CHAPTER 8 123 The Moroccan Diaspora and its Contribution to the Development of Innovation in Morocco NOUR-EddINE BOUKHAROUAA, Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC), chapter coordinator MARWAN BERRADA, Ministry in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad and Migration Affairs 8: The Moroccan Diaspora Moroccan The 8: AbdELHAK CHAIBI, Association R&D Morocco SALMA DINIA, National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) AbdEssELAM EL FTOUH, Hassan II Foundation for Moroccans Living Abroad ADIL EL MALIKI, KARIMA FARAH, and ILHAM BENNANI, Moroccan Industrial and Commercial Property Office (OMPIC) OMAR ELYOUssOUFI, Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Executive Training YAssINE OUARDIRHI, Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy Morocco has always been a cross- has worked in Morocco that can be MLAs shows a strong predominance roads, a place where people are applied to other countries at a similar of young and working-age people.1 mobile and aware of other cultures. level of development. Men comprise 55% of this group, Its location on the borders of three The examples given here are with women making up 45% (see distinctive worlds—the Arab world, presented to demonstrate some Figure 1a, 1b). This gender distri- North Africa, and Europe—and approaches that have been successful bution represents the feminization alongside both the Atlantic Ocean for Morocco in the hopes that they of migration over time. Although and the Mediterranean Sea has will prove useful for other develop- these data are from 2005 (no newer meant that its people can embrace ing countries confronting the same data are available), nevertheless they international contact and cultural, issues. These examples are offered indicate a trend. economic, and scientific exchange. in the same spirit of exchange that is Highly skilled Moroccans (those Today the mobilization of a found to be so useful and necessary with a tertiary or graduate degree) highly educated workforce is an to the successful implementation of make up 15% of the Moroccan important part of international innovation strategies. Diaspora (Figure 1c). This comes migration strategies. However, the to more than 400,000 Moroccans lack of qualified human resources living abroad who have either a in a globalized and competitive Moroccans throughout the world bachelor’s or graduate degree. The marketplace that requires knowl- In 2012, about 4.5 million trans-generational socioeconomic edge and know-how generates new Moroccans—15% of its total popula- ascent of the immigrant population, reasons for Morocco’s population to tion—were living abroad. Although especially considering the flow of be mobile. Indeed, the expertise of this group was originally comprised graduates of Moroccan higher edu- Moroccans living abroad can answer of men who migrated on their own cation out of the country, is poised to specific needs of the nation’s emerg- after World War II, when Europe create a high concentration of highly ing sectors. needed manpower for reconstruc- skilled workers among those living This chapter aims to describe tion, a recent move towards family abroad. It should be noted that these some of the programmes that have reunification has meant that wives people consist not only of MLAs who been put in place to assist Moroccans have now joined their husbands. The had already received their bachelor’s Living Abroad (MLAs) in order to feminization of the group of MLAs degrees in Morocco when they emi- enhance the development of innova- has continued, with the migration grated, but also includes a generation tion in Morocco. The chapter exam- of single women reflecting the of their children who were educated ines the production of intellectual evolving emancipation of women in in the new country of residence. It is property, with a focus on patents Moroccan society. especially noteworthy that the share by the MLA population as a proxy According to a survey conducted of persons with a university diploma for the development of innovation, in 2005 by the High Commissioner is twice as high among the MLAs as and draws some lessons about what for the Plan, the age pyramid among it is among the domestic Moroccan THE GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2014 124 Figure 1: Characteristics of Moroccans living abroad, 2005 1a: Age distribution 1b: Gender distribution 1c: Educational attainment 8: The Moroccan Diaspora Moroccan The 8: n Under 15 (29%) n Men (55%) n No formal education (18%) n 15–60 (68%) n Women (45%) n Primary school (22%) n Over 60 (3%) n Secondary school (25%) n Tertiary education: less than 2 years (20%) Tertiary or graduate degree (15%) Source: High Commissioner for the Plan, 2005. population. It is important to point over the years, when considered in Professionals and the innovative output out here that all programmes put conjunction with the change in the of the Moroccan Diaspora in place in Morocco aim to involve numbers of highly skilled MLAs, Identifying the skilled members highly educated MLAs in contribut- reveals that the MLAs file more of the Diaspora who contribute ing to the development of Moroccan patents, especially in recent years. actively to innovation is extremely innovation. According to this analysis, 876 difficult because the data are often More than 32,000 MLAs are patent applications published under simply not available. For example, senior executives or professionals in the PCT have been filed by MLA scientific publications do not men- the private sector. They are mainly inventors at international locations tion the nationality of the authors, researchers, research and develop- in the 16 years from 1995 through and some authors have more than ment (R&D) managers, university 2011 (Figure 3). one nationality. professors, and business people. This large number of Moroccans However, Patent Cooperation The Moroccan Diaspora is filing for patents abroad illustrates Treaty (PCT) patent applications mainly located in France (32%), the important role that research present a unique feature: they Spain (20%), Italy (12%), and other laboratories in developed countries specify the place of residence and European countries, Arab countries play in stimulating creativity and nationality of applicants. Thus an (6%), the United States of America invention among Moroccan scien- analysis of patents issued under the (USA) and Canada (together 3%), tists abroad. PCT enables the identification of and some African and Asian coun- The geographical distribution patents by inventors who belong to tries (Figure 2). It would be useful of the patents of the Moroccan the Moroccan Diaspora, which can to look at data about the skill level Diaspora shows that they are concen- serve as a proxy for determining of the MLAs for each country, but trated in the three countries: France, MLA inventors. An analysis of the these data are unfortunately not the USA, and Spain. This finding change to PCT patent applications available. illustrates the correlation between THE GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2014 125 Figure 2: Geographic distribution of Moroccans living abroad, 2013 35 30 Diaspora Moroccan The 8: 25 20 Percent 15 10 5 0 France Spain Italy Belgium Arab countries Netherlands Germany Canada USA Others Source: Ministry in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad and Migration Affairs, 2013a. Figure 3: PCT patents of inventors of the Moroccan Diaspora, 1995–2011 80 70 60 50 40 30 Number of patents of Number 20 10 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Source: Patent Scope Database available at http://www.wipo.int/patentscope/en/. Note: It should be noted that, starting in 2012, information on the nationality of the inventors of PCT patents is no longer available through the Patents Scope Database. THE GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2014 126 Figure 4: Regional mapping of patents of the Moroccan Diaspora 40 8: The Moroccan Diaspora Moroccan The 8: 35 30 25 20 15 Percent of patents of Percent 10 5 0 France USA Spain Switzerland Germany Netherlands Belgium Canada Italy UK Japan Korea, Rep. Sweden Others Source: The patent database of the European Patent Office, available at http://ep.espacenet.com/ the number of Moroccan students This research looks only at Moroccan few Moroccan emigrant inventors— in these countries who became inventors living abroad, not all only 2.39%—return to their home researchers and the number of patent Moroccan inventors (Figure 4). country to file patents at home.4 applications they file. Indeed, most A breakdown of the PCT pat- Two conclusions can be drawn Moroccan migrant students settle in ents of inventors from the Moroccan from these data: the country of their studies. Diaspora by technical field shows 1. Moroccan competencies—pro- From Figures 2 and 4, we can that 20% of the patents belong fessional workers, organizations, conclude that the geographic distri- to medical sciences, followed by and academic institutions— bution of MLAs and the geographic organic chemistry with a share of abroad contribute to innovation distribution of Moroccan patent 10% and then biochemistry with 8%. at a global level. applications are correlated—see, for Moroccan inventors oper- example, the data for France and ate in research centres that range 2. MLAs constitute a scientific po- Spain. Note, however, that very few from university research laborato- tential of creativity and innova- MLAs are living in the USA, but that ries and those of private companies tion for Morocco through mo- country has a very high percent of to national