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Good practice Imported

IRESEN — Morocco's Applied Research Institute Bridging Universities and Industry in Green Energy

Morocco · Rabat · See the Morocco profile · See the Rabat profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 27% 76/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Created in 2011 under Morocco's energy ministry, IRESEN funds market-oriented renewable-energy research through a 14-lab university network and the Green Energy Park testbed, now replicated in Côte d'Ivoire via a sister platform.

14 labs
University-hosted research labs in network
6 platforms
Thematic research platforms operated
3 million MAD
Funding mobilised under InnoEspa-Morocco Energy call (October 2025)
IRESEN — Morocco's Applied Research Institute Bridging Universities and Industry in Green Energy

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
IRESEN (Institut de Recherche en Énergie Solaire et Énergies Nouvelles)
Period
2011–present
Keywords
renewable energy, applied research, technology transfer, higher education

Context

IRESEN was created in 2011 at the initiative of Morocco's energy ministry together with public and private partners, and is jointly chaired by the Ministries of Economy and Finance, Higher Education/Research and Innovation, and Energy Transition.

Objectives

Its mission is to fund market-oriented research, bridge universities with industry, and promote technology transfer between academia and companies across the renewable-energy value chain.

Activities

The institute runs a network of 14 labs hosted across Moroccan universities — three at Cadi Ayyad University alone, covering thermal energy, electric mobility and battery testing — and operates six thematic research platforms: the Green Energy Park (solar, opened 2017 in Benguerir with UM6P), Agro Energy TIC Valley, Water Energy Nexus, Green and Smart Building Park, Green H2A (hydrogen), and GEP-Maroc Côte d'Ivoire (GEPMCI), a sister platform built with Côte d'Ivoire's INP-HB engineering school in Yamoussoukro.

Results

IRESEN remains active: it obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification for its activities in March 2025 and mobilised 3 million MAD in October 2025 under its InnoEspa-Morocco Energy call for joint Moroccan-Spanish research projects.

Conclusions

As with most public research-funding bodies, published figures describe institutional scale and reach rather than independently verified economic outcomes — jobs or revenue — from the technologies transferred.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Institutional funding across ministries plus grant calls (e.g. 3 million MAD mobilised in a single 2025 call); project-level costs are not disclosed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Continuously operating since 2011, with recent institutional milestones (ISO certification 2025, new funding call 2025) indicating ongoing operation.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Economy and Finance (Morocco), Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (Morocco), Ministry of Energy Transition (Morocco), University-hosted research labs (e.g. Cadi Ayyad University), UM6P (Green Energy Park partner), INP-HB engineering school, Côte d'Ivoire (GEPMCI partner)

Conditions for success

  • Joint governance and funding commitment across three national ministries
  • University hosting agreements enabling a distributed lab network
  • International partnership to replicate the testbed model abroad
  • Sustained funding calls (e.g. InnoEspa-Morocco Energy) to keep a pipeline of joint projects active

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

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Attachments

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