EuroMed Clusters Policy Seminar – Mashreq Edition
FromSep 16, 2026 To Sep 16, 2026
Hybrid Event
Policy Dialogue for Cluster-Driven Innovation & Regional Value Chains – Cairo, Egypt | 16 September 2026
Introduction & Context
Clusters are increasingly recognized as an effective tool for supporting industrialization, fostering innovation, and strengthening value chains in emerging economies. Countries across the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean are seeking to harness cluster development to improve competitiveness, expand export potential, strengthen integration into regional and global value chains, and generate employment in sectors where they have comparative advantages.
Across the Southern Mediterranean, clusters operate at different stages of development and maturity and under diverse institutional arrangements. Common challenges include limited legal recognition, fragmented policy frameworks, underdeveloped innovation ecosystems, financing constraints, skills mismatches, and weak links between public policy and private-sector dynamics. These constraints can limit clusters’ ability to scale up, align with broader industrial and trade strategies, integrate into regional and global value chains, and contribute to the green transition.
Against this backdrop, the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of Institutes of Economic Science (FEMISE) and the Economic Research Forum (ERF) have launched a flagship series of high-level policy seminars under the EuroMed Clusters Forward (ECF) project.
These policy seminars bring together policymakers, cluster leaders, private-sector representatives, and international experts to examine the challenges and opportunities associated with developing regional value chains, share successful policy experiences and lessons, and identify actionable approaches to cluster development. Their main objective is to generate practical, tailored policy recommendations that support cluster development, industrial cooperation, and innovation across Euro-Mediterranean countries.
Three seminars form part of the Euro-Mediterranean policy seminar series:
- Maghreb Seminar — Tunisia, March 25, 2026
- Mashreq Seminar — Egypt, September 16, 2026
- EuroMed Regional Seminar — Fall 2026
Each seminar contributes to the development of a comprehensive Policy Package, including synthesis reports, expert interviews, national policy briefs, and broader recommendations to inform longer-term strategies.
The Mashreq Context
The Mashreq is navigating a period of profound economic transformation amid persistent geopolitical, economic, and social pressures. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine are seeking to strengthen industrial competitiveness, accelerate innovation, create quality employment, and build more resilient economies while adapting to evolving regional and global value chains.
Within this context, clusters can serve as strategic platforms for SME development, collaboration between industry, academia, and public institutions, technological upgrading, and stronger integration into regional and global value chains. While approaches to cluster development differ across countries, there is a shared interest in leveraging clusters to support sustainable growth, entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation.
Cluster ecosystems across the Mashreq, however, remain at different stages of maturity and face a number of common structural challenges. These include fragmented governance frameworks, limited legal recognition of clusters, insufficient coordination among public institutions, weak research–industry linkages, limited access to sustainable financing, and persistent skills shortages. In several countries, prolonged economic pressures and regional instability have further constrained private-sector investment and innovation, while underscoring the importance of more resilient and collaborative industrial ecosystems.
At the same time, the region offers significant opportunities and valuable experience. Egypt is advancing industrial modernization through its network of industrial zones and organic clusters; Jordan has developed strong capabilities in ICT, pharmaceuticals, and knowledge-intensive services; Lebanon continues to demonstrate the resilience of privately led cluster initiatives despite a difficult economic environment; and Palestine has developed dynamic entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems that support SMEs and technology-based enterprises under particularly challenging conditions. Together, these experiences provide useful lessons for strengthening cluster policies and promoting deeper regional cooperation.
Mashreq Policy Seminar Objectives
The Mashreq Policy Seminar provides a dedicated platform for policymakers, cluster managers, private-sector representatives, researchers, and international experts to engage in a structured dialogue on strengthening cluster ecosystems and regional value chains across the Mashreq.
The seminar aims to:
- Examine the key policy and institutional challenges affecting cluster development in the Mashreq, including governance, legal recognition, innovation ecosystems, sustainable financing, and research–industry collaboration.
- Share successful policy experiences and cluster initiatives from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Europe, with a focus on approaches that can be adapted to strengthen cluster development and industrial competitiveness.
- Identify practical and actionable policy recommendations to strengthen cluster governance, enhance innovation and competitiveness, improve access to finance, and promote deeper integration into regional and global value chains.
Mashreq Policy Seminar Structure
Following the opening session and keynote addresses, the seminar is organized around three thematic challenges that reflect the main policy priorities for strengthening cluster ecosystems in the Mashreq:
- Strengthening Cluster Governance, Legal Recognition and Policy Coordination
- Strengthening Innovation Ecosystems, Research–Industry Collaboration and Cluster Competitiveness
- Financing Innovation and Building Sustainable Cluster Ecosystems
Each thematic session combines policy makers and practitioners from Mashreq countries and Europe, followed by an interactive discussion and a short digital questionnaire designed to engage participants and identify the most important reform priorities.
The seminar concludes with thematic focus group discussions, where participants will build on the outcomes of the three sessions to further explore common challenges, identify transferable policy and institutional approaches, and formulate concrete recommendations tailored to the Mashreq context. The outcomes of these discussions will directly feed into the ECF Policy Package, including synthesis reports, country-specific policy briefs, expert interviews, and broader regional policy recommendations.
Agenda
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 9:00 am To 9:15 am
Speakers
Research Fellows
Raed Safadi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Speakers
Emmanuel Noutary
General Delegate, ANIMA Investment Network
Setting the Scene: Understanding Clusters and the Evolution of Regional Value Chains and Lessons from the Maghreb Policy Seminar
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 9:45 am To 10:15 am
Speakers
Research Fellows
Raed Safadi
Managing Director, Economic Research Forum
Authors
Maryse Louis
FEMISE, General Manager
Challenge 1: Strengthening Cluster Governance, Legal Recognition and Policy Coordination | Session 1.1. Policy Dialogue: Governance Fragmentation and the Legal Framework
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 10:15 am To 11:30 am
Effective governance and coherent institutional frameworks are essential for enabling clusters to serve as strategic platforms for industrial development, innovation, and integration into regional and global value chains. Across the Mashreq, however, clusters often operate within fragmented institutional environments, with limited legal recognition and weak coordination among public institutions. These constraints can limit their ability to access public support, align with national industrial and innovation strategies, and develop into sustainable platforms for economic development.
This session will address the following questions:
- What forms of legal and institutional recognition are needed to support effective cluster development?
- How can cluster policy be better integrated into national industrial and innovation strategies, and which public institutions should lead coordination?
- Which governance models are most relevant for Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine?
- How can stronger governance and coordination frameworks help clusters integrate more effectively into regional and global value chains?
Speakers
Speakers
Mohammed Makki
Director of Executive Program, School of Business,...
Speakers
Majdi Haj Khalil
Co- Owner & Director of Programmes and...
Speakers
Mohammed Yaser Khalil
Legal Researcher, Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency
Speakers
Nisrine Haddad
Managing Partner, SADER & Associates
Challenge 2: Strengthening Innovation Ecosystems, Research–Industry Collaboration and Cluster Competitiveness | Session 2.1. Policy Dialogue: Strengthening Innovation Ecosystems and Industry–Research Linkages
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 11:45 am To 1:00 pm
Innovation is a key driver of industrial competitiveness and value-chain upgrading. Across the Mashreq, however, collaboration among firms, universities, research centers, and innovation-support organizations remains uneven. This limits technology transfer, productivity growth, and firms’ ability to move into higher-value-added activities. Strengthening cluster-based innovation ecosystems is therefore important for accelerating digital transformation, improving industrial competitiveness, and supporting deeper integration into regional and global value chains.
This session will explore practical and institutional approaches to:
- strengthen collaboration among industry, academia, and research institutions;
- promote innovation, technology transfer, and digital transformation within clusters;
- support firms in upgrading technologically and improving productivity;
- strengthen the competitiveness of strategic sectors, including ICT, manufacturing, and high-tech industries; and
- facilitate clusters’ integration into higher-value-added regional and global value chains.
Speakers
Speakers
Mohammed Aljafari
Former Director of iPARK, Royal Scientific Society,...
Speakers
Ziad Al-Masri
Information and Communication Technology Association of Jordan
Speakers
Walid Semaan
Founder and President, Matrix TRC's Data Science...
Speakers
Amani Muady
General Manager, Palestinian Information Technology Association of...
Speakers
Nathalie Jardinier
Director of Development, TEAM Henri-Fabre
Challenge 3: Financing Innovation and Building Sustainable Cluster Ecosystems | Session 3.1. Policy Dialogue: From Donor Dependence to Sustainable Cluster Financing
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 2:00 pm To 3:30 pm
Long-term cluster competitiveness depends not only on innovation, but also on sustainable financing mechanisms that can support cluster development beyond short-term, project-based interventions. Across the Mashreq, many clusters continue to rely heavily on donor funding, while limited access to public support mechanisms, private investment, and innovation finance constrains their ability to expand, innovate, and generate lasting economic impact. Developing more diversified and sustainable financing models is therefore essential to strengthening resilient cluster ecosystems and mobilizing greater private-sector participation.
This session will explore financing approaches and institutional mechanisms that can:
- mobilize public and private investment for cluster development;
- strengthen innovation financing and collaborative investment models;
- reduce reliance on short-term donor funding;
- enhance the long-term financial sustainability of cluster organizations; and
- support stronger participation of Mashreq clusters in regional and global value chains.
Speakers
Speakers
Radwa Kamouna
International Relations Department, General Authority for Investment...
Speakers
Nidal A. Al-Dabbas
Advisor to the Minister of Investment, Jordan
Speakers
Ramy Bou Jawdeh
Senior Expert, Innovation Management, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development
Speakers
Khaled Qalalwa
Director General for International Cooperation, Investment and...
Thematic Working Groups
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 3:45 pm To 4:45 pm
Participants will be divided into three thematic working groups bringing together policymakers, private-sector representatives, cluster organizations, research and innovation actors, financial institutions, and development partners.
The working groups will build on the earlier policy dialogues to:
- examine the three key challenges discussed during the seminar in greater depth;
- identify relevant and transferable policy and institutional responses; and
- formulate practical, actionable recommendations for strengthening cluster development across the Mashreq.
Group 1: Governance and Legal Recognition
Group 2: Innovation, R&D and Competitiveness
Group 3: Financing, Sustainability and Growth Pathways
Speakers
Speakers
Mohammed Makki
Director of Executive Program, School of Business,...
Speakers
Mohammed Aljafari
Former Director of iPARK, Royal Scientific Society,...
Research Associates
Yasmine Eissa
Assistant Professor and Associate Chair, Economics Department,...
Closing Remarks and Presentation of Polls Results
Date
16/09/2026
Location
Hybrid Event
Time
From 5:15 pm To 5:45 pm
Speakers
Speakers
Yasmine Fahim
Director of Research and Programs, Economic Research...
Speakers
Emmanuel Noutary
General Delegate, ANIMA Investment Network
Authors
Maryse Louis
FEMISE, General Manager