Connecting the Mediterranean system of innovation: A functional perspective

This paper provides a first exploratory overview of the Mediterranean System of Innovation (MSI) and presents the results of interactive work with 25 innovation delegates from northern and southern Mediterranean countries. The study comes at a watershed for The Union for the Mediterranean, which is drawing up innovation policies for the future and debating ways of boosting core activities. This research benefits from the established literature on Innovation Systems (IS) to study how Mediterranean countries are enhancing their innovation capabilities. In collaboration with IEMed, this research invited delegates from northern and southern Mediterranean countries, programme directors and representatives from the European Commission to discuss national and regional innovation activities in their own countries. The data shed light on how activities conducted by public and private organisations influence the innovation system functions, revealing shifting services and business models. Finally, it highlighted the need to draw up an innovation strategy to boost R&D capabilities. The value of this research lies in the application of the well-established innovation systems approach to the Mediterranean case and a description of existing enabling and blocking mechanisms.