risk companies and start-ups came to share their experience on the implementation of innovation policies in their respective countries and discuss the good methods.
The colloquium was marked by four strong sessions: the challenge for the young graduates in the Mediterranean; financing schemes for the primary phases of innovation; the innovation stakes for territories: technopoles and competitiveness clusters; the stakes of the “society of knowledge”.

The selected subjects were pertinent. Nevertheless, we would have preferred them to be discussed by men and women having acquired a practical experience within private companies, rather than by public administrations and “academic” personalities, despite their merits and communication talents.

The Medinnov symposium, founded on April 14th, 2005 by Marseille Innovation (organisation accompanying new technology business start-ups) and by the Euro-Mediterranean network of investment promotion agencies (ANIMA-AFII), seems nevertheless set towards a beautiful future... It is a real place of exchanges between the actors of all the Mediterranean countries, so let’s not spare our pleasure …

Knowledge and expertise no longer suffice ... It is necessary to undertake

"Challenge for the young graduates in the Mediterranean", was led by Léo Vincent, International Relations Director of the Central Schools inter-group and RMEI president (Mediterranean Network of Engineering schools). Lotfi Hamdi, International Relations manager at Marseille Innovation was the reporter. Mohamed Ben Abdallah presented the Tunisian Agency of Industrial Promotion (API) of which he is the general manager. Then Salem El Mekki, journalist, writer, president of OTEF (Tunisian Organization of Education and the Family) made a totally fascinating concise and crystal clear exposé, explaining that "knowledge and expertise no longer suffice. One must also know how to undertake”. Indeed, particularly in Mediterranean countries, we do not know how to "innovate, take risks and be pro-active", or less so than elsewhere. The majority of our young graduates are lacking these qualities.

He details the causes and proposes specific, almost individual coaching. He wishes us to invent mechanisms of collective insurance to support the cases of failure which are "real" and, according to him, "inevitable".
To take on the challenge of the employment of young graduates means "taking on the challenge of the entrepreneurial spirit " and to question our conception of failure.

He was followed by the scientist Ahmed Tamtaoui who presented RESIN, (the Network of Company Incubators) of the INPT (National Institute of Post and Telecommunications) in Rabat.

The exodus of intelligence is getting out of hand
On the subject "Attractiveness and Diaspora", Amar Kaddouri (ANIMA Investment Network) clearly explained, with vivid examples, the role of migration in the economic development of developed countries (USA, Europe, Canada) especially with the explosion of the TIC market (Technologies of Information and Communication). " In Israel the presence of high-level researchers, accentuated by the arrival of Russians scientists, has contributed to the development of High Technologies, whereas the Jewish Diaspora opens the networks that are difficult to integrate for the Israeli manufacturers."

" The exodus of intelligence is becoming increasingly uncontrollable. We must endeavour to reduce the impact of this phenomenon, or even benefit from it. The idea is to consider this phenomenon as a reservoir of expertise established abroad rather than an irreversible and definitive loss for the country."

Since the 80s, the transfers of migrants are allowed as an important control lever of growth for the economy. Figures published by the World Bank are eloquent: the cash transfers of migrants represent 100 billion US$ a year in 1990, 105 in 1995, 123 in 2004: 1.000 US$ per migrant per year. The emigrant transfers represent the 2nd source of external income of emerging countries, just after the direct investments abroad. The amount is considerably higher than that of the aids to the developing countries!

Then the colloquium studied the financing schemes for the primary phases of innovation. Moderator: Sylvie Leaute, in charge of international partnerships at Oseo Anvar. Reporter: Emmanuel Noutary, ANIMA Investment Network - Medibtikar. Abdessalem Mansour, CEO of the BFPME (bank of financing for small and medium-sized companies) reviewed the means of financing innovation in Tunisia: the problem of financing SME’s, the creation of a launching fund, creation of a Bank for SME’s, the role of the BFPME in the financing of TIC projects, and the BFPME as a partner of technological projects.

On the subject “financing schemes for the primary phases of innovation” (on stockholders' equity in Tunisia), Salma Dinia, head of the animation department at RMIE (Moroccan incubation network) stressed the increasing socioeconomic role of the Moroccan university in the launching of the RMIE.

Business Angels give wings to innovative projects

Arnaud Schleich, vice-president of the Marseilles Provence Business Angels network, made us share his passion for "an activity which primarily invests on physical persons, entrepreneurs, men and women who fight for their company."

The Business Angels bring an answer to the lack of capital risk, identified by the European entrepreneurs as the second source of financial difficulty (EBAN study). These private individuals have financial means and a good knowledge of the management of companies; they invest directly and personally in small and medium-sized companies, mostly in the initial stage of development. They generally look for a project near to their place of residence, within a range of 100 km, and a "personal" acquaintance with the sector of activity and the project bearer whom he may have met when drinking a coffee, during a cocktail, or in a meeting or colloquium. The Business Angel is often a former business manager, between 40 and 70 years old; he is neither a philanthropist nor a dare devil, but an experienced man who wants to reap fruit from his investment first and foremost in the sector of high technologies, from the first stages of the project.

In the United States where they were born, 250 000 Business Angels invest every year between 10 and 20 billion dollars in more than thirty thousand companies (source: André Jaunay, Guide of the economic initiative, 1998). In Europe, a recent study reveals that they can gain from 10 to 20 billion euros a year.
If the United States are long since the uncontested champions in this field, the business angel model took longer to appear in France, as explained by the European Business Angel Network. Doubtless due to the cultural difference between the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean, but things are now beginning to move in the right direction in France. The researcher no longer condemns a civil servant's "sterile" career (at least for the economy of the country which expects more from it) but finally considers valorising his research by creating a company, while maintaining a link with the public service.

The Business Angels have four networks in the Southeast of France: Sophia Business Angels, the oldest network created in 2002 in Sophia Antipolis by the senator Pierre Laffitte; this network is composed half of French personalities and half of European personalities; Mediterranée Investissements (investors' club based in Nice); Provence Business Angels in Marseille and the South Angels in Montpellier; these two networks were born in 2006. They all maintain close links with the public structures conceived to accompany the development of companies, Paca Entreprendre, Oséo-Anvar, Drire, Vivéris...

Succeeding Arnaud Schleich, the Doctor Walid ELTURK (Director of HCST) talked about " The Higher Council for Science and Technology ", followed by Raphaël Botiveau (ANIMA) who presented the Observatory of Investment funds in MEDA (MIFA)

Medinnov, an informal and open network

During the period preceding the economic week of the Mediterranean, Lotfi Hamdi, head of the international department of Marseille Innovation and real kingpin of the colloquium, announced the intention to increase the number of actors of Medinnov from 118 to 200, to reinforce and structure the exchanges, and to constitute a real " Euro-Mediterranean Network of Innovation ". Even if the figure of newcomers was not attained (the strikes were doubtless to blame), the event remained dynamic. The Euro-Mediterranean network is taking shape and the organizers were satisfied to note that the "Château-Gombert Manifest" (a real charter of the Euro Mediterranean companies) gathered twenty signatures."

“Our network is above all informal and open, explained Lofti Hamdi... And our events are not restricted to the northern shores. We regularly organize meetings in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, with the aim of favouring exchanges between young people of the South who master a know-how and young people of the North who have markets. Baptized e-3M (for Multimedia, Mediterranean and Monde (world)), these meetings enable establishing technological partnerships and creating mixed companies with the support of communities and government”.

Marseilles-PACA, Euro-Mediterranean privileged crossroads

Médinnov 3 took place this year within the framework of the "Mediterranean Economic Week". This meeting is one of 23 major events, which allowed economists, experts, entrepreneurs, politicians, and local and national public administration executives of the Mediterranean countries, and even the North of Europe, to discuss in the city of Marseilles the major questions that condition the consolidation of Mediterranean partnerships and regional economic integration. Medinnov gives us the strong conviction that Marseilles and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region are a privileged place for dialogue and action between the European Union and the Mediterranean countries.

Medinnov 2008 in Algiers

For the organizer-founder Christian Rey, president of Marseille Innovation, this colloquium participates in the "Mediterranean Intelligence". A concept which transcends the borders and proves, according to him, "the will shared by the innovation actors to work together to build a great Mediterranean network capable of playing a large-scale part in the globalization of technologies, while resolving the question of the brain drain, and consequently to give the means to upgrade the existing industrial potential."
Medinnov also shows the will of responsible men and women, managers or executives of companies or associations, politicians and civil servants, to set up for all their fellow countrymen a vast area of peace, prosperity and stability on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Médinnov 4 should be held in Algiers in 2008.