Fostering Competitiveness and Diversification
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) and have witnessed an increase in patent filing by nonresidents. Hence, the region still falls far short of the technology frontier. Its policies should devote more attention to incremental innovation and support the private sector in tapping into global knowledge. The first imperative is to build technological infrastructure, especially in promising sectors, by setting up specialized technology parks, clusters, and networks to facilitate technology transfer. Morocco has set up 22 integrated industrial platforms, including the Tangiers automotive city and the Nouasser aerospace city, and has been able to attract FDI from big players (Renault in Tangiers, Boeing and Safran in Nouasser). Most importantly, it has made progress on the difficult task of developing backward linkages with MSMEs to supply these centers. Tunisia has also put in place 10 competitiveness poles, although several of them still face obstacles due to highly centralized public management and coordination gaps. Further decentralization is of paramount importance to the effectiveness of local clusters. However, this kind of reform is only in the beginning stages in most of the Partnership countries. According to the WEF survey, only Morocco has a clustering score better than the world average (3.8, ranking 52nd against 3.6) (WEF 2011). A second imperative is to provide business services to innovators, especially to start-ups and MSMEs. These services could include incubators, coaching and accelerators, promotion and marketing, technology extension, quality management, and information and communication services. Incubators are an essential means to nurture ideas in a conducive environment (World Bank 2010a). There are some success cases in the region, such as the Casablanca Technopark, run by the private sector with support from InfoDev. It is hosting more than 130 companies, most of them start-ups and SMEs, though some multinational corporations are included. In general, however, the MENA region has one of the lowest densities of firm entry (0.63, only ahead of Sub-Saharan Africa). Tunisia has the best record, while Egypt and Jordan are under the regional average. Promotion and marketing are key elements for success, as illustrated by initiatives for exports development in Tunisia. Demand-driven technology extension services are also crucial to increase productivity. These are particularly needed in the agricultural sector and could require setting up centers of technology transfer from abroad, such as the ETTICs (technology transfer and innovation centers) in Egypt. Quality management has experienced some improvements in the region. In Egypt, for example, the share of enterprises certified by the International Organization for Standardization rose from 12 percent in 2004 to 21 percent in 2008. However, these levels are still too low to ensure sufficient access to
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