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Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Education and the Digital Development Agency (ADD) are set to finance 45 innovative digital projects under the Al Khawarizmi program.
The ADD announced the list of projects selected for funding on Tuesday, September 8.
The ADD and the ministry launched the program in March 2019 in collaboration with the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST). The program offers financing for practical projects in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data.
Morocco offers an overall financing budget of MAD 50 million ($5.43 million) to the selected digital projects. The Ministry of Education provides 70% of the budget, while the ADD covers 30%.
The Al Khawarizmi program, named for the famous ninth-century Muslim polymath, aims to promote research in the fields of AI and big data to improve the competitiveness of Moroccan businesses. It also seeks to help accelerate Morocco’s digital transition.
Moroccan universities and research institutions have submitted 251 projects since the launch of the program last year. The projects first underwent a scientific evaluation from experts at the CNRST.
The center approved 60 projects in the first phase and submitted them for a second evaluation. The second phase evaluation concerned experts from ministerial departments and public institutions, depending on the types of the projects.
The second evaluation allowed for ranking the projects in order of merit and selecting 45 for funding.
The selected digital projects include 18 concerning the health sector, five relating to energy, water, and environment, and four concerning the industrial sector in Morocco.
Three different projects concerned each of the sectors of agriculture, pedagogy, transport and logistics, and tourism.
Two projects relate to the field of justice and two more concern computer vision. Finally, the fields of smart cities and big data were represented with one project each.
