Policy, Societal Challenges and Cooperation Observatory - 1st Observatory Networking Meeting

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Internationalization and multi-polarization of research opens a critical avenue to ’observatories’ that describe the many aspects of global challenges, which need to be address with interdisciplinary teams and a long-term vision. The Mediterranean Observatories are now sufficiently numerous to create a diversified and heterogeneous institutional landscape. These differences need to be respected, and complementarities highlighted. They are both the result of thematic focus and institutional history.

In order to meet the demand of giving support to the Observatories in the Mediterreanean region, one of the aims of MEDSPRING is to explore and facilitate the creation of a "dialogue/cooperation Platform" of Euro-Mediterranean observatories, linking, describing and analyzing the research and innovation potential in the region, to support monitoring policy development and cooperation in areas of mutual interests and needs, with emphasis on the societal challenges addressed by MedSpring “Resource Efficiency”, High Quality Affordable Food”, “Energy” as well as other related challenges and cross-cutting issues.

Objectives of the Networking

The First Networking Meeting of Euro-Mediterranean Observatories was organized on the 19th of December in Paris, to support the development of collaborative links between Observatories of both sides of the Mediterranean, to develop a shared vision necessary in order to build a “platform” of Euro-Mediterranean Observatories and to pave the way for future networking activities.

This first networking meeting focused on the following specific objectives:

To discuss on the preliminary results of a survey circulated to observatories, in view of defining the best categorization of the observatories and to find common aspects,
To exchange on the regional cooperation issues and to plan a networking event with a large audience.
To discuss the main analytical dimensions for the follow-up of the analysis (thematic choices, pilot actions, “best practices” to be discussed).
To create a small group of persons that would work in order to provide a comprehensive analysis, mapping of the observatories and elaborate some scenarios and trends as well as opportunities for synergies and more stable collaboration.

The meeting gathered 24 participants from Euro-Mediterranean Observatories and research entities from 9 different countries: France, Italy, Malta, Belgium, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Please find the final version of the rationale, programme, list of participants and meeting minutes.