By ; Adel Farig
The 24th meeting of the EU-Med Group of Senior Officials (EU-Med GSO) in Research and Innovation took place at the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in Barcelona on 25 November 2019 in presence of UfM country representatives and partners of EU-funded projects with a focus on the Mediterranean.
Delegates acknowledged the crucial role of Research and Innovation within regional cooperation in the Mediterranean, calling for stronger collaborative ties in this regard, and drawing attention to the importance of the UfM within this context.
The 24th EU-Med GSO took stock of the progress achieved since the adoption of the Valletta Ministerial Declaration (May 2017), notably in the BLUEMED initiative, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) and research-related migration.
Delegates have emphasized the next EU’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe, as giving a new impetus for establishing closer collaboration in Research and Innovation between UfM countries. They also agreed that synergies with other regional initiatives, such as the Next Society and Start-Up Europe Mediterranean programmes, should be examined more closely together with the results from scientific studies on innovation eco-systems in the region.
