Medibtikar
From April 2006 to June 2010, John was based in Cairo during which time he was Team Leader of a consortium delivering the project, “EuroMed Innovation and Technology Programme” (Medibtikar). Medibtikar is a combination of two words: Med standing for Mediterranean and Ibtikar which is originally derived from the Arabic word ابتكار, (Innovation). He was in charge of a budget of €7.3 millioin and over 60 full and part time consultants from 15 countries. This 4 year project mainly concerned delivering training in innovation policy and management in the MEDA countries. There were five main areas of activity; incubator development, technology transfer, financing of innovation, innovation policy development and sectoral studies. Medibtikar covered ten countries; Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine Territories, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey. A major aim of this programme was to nurture cooperation and knowledge transfer in each country and between countries and across the MEDA region as a whole.
 Incubator DevelopmentIncubator development was supported and training provided for managers and entrepreneurs in a wide range of incubators in all 10 participating countries. |  Technology TransferThe project assisted in the establishment of Innovation Relay Centres (IRCs) in most of the participating countries and ran an extensive training programme which produce a cadre of trained personnel to facilitate operation of the IRCs after the programme finished (Photo shows IRC training session Cairo). |  Finance for InnovationA mapping exercise was conducted across all 10 countries to assess the availability and form of finance for innovation. Following on from this exercise the Programme assisted in establishing Business Angel networks in Egypt. Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey |
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 Innovation PolicyGovernment policy for innovation was mapped in all 10 countries and many workshops organised to discuss the utilisation of innovation indicators to facilitate comparison of innovation performance in the MEDA countries. Innovation strategies were also developed for Egypt and Syria (Photo shows meeting with Dr Dardari, Syrian Deputy Prime Minister) |  Medibtikar Final ReportClick on the button above to download a copy of the Final Report. |  Sectoral SupportA Survey was conducted of the national contacts in each country to identify priority sectors and textiles and food were identified as being candidates for extra support. Several actions were initiated including a fashion show attended by an audience of over 400 in Cairo with contributions from designers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon Tunisia and Turkey. |