Page 122 - A Handbook for Academia, Industry and Policymakers: Reinforcing the Innovation-Employability Nexus in the Mediterranean

122 REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
These types of dispersed initiatives are important
because without them, talented graduates from
the Southern Mediterranean region could be
recruited away from the area by European firms
looking for specialists in IT and other technologies.
To stem this ‘brain drain’, cross border or South- food systems sustainable and integrated with
South cooperation is decisive. A tool such as
SEMED, the digital platform that connects
innovation ecosystems of the Mediterranean, can
help to find potential partners for collaboration
and investment. Details about SEMED can be
found at the end of Chapter 10: Partnerships
for Innovation. Creation commonalities across
regulatory, institutional and operational
frameworks can facilitate innovation and, in turn,
trigger investment which can eventually create
jobs. Digital solutions can be a powerful tool to
accelerate growth in the Mediterranean, however
it needs to be based on fundamental reforms to
stimulate cross-sectoral cooperation111.
Link to skills and the future
Any discussion of digital innovation assumes
an underlying skill set in digital technology. This
requires up-skilling of the existing labour force
and updating of existing curriculum to prepare
graduates to participate actively in a world that
relies on digital technology. Another factor is job
creation. Labour markets struggle to provide
enough work for the increasing population.
This is pronounced in the Mediterranean region
where the youth population is growing faster
than the economy. The International Centre for
Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies
(CIHEAM) promotes digital innovation that is
socially ‘intensive’ in the framework of the
technological and digital growth in agriculture.
Details about CIHEAM can be found at the end of
Chapter 3: Skills. Another actor in this area is the
Partnership for Research and Innovation in the
Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) which aims to make
water management in the Mediterranean area.
This opens up an alternative path for youth and
addresses the prospect of agriculture without
farmers and potentially attracts a new generation
interested in a form of competitiveness not only
measured by financial performance, instead by
social change and human development. 110
Trends
Digital innovation is not restricted to technology
firms. Digital innovation for non-tech
organisations is one of the most salient trends in
the global sphere . It can help an organisation
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rethink its internal processes to keep up with the
increasing pace in the knowledge economy and
the increasing expectation to provide a seamless
experience for their customers and constituents.
Emphasis on employee experiences inside an
organisation is also key to ensuring quality
reception outside the organisation.
Organisations that are already well established
in their field sometimes fail to innovate because
they fear they will damage their core activities.
REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 123
This is a dangerous strategy to adopt in a and environmental goals. E-learning, whether in
rapidly changing technological landscape where the form of a MOOC, a virtual class, or blended
113
participants either disrupt or are disrupted . learning, combining in person and remote
Innovative new ideas can be transformed into learning, has been on the rise. Covid-19 changed
successful applications faster, better, and everything and almost overnight campuses
cheaper thanks to digital technology. around the world moved to partial and then, in
many cases, full remote learning. This shift was
The influence of policy on creating fertile territory so sudden, the ramifications are yet to be seen.
for innovation is crucial. As the Start-up Act in
Tunisia (see Chapter 9: Knowledge Exchange) Tools and resources
demonstrates, favourable work conditions
made possible by governmental support frees
entrepreneurs to use their creativity and cooperate
across sectors to generate innovative approaches.
Provisions and approaches
In terms of higher education (HE), an example
of digital innovation is the massive open online
course (MOOC) which started innocuously
with professors making course material freely
available online and finding themselves on
the receiving end of hundreds of thousands of
students. MOOCs have evolved dramatically since
their introduction in 2011 and illustrate the fallacy
of the argument that innovation cannibalises Building online employability: a guide for
its own business model as new products and academic departments – University of Derby
services displace its own older products and This guide will help academic departments to
services. Instead of lowering enrolment in support students to think about their careers and
tradition courses, it expanded access to HE for to use the online environment wisely. Numerous
atypical students ranging from underserved reports demonstrate that the array of social
populations to established professionals looking media and online technologies can seriously
to gain skills. disadvantage a students’ career development,
but if used well they can support students to find
A more recent example of digital innovation in HE out about and transition into their future career.
is using technology to conduct a single course
across multiple universities, in multiple countries, https://derby.openrepository.com/
connecting virtually through multiple portals and handle/10545/294311
devices. In a way, this example took the technology
that enabled the MOOC and moved away from the
individual learning of the MOOC framework and
returned to the collective learning environment
of the classroom — a modern, virtual classroom,
but a highly interactive one with students, group
work, activities, guest lectures and presentations.
A regional example is the MOOC ‘Sustainable
Food Systems: a Mediterranean Perspective’
offered by the United Nations Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (SDSN) which
explores how to produce more, better quality, and
safer food while simultaneously achieving social