MEasuring innovation in mediterranean countries: Development and Use of a Proper metric

ongoing

In the last decade University-Industry-Government-Society cooperation is perceived as a solution to the “innovation emergency” that several EU and non-EU countries are facing. In the programming period 2021-2027 this cooperation has a central role in EU innovation policies, such as the Innovation general flagship initiatives for Sustainable Smart Specialisation Strategies (S4) underlining the strong commitment towards a sustainable development, where sustainability has a wide meaning including social issues to the environmental ones. The Structural Funds allocated significant funding for these objectives and funds for EU cooperation policies are focused on supporting third countries in planning and organizing innovation in their territories. MED-UP aims 1. to develop a model of Civic University in JO, TN and EG: The academic ‘third mission’, that is involvement in economic activities and in new business creation is the keystone of the innovation models, will be renovated in view of the shift from the concept of knowledge economy of the Triple Helix to the concept of knowledge society/democracy of the Quadruple Helix achieved with the addition of a fourth sphere 2. to identify existing good practices in MENA region of concrete implementation of outreach activities for fostering innovation, intended as the process of ideation, evaluation, selection, development, and implementation of new or improved products, services, or programs 3. to identify potential indicators that measure to what extent the organization, intended as cooperation of the key innovation actors, including the policies underneath the funding process, are fostering progress toward the (i) increased number of new ideas (ii) improved quality of ideas (iii) More efficient implementation of quality ideas The project results are expected to contribute to the development of National Innovation Systems (NIS), and the collection of suitable data for measuring the countries’ innovation performance.