High-ranking Delegation Visits MAScIR Foundation

Jeudi 17 Décembre 2020

Rabat - The Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research (MASCIR), in partnership with the United Nations Development System (UNDS), the office of the UN resident coordinator in Morocco and the Swiss Embassy welcomed on Wednesday a high-ranking delegation in Rabat. This visit is part of the Inter-Regional Week on Emerging Technologies for Development in the Arab and African Regions, organized from 13 to 18 December 2020 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), MAScIR says in a press release. The delegation was made up of the ambassadors of Switzerland, Canada, Egypt, Japan and Mexico, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Morocco, and representatives of UNIDO, ICESCO, CNRST, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and the Green Economy, as well as the company Green Watech.

The objective of this year’s ITU Inter-Regional Week is to promote the wide-scale deployment of emerging technologies including, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Big Data, low orbiting satellites, and 5G, to ultimately contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During this visit, the delegation was able to discover the technological platform of the foundation, spread over 1750 m², and learn about the various research projects carried out in its laboratories, as well as the innovations and achievements made by the Foundation while assessing the prospects of establishing future collaboration in different areas with MAScIR. The projects presented to the delegation include those based on artificial intelligence, such as the development of image processing-based solutions, designed for road traffic management or for estimating the production of agricultural plots, as well as portable devices such as the olive oil analyzer and the soil analyzer, the latter making it possible to provide the rate of organic and mineral matter in the soil in order to better orient the needs of agricultural plots.

The delegation was also able to learn about the steps that have enabled MAScIR to develop, within a very short time, 100% Moroccan solutions for the diagnosis of Covid-19, in particular a device based on near infrared spectroscopy technology as well as a PCR kit, the marketing of which is currently in progress after its certification by the ministry of Health. In Morocco, the United Nations Development System (SNUD) is represented by 18 Funds, Agencies, Programs and Entities. It supports the Government of Morocco in its permanent quest for sustainable economic and social development, centered on the human resources and preserving present and future generations, according to the same source.

MAScIR is a research center under the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, having the status of foundation, and which aims to promote and develop in Morocco research and development poles meeting the needs of the country in advanced technologies, in particular in the medical biology sector. With a vocation and an ambition to actively support innovation for the benefit of the national economic and industrial fabric and thus contribute to the energy, food and health security of Morocco, the MAScIR Foundation has qualified human resources and cutting-edge technologocial equipment.

MAP