7 - DIGITALISE TO INDUSTRIALISE - Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and the Africa–Europe Partnership

A growing interest in I4.0 was also demonstrated by the organisation of the “Smart Industrie” event that took place in 2017 and 2020 under the supervision of the Tunisian Agency for the Promotion of Industry and Innovation and which was specifcally dedicated to the 4IR. [...] Another initiative is the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Industry, the ADD, the Euro-Mediterranean University in Fez (EMUF) and the Project Consortium “Fez Smart Factory” to develop I4.0 projects and encourage the digitalisation of industrial SMEs in the Fez region (centre-north). [...] Indeed, the February 2021 “New Agenda for the Mediterranean” is the EU’s joint communication on the Southern dimension of the ENP that insists on the potential of synergies between the EU and its Southern Neighbourhood in digital and industrial matters, in line with the strategies recently adopted by the Commission. [...] The communication also states the aim to replicate the ecosystems approach adopted in the framework of the communication on the new European industrial strategy by favouring the development of “Industrial clusters within the Southern Neighbourhood”, which “could help economic development by connecting businesses to global and regional value chains, reducing the isolation of SMEs, promoting innovat. [...] “Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.