page_title: Science and technology in Morocco
section_title: Strategic economic sectors
hierarchical_section_title: Science and technology in Morocco / Strategic economic sectors
context_page_description: Science and technology in Morocco has significantly developed in recent years. The Moroccan government has been implementing reforms to encourage scientific research in the Kingdom. While research has yet to acquire the status of a national priority in Morocco, the country does have major assets that could transform its R&D sector into a key vehicle for development. The industry remains dominated by the public sector, with the universities employing 58% of researchers. Morocco's own evaluation of its national research system – carried out in 2003 – revealed that the
  country has a good supply of well trained high quality human resources and that some laboratories are
  of very high quality. However, the greatest gap at that point of time lied in the link between research
  and innovation. The educational qualifications of
  Moroccan researchers have increased
  significantly since the early 1990s. The University of Al-Karaouine is considered the oldest continuously operating academic degree-granting university in the world, by the Guinness Book of Records.
context_section_description: Manufacturing contributed 15.4% of GDP in 2013, about the same share as for Egypt. Agriculture contributed a further 16.6% to the Moroccan economy and services 54.9% of GDP. Industry overall (including manufacturing) contributed 28.5% of GDP.
  In 2012, the  Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology identified a number of sectors where Morocco has a comparative advantage and skilled human capital, including mining, fisheries, food chemistry and new technologies. It also identified a number of strategic sectors, such as energy, with an emphasis on renewable energies such as photovoltaic, thermal solar energy, wind and biomass; as well as the water, nutrition and health sectors, the environment and geosciences.
caption: Total domestic expenditure on research and development in the Arab world, 2009 and 2013. Source: UNESCO Science Report: towards 2030, Figure 17.5