The American University of Beirut (AUB) has been awarded a grant of 904,877.49 euros from the European Union Tempus Programme to implement a project that supports academic research while promoting innovation and enhancing partnerships with industries.
The project, Innovation and Development of Academic-Industry Partnerships through Efficient Research Administration in Lebanon (IDEAL), was officially launched at AUB during a two-day meeting held on December 6-7, 2012, hosted by the University's Office of Grants and Contracts with the participation of AUB's academic and industry partners and representatives of the EU Tempus programme.
The IDEAL project seeks to augment inputs and outputs for research, development and innovation (RD&I) in Lebanon to improve the country's economic strength and global competitiveness.
The meeting gathered a consortium of 15 partners from Lebanon and Europe to launch the project activities and discuss the three-year scope of work. Partners from Lebanon include the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the National Council for Scientific Research, Lebanese University, Beirut Arab University, University of Balamand, Modern University of Business and Science, as well as the Lebanese Industrial Research Achievement Program (LIRA), and INFOPRO (publisher of Lebanon Opportunities).
European partners include Staffordshire University, UK; University of Joanneum, Austria; University of Alicante, Spain; University of Bari, Italy; Technological Educational Institute of Larissa, Greece; and the Mowgli Foundation, UK.
The participating Lebanese institutions represent over two-thirds of the Lebanese landscape of higher education. The target beneficiaries of this project are Lebanese researchers, students, non-profit organisations, and society at-large who will benefit from improved systems for RD&I designed to grow the nation's economic strength and global competitiveness.
Mohamad Oueidat, representing the Lebanese Directorate General of Higher Education, emphasised the Ministry of Education and Higher Education's commitment to advancing knowledge transfer and promoting partnerships that help to improve national capacity for education and research.
The AUB Office of Grants and Contracts facilitates the submission of about 400 grant proposals annually and manages over $20 million in external research and development funding. Over the past five years, AUB faculty are claimed to have exhibited the highest research productivity in the Arab world in terms of number of publications per faculty member; the number of times their papers were cited in literature; and the percentage of papers appearing in top research journals.
