Rabat – The province of Essaouira launched its Territorial Innovation Lab on Wednesday, the first open innovation initiative in Morocco.
The innovation lab is an open, though non-physical, “third place” for public and private entities, local authorities, university labs, and associations to work on the region’s development issues.
“The recent developments of our province and Essaouira city are the result of a joint action. We are happy and proud that this nation-wide first has found its natural space in Essaouira,” said Essaouira-born Andre Azoulay, an advisor to King Mohammed VI on the initiative.
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“Joint problem-solving for the common good could become a more effective model of action in response to increasing societal needs,” said Kholoud Kahime, a researcher at the Capacity Building Centre of the Essaouira Higher School of Technology and spokesperson for the lab.
While closed innovation companies innovate using only internal resources, an organization’s boundaries become permeable once it adopts open innovation. This allows the company’s resources to be combined with external cooperators.
The founding members of the lab include Cadi Ayyad University, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, IBM, and Dupont OCP Operations Consulting, among others.
