Establishing the EU-Mediterranean ICT Research Network;
A Coordination and Support Action financed by the International Cooperation - Information and Communication Technologies of the 7th Framework Program of the European Union.
As the necessary and natural follow-up to the MED-IST project - MED-IST being the first systematic support action with partners from all the MPC intended to provide an initial understanding of the MED IT environment and to promote awareness and inform the Research Communities in the countries on the European Programmes - Join-MED will help establish an EU-MPC ICT Research Network while also supporting a Policy Dialogue with a Pan-MPC focus, based not only on the results achieved in MED-IST but also taking into account the “Arab Strategy for Information Society and Communications Technology”.
The Join-MED project focuses on the geographic region of the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC), in the context of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership agreement, in an effort to: (a) satisfy the need for enhanced scientific and research co-operation with the EU, which is strongly promoted by the European Commission, and (b) enhance the participation of the MPC countries in the European Research Programmes.
Through a consortium of 12 partners, including the National Council for Scientific Research, Lebanon (CNRS), working in 5 Work Packages, the JOIN-MED Project has the dual objectives of: (1) creating a sustainable network of ICT research organizations in the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC) and Europe, reinforcing Research Cooperation between these two regions on a wider scale; (2) supporting the Information Society policy dialogue and the coordination of national policies on international S&T co-operation in the MPC.
-WP 1: Policy Exchange, focusing on policy dialogue and trends
-WP 2: Establishing the Network, focusing on identification of relevant organizations and the EU- MPC Research Directory
-WP 3: Networking Events, dealing with co-ordination and planning, preparation, and delivery
-WP 4: Dissemination and Infrastructure, dealing with co-ordination of dissemination activities, infrastructure and material, promotion in EU and MPC
-WP 5: Management
To achieve the above, a series of networking events will be organized to bring researchers from both the MPC and the EU together; supporting networking activates and closer cross-regional research co-operations through the development of an interactive web-based directory of research organizations towards supporting the creation of an institutionalized cross-regional network, suggesting appropriate methodologies for accomplishing this.
In additional, the project will work to formulate a harmonized MPC ICT policy through open dialogue among and between the MPC and Europe; while also establishing close links with existing and emerging cooperation projects, particularly the National Contact Point – NCP – Network to exploit synergies, maximize impact and contribute to the definition of cooperation strategies.