09.04.2021

THE NEXT SOCIETY is an open community of change makers engaged in innovation and economic development. It aims at reinforcing innovation ecosystems and fostering value creation as well as pushing forward concrete solutions for a shared prosperity in the Mediterranean and tomorrow in Africa. The project runs from 2017-2022 and has a budget of EUR 7.8 million funded by the European Union.

It brings together entrepreneurs, investors, corporates, NGOs, public and private innovation, research and economic development hubs from Europe and the Mediterranean countries. It gathers already a large network of over 300 business & innovation, research and investment organisations, 2,500 international SMEs and entrepreneurs from 30 countries.

Countries covered: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia.

The project’s main objectives are to remove the barriers to innovation and unleash the Mediterranean creative potential, reinforce innovation ecosystems and foster value creation, as well as push forward concrete solutions.

Actions include: Improving policy frameworks by establishing a public-private dialogue and benchmarks the performance of Mediterranean innovation ecosystems in order to define and implement country strategic roadmaps and improve innovation support strategies; foster start-up success through tailor-made support to Mediterranean start-ups to help them go international and raise funds thanks to workshops and training sessions, immersion into foreign markets and incubation in European innovation hubs, meetings with investors and long-term coaching by committed mentors; promote and internationalise clusters by developing peer-learning services for business and industrial clusters as well as foreign partnership and guide them towards a Cluster Excellence management approach; accelerating technology transfer towards the enterprise by involving technology transfer offices, universities, researchers and creators to develop solutions to the challenges faced by their countries, through calls for projects and workshops with potential users of these solutions (large international firms, industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, civil society).