Page 9 - A Handbook for Academia, Industry and Policymakers: Reinforcing the Innovation-Employability Nexus in the Mediterranean

8 REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REINFORCING THE INNOVATION-EMPLOYABILITY NEXUS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 9

Foreword
But there is more than one active agent in the process of seeing
a healthy higher education and research sector flourish. The
Euro-Mediterranean region, with its 42 Member states boasting
more than thirty-three million students, knows this all too
well and is unfortunately no stranger to a barrier to career
development and employment that is all too common: the gap
between academia and business.

The lack of communication between these two interdependent
worlds, if left unchecked, can hamper employment and job
creation. When young people, graduates and researchers
especially, are unable to find decent job opportunities, be it in
their countries or the wider region in general, they risk going
into underemployment or not finding work at all. In this context,
moving to another country offering more opportunities becomes
a natural choice, therefore contributing to the brain drain.

A concerted effort to step-up dialogue on innovation and
employability is therefore crucial to unlocking our region’s true
potential. Luckily, plenty of excellent best practices and initiatives
already exist, and many committed stakeholders have been
tackling the issue for decades. This accumulated knowledge
underlines how paramount supporting Mediterranean youth is,

Nasser Kamel especially young women.

Secretary General The region’s international institutions, universities and
university networks, projects and programmes offer extensive
Union for the Mediterranean experience on the key elements where work is needed, including
internships, industrial doctorates and university-business
Universities and research centres cannot be underestimated as dialogue. We have the knowhow to move forward.
powerful drivers of growth. They act as nerve centres, playing
home to the bold, bright and disruptive sparks of innovation our At the Union for the Mediterranean, we aim to support all those
society thrives on. Fortunately, in the Mediterranean, we hold stakeholders involved who wish to make their voice heard as
in abundance perhaps the single most important ingredient we bring the worlds of academia and work closer together, by
of any university or research centre: a young, highly educated mapping and detailing examples and initiatives of best practice
population. to be replicated, connected and grown.

We must seek to exploit this natural resource to its fullest, With the involvement of all concerned stakeholders, be it
allowing our young people to pursue their ambitions in higher from higher education institutions, companies, ministries,
education and beyond. The need for a quick and strong recovery international organisations, intermediary institutions, or civil
in the face of the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic society associations, we can reinforce this essential nexus for
further highlights the case for investing as much as we can in growth between innovation and employability, contribute even
research centres, where innovation is nurtured and encouraged, further towards the sustainable development of our region
where ideas are made reality, and where even life-saving through higher education and research.
vaccines can be developed at record pace.