This paper provides a critical examination of the cooperation in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation between the European Union and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries.
It provides an overview of the main features of this cooperation and then focuses on two of the main problems facing it, namely the gap between the supply and demand for knowledge in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries, and the asymmetry between the systems of knowledge production and utilisation in the EU and its southern neighbours.
It draws attention to the need for spurring industrialisation in the southern Mediterranean, as the engine for enhancing demand for economically useful knowledge.
The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations.