Building Research and Innovation Collaborations within the frame of the African-European Partnership and the FNSSA Road Map

28 October 2019. Cairo. On the occasion of the 10th Africa Food Day Commemoration, held in joint food and nutrition security research and innovation projects within the Africa-EU Partnership.

The purpose is to enable the emergence of synergies and the optimization of funding and investments, while establishing the linkages between all relevant public and private players in the region.

Egypt under the chairmanship of the African Union by Egypt in 2019, the North Africa event, organized by LEAP4FNSSA with the support of ARC/ Agricultural Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, launched a public private alliance of partners between Europe and North Africa to develop

Specific objectives

H.E. Professor Dr. Ezz El Din Abu Steit,
Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
and Amb Ivan Surkos, Head EC Delegation

• Inform on the objective to launch an AU-EU Funders Alliance dedicated to FNSSA R&I, and initiate a tentative calendar and potential participants’ approval.
• Foster actors from practice: knowledge, communication and innovation hubs, identify young entrepreneurs interested to develop business plans inspired by recommendations from the EU-AU FNSSA alliances, and link small businesses with research funding opportunities to fuel innovation, with the purpose to identify relevant innovation actors and approaches to work with research.
• Elaborate mechanisms to link research and practice and develop a methodology and an effective approach to matching the needs of farmers and private sector to the research community.
• Initiate a process to recruit “Pioneer” partners towards the establishment of a North African chapter of the Africa‐EU‐Partnership and of a Europe-Africa R & I Consortium to improve the level of collaboration between Europe and Africa on FNSSA.

Brief outline of LEAP4FNNSA

The prospect for the enhancement of an AU-EU Funders Alliance and a North Africa Chapter on research and innovation for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture – FNSSA. Discussion on needed resources, which could support or already contribute to building AU-EU Funders Alliance and enhancing a North Africa Chapter.

• Dr. Tarek El-Arabi, Director of Egypt-EU cooperation, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Egypt
• Dr. Bernard Mallet, Agriculture Projects Coordinator, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France

Panel discussion

Presentation by Tanta motors

Panelists took-stock of outcomes and discussions of the above session and analysed and identified possible ways and mechanisms, to enhance AU-EU Funders Alliance and a North Africa Chapter on research and innovation on FNSSA.

Panel 1 – Thematic priorities and topics

• Dr. Shireen Assem, Deputy Chairman for Research, ARC, Egypt
• Dr. Imane Thami Alami, Head of Scientific Division, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Morocco
• Haj/Hussein Abdel Rahman, President Farmers' syndicate, Egypt
• Dr. Habiba Wassef, Trustee, African Nutrition Society, Egypt
• Dr. Mohamed Elies Hamza, President, Institution de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Superieur Agricoles (IRESA), Tunisia

Panel 2 – Policies, innovation and enterprising

• Dr. Mohamed El Shinawi, Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Egypt and Co-Chair of PRIMA Foundation.
• Dr. Daniele Rossi, European Secretary General of Confagricoltura (Italy)
• Eng. Amr Abu Freikha, Chairman, Tanta Motors, Egypt
• Emad Elazhary, Strategy & Business Development Director, Vodafone Egypt
• Dr. Jacques Wery, Deputy Director General Research, ICARDA (CGIAR)

Panel 3 – Innovation agencies and entrepreneurs:

• Dr. Amr Farouk, Assistant ASRT President, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt
• Eng. Hanan El-Hadary, Executive Director, Technology and Innovation Industrial Council, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Egypt 
• Dr. Harrison Charo Karisa, Country Director, Egypt and Nigeria, World Fish/CGIAR
• Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, President High Atlas Foundation, Morocco
• Eng. Shehab El-Nawawy, Chairman, Giza Systems Foundation

Panel 4 – Idea-carriers:

• Mouhsine Lakhdissi, CTO and partner - AGRIDATA consulting Morocco
• Eng. Hussein Mansour, CEO Aller Aqua, Egypt
• Lynda Allouche, Independent Researcher & Innovator, Algeria
• Abdelrahman Fahmy, Start-up, Chairman, YTG, Egypt
• Aida Selmi, Start-up Co-Founder, BIO-WONDER, Tunisia
• Yehia Selmi, co-founder, Bio-wonder, Tunisia

Conclusions

Facilitators: Henning Knipschild, Germany, J. Dorra Fiani, Egypt
Conclusions aimed at building a comprehensive framework of recommendations on ways, mechanisms, priorities and innovations towards the establishment of the AU-EU Alliance and North African Chapter on R&I in FNSSA.