Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FUTURE4PRIMA (TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN WITH A RENEWED PRIMA PARTNERSHIP)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-12-31
FUTURE4PRIMA responds to a critical moment for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation on water, food, energy and ecosystems (WEFE). The current PRIMA partnership has generated a rich portfolio of R&I projects, but evaluations and policy debates show persistent problems: fragmented solutions, weak uptake by end-users, limited alignment with national programmes and uneven participation of Mediterranean Partner Countries. At the same time, the Green Deal, the SDGs and growing climate and geopolitical pressures demand more coherent, impact-oriented investments in the WEFE Nexus.
The project’s overall objective is to co-design, together with PRIMA’s Board of Trustees, national ministries, funding agencies and stakeholders, an evidence-based Impact Assessment (IA) and a future Joint Programme (PRIMA2). FUTURE4PRIMA combines mapping of policies and programmes, stakeholder and funder consultations, widening and engagement activities, innovation valorisation services, and SDG/Green Deal alignment tools to build a robust intervention logic, governance options and implementation modalities for PRIMA2.
Expected impacts include: a stronger case for launching PRIMA2 as a treaty-based partnership; better integration of national funding agencies and instruments; clearer pathways for scaling and adoption of WEFE innovations; improved inclusion of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkan countries; and a more visible contribution of PRIMA to EU external action, the Green Deal and the 2030 Agenda.
Social sciences and humanities play a central role, through governance analysis, policy and programme studies, stakeholder behaviour and incentive analysis, and co-creation processes that ensure that PRIMA2’s design, monitoring and evaluation framework reflects real political, socio-economic and cultural conditions across the Mediterranean.
The project’s overall objective is to co-design, together with PRIMA’s Board of Trustees, national ministries, funding agencies and stakeholders, an evidence-based Impact Assessment (IA) and a future Joint Programme (PRIMA2). FUTURE4PRIMA combines mapping of policies and programmes, stakeholder and funder consultations, widening and engagement activities, innovation valorisation services, and SDG/Green Deal alignment tools to build a robust intervention logic, governance options and implementation modalities for PRIMA2.
Expected impacts include: a stronger case for launching PRIMA2 as a treaty-based partnership; better integration of national funding agencies and instruments; clearer pathways for scaling and adoption of WEFE innovations; improved inclusion of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and Western Balkan countries; and a more visible contribution of PRIMA to EU external action, the Green Deal and the 2030 Agenda.
Social sciences and humanities play a central role, through governance analysis, policy and programme studies, stakeholder behaviour and incentive analysis, and co-creation processes that ensure that PRIMA2’s design, monitoring and evaluation framework reflects real political, socio-economic and cultural conditions across the Mediterranean.
During RP1, FUTURE4PRIMA delivered a tightly coupled package of analytical, policy-design and innovation activities to prepare a renewed PRIMA partnership. WP2 mapped national and Euro-Med R&I programmes from a WEFE Nexus perspective, benchmarked major initiatives through a KPI framework, and produced a two-round PRIMA2 Strategic Plan with shared vision, missions, strategic and operational objectives, governance options and a MEL backbone. WP3 analysed R&I policies and funding rules in 19 countries, identified structural barriers and good practices, and co-designed a common framework and roadmap (PPAF, PCM, co-funded pilots, digital observatory, TRL/standardisation and S3 measures) to improve interoperability. WP4 set up a portfolio-based innovation pipeline: two validation cycles screened PRIMA projects and KERs, generated ranked shortlists and an initial TRL profile, defined exploitation route archetypes and piloted a Go-to-Market scheme via a pitching contest and tailored services for two winners, supported by an Enabling Innovation Ecosystem Stakeholder Board. WP5 mapped potential new partner countries and eligible institutions, structured readiness levels, and launched widening workshops and bilateral contacts to prepare accession pathways and preliminary financial scenarios. WP6 produced a comprehensive Euro-Med SDG/EGD state-of-the-art and co-developed the PRIMA-SDG Tool, piloted on 25 projects to quantify SDG and Nexus contributions and inform PRIMA2 impact design. WP7 designed and implemented E-RIM, an integrated analytics environment that hosts project and KER data and enables portfolio exploration by theme, TRL and Nexus domain as a basis for evidence-based programming and impact assessment.
FUTURE4PRIMA goes beyond the state of the art by treating PRIMA2 as an integrated Nexus partnership, not just a new call portfolio. It delivers a data-driven Strategic Plan and Joint Programme proposal that combines EU-MED programme mapping, policy interoperability analysis and SDG/EGD impact analytics into a single design framework for Euro-Med WEFE cooperation. The project introduces a common Policy & Programme Alignment Framework (PPAF/PCM), a structured rule-alignment roadmap, and an SDG/Nexus-aware impact model that can be embedded in PRIMA2 governance, calls and monitoring. On the innovation side, it builds a portfolio-centric exploitation model: validated KER inventory and TRL profile, exploitation route archetypes, the PRIMA2Business funnel (validation → capacity-building → Go-to-Market vouchers), and the E-RIM environment exposing KER cohorts, routes and replication patterns to adopters. The Enablers of Innovation Ecosystems Stakeholder Board and widening workshops with Western Balkans and neighbours further position PRIMA2 as a bridge between national systems, partnerships and markets. The PRIMA-SDG Tool, piloted on 25 projects, is a methodological advance for translating R&I outputs into SDG and Nexus contributions at programme level. Key needs for further uptake are: political endorsement and resourcing of the PRIMA2 Strategic Plan/Joint Programme; formal adoption and testing of PPAF/PCM and the PRIMA-SDG Tool in PRIMA and national schemes; sustained, light-touch governance of E-RIM; and dedicated envelopes for PRIMA2Business/Go-to-Market-type services (including IP, regulatory and market access support). In the longer term, alignment with EU standardisation and regulatory frameworks for WEFE solutions, plus demand-side instruments and cross-programme pilots, will be essential to scale replication.