"Made in the Arab World" (MIA) is a competition that aims at extracting innovations in the Arab World by channeling research in Arab universities towards solving real technological or scientific problems in the Arab region to foster business-oriented results & new product development with significant market value.

The MIA competition is a pilot project for Industry-University Linkage (IUL) all over the Arab world, and shall be assisting in developing the entrepreneurial skills of the program participants as well as recognizing innovative and outstanding technology business ideas.

The MIA finals event is the outcome of a series of national competitions in different Arab countries. The winners from these national competitions shall be competing on a pan Arab level in Egypt in November 2009.

MIA Program Objectives

1. To be a pilot for an Industry University Link (IUL) program all over the Arab World.
2. Develop entrepreneurial skills of the participant teams through a comprehensive training package. 
3. Recognize innovative and outstanding technology business ideas. 
4. Create more awareness on potential opportunities in Arab technology startups.
5. Build trust in our technology expert’s ability to answer local technological challenges.

Awards

Winning competitors will receive following prizes and services: 

First: Cash Prizes
Cash Prizes to winning projects in the MIA as shown in the bellow table. It sums to all levels to $50,000 US.

Second: Commercialization Support 
Some selected Winning projects will receive commercialization efforts including:

• Support to polish their Business Plan,
• Marketing through ASTF Investment programs and
• Visibility with investment entities.

The Deadline for the Morocco Qualifying MIA Competitions is January 30.

If you have any idea for any one of the three categories of this competition indicated in the table above, please feel free to discuss it with us.

More detailed information about MIA as well as registration can be accessed through MIA official website: http://www.mia-astf.com/

Mohammad Essaaidi

IEEE Morocco Section Chair

MIA Official Morocco Partner