IIM Research Projects

EUMEDIS - Euro-Mediterranean Information Society

EUMEDIS, developing the Information Society in the Mediterranean region

Globalization and technology advancements are bringing fundamental changes to the local and global socio-economic environments. Established structures and reference points are being displaced at a fast pace as a consequence of the flows of people and ideas, of goods and services. The only way for any society or or a country to survive and thrive is to creatively partner and build a common future with other societies and economies.  Initiated in the Barcelona declaration in 1995, the MEDA Programme is the principal financial instrument of the European Union for the implementation of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership activities. The support it provides for the Mediterranean countries, as a central part of the EU’s role in the world, has three main objectives: to strengthen political stability and democracy in a common area of peace and security; to create an area of shared prosperity and to support the creation of a free trade-area between the EU and the Mediterranean Partners by 2010; and to create closer ties between people of these countries through cultural, social and human partnership.

Regional co-operation is an innovative aspect of the Barcelona Process which itself is essentially a regional response to the opportunities and challenges resulting from the proximity of the Mediterranean area to Europe. Regional co-operation has a considerable strategic impact as it deals with problems common to many Mediterranean Partners while emphasizing national complementarities.

The Barcelona Euro-Mediterranean Conference of 27-28 November 1995 stressed in its economic chapter that support for the development of the Mediterranean scientific and technological community, together with the upgrading and modernization of local telecommunications infrastructure, are two pivotal elements for the success of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership.

In February 1999, the European Commission approved a comprehensive regional MEDA initiative for the development of Euro-Mediterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) specifically designed to reduce the region’s information and technology gap with the neighboring countries. EUMEDIS, through the funding of different projects and initiatives, aims at developing regional applications with user communities in the largest possible number of Mediterranean Partners.

In 2000, the European Commission launched the EUMEDIS request for proposals, with the objective of:

• accelerating the economic growth in the Euro-Mediterranean region
• improving the quality of life of the region’s inhabitants
• stimulating Euro-Mediterranean cooperation
• facilitating mutual understanding in a multicultural environment
• promoting innovative public services
• increasing Internet connectivity between the Euro-Mediterranean partners
• creating electronic platforms oriented towards end-users. 

For the peoples of the North and South of the Mediterranean, the immediate concern is to stop tackling uncertainties and international change separately, but together, while also respecting their differences. The dialogue between people and cultures must therefore play a decisive role in creating a Mediterranean area which “holds together and makes sense”.  

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can play an important role in this process: today they form not only an essential feature of a competitive economy, but also an indispensable ingredient of any modern society. The EUro MEDiterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) initiative, launched in 1998 with a total budget of 65 million euros, is a pilot demonstration of the concrete advantages ICT can offer in priority sectors of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. Its timeliness and success was confirmed by the large participation in the 2000 call for proposals (over 160 were presented from 24 countries, including all 12 of the non-EU Mediterranean partner countries). Twenty Pilot Projects have been accepted to receive the EU support and have been active since either 2001 or 2002.