Morocco’s UIR and Israel’s aerospace industries team up to set up excellence center

Rabat’s International University (UIR) and Israel’s Aerospace Industries (IAI) agreed to jointly set up a center of excellence on aeronautics, artificial intelligence, and innovation.

A memorandum was signed as a follow up to a deal in this regard by the president of UIR Noureddine Mouaddib and Eytan Eshel CTO of IAI in a ceremony attended by Amir Peretz, IAI board chairman and former Israeli defense minister as well as Boaz Levy, CEO of the same company.

The agreement aims to foster cooperation in applied research and innovation as it will serve as a platform and space for exchange between Moroccan and Israeli companies, as well as research centers engaged in the co-development of advanced technological products or innovative solutions for the aerospace industry.

“The UIR-IAI Aeronautics and AI Center of Excellence will certainly benefit from the Rabat Salé Kénitra University Cluster, a vibrant research and technology hub, which hosts all kinds of talents, labs, institutes, facilities, and experts committed to harnessing the collective intelligence and collaboration on emerging technologies and challenges,” Mouaddib was quoted as saying in a statement.

It is also designed to contribute to strengthening Morocco’s position as an attractive competence hub and reinforce the strategic partnership between Morocco and Israel.

“Looking into the students’ eyes, I can see their strong determination to succeed in this new center, bringing forth ideas which hopefully will serve not only Morocco and Israel, but also the entire world,” said IAI Chairman in a comment.