Morocco Hosts International Conference to Rethink Finance and Innovation

Academics and business leaders gather in Fez this week for the first International Conference on Management, Innovation, and Finance (MIF 2025), a new initiative to connect the dots between research and real-world economic shifts.

The two-day event, running from April 23 to 24, is co-organised by the Private University of Fez and Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University. It brings together finance professors, digital experts, and young researchers to discuss issues ranging from fintech to climate change and finance.

Safae Ismaili, a lecturer and researcher specialising in finance, frames the conference as a response to Morocco’s evolving economic landscape. “MIF 2025 is a platform for dialogue, critical thinking, and collective construction around the major economic challenges of our time,” she told Morocco World News (MWN).

She stressed the need to bridge theory and practice, explaining: “The ambition behind this conference is quite clear: to create a genuine link between academic research and real-world application, between universities and businesses, between ideas and concrete action. Because yes, it’s good to think—but it’s better to think to transform.”

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Pascal Nguyen, a professor of finance at the University of Montpellier and one of the event’s keynote speakers, echoed that sentiment. “I’m genuinely impressed by the quality of the organisation and the calibre of the speakers I’ve heard this morning. There’s an abundance of highly qualified young people… I feel Morocco has a very bright future,” he told MWN.

Nguyen, who also co-leads a programme on green finance, spoke about the dangers of corporate short-sightedness. “The question is: why do firms often make the wrong choices? Why do they pursue investments and decisions that are unsustainable and trigger crises—whether social, financial, or economic?”

The event aimed to tackle such questions head-on, with panels exploring everything from digital transformation to low-carbon policy.

As Morocco pushes to bring its economy up to date and attract green investment, MIF 2025 may prove a timely meeting of minds. “Morocco is in motion,” said Dr Ismaili.