Research progress on the Mediterranean front
The Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) comprise roughly all non-EU countries around the Mediterranean basin and have benefitted from EU collaboration considerably. However, many of these countries have not advanced enough in order to undertake the level of research and development that would help them on many levels and that the EU would like to see. The EU-funded project 'Promotion of the participation of researchers from Mediterranean Partner Countries to European research and mobility programmes' (Promedaccess) aimed to empower universities and researchers from these countries. It sought to train and involve them in a host of EU partner programmes and initiatives. These include the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for research and technological development, the Marie Curie initiatives and the European Research Area (ERA). Generally, MPCs have fallen behind in joining such initiatives, which has hampered the EU in achieving its policy goals and in supporting these nations to the maximum extent possible. As such, Promedaccess worked through national information points in MPCs and organised training seminars for representatives from academic institutions in different countries to operate this network. This opened the door for more collaboration in research and provided information on EU calls for proposals. In addition, Promedaccess analysed the difficulties of stakeholders from MPCs who wanted to join EU initiatives or projects and communicated these challenges to concerned parties within the European Commission. Last but not least, the project and its network built mechanisms to facilitate partnerships, and more specifically partner searches, with the aim of forging much stronger collaboration and encouraging EU projects with all MPCs.