Partnership Performance Between Northern and Southern Mediterranean Countries in the First 2 Years of PRIMA Programme Implementation

The article evaluates the performance of the partnership between European and non-European participating states after 2 years of implementation of the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) programme. A total of 742 participating entities were involved in 83 funded projects based on two funding calls of 2018 and 2019. The results show that while extensive partnerships were established between southern and northern Mediterranean countries, there was lower project coordination by non-European states. As a result, the grant distribution was in favour of European countries which received the majority of funds. A networking analysis was performed, and it demonstrates low cooperation between Northern African countries and Eastern Mediterranean countries. Italy, France and Spain are clustered with Northern African countries; however, Germany and Portugal are more affiliated with Eastern Mediterranean countries. The private sector analysis shows an excellent participation of SMEs in Sect. 1 (funded by PRIMA) for both calls in 2018 and 2019. SMEs received 22% of EU funds — well in line with Horizon 2020 target — demonstrating the vital role that PRIMA plays for the development of SMEs. However, for Sect. 2 (funded by participating states), the participation of SMEs was low and received only 6.4% of participating state funds. The participation of SMEs from non-European countries was low and represented 30% in Sect. 1 of the total number of SMEs and only 15% in Sect. 2.