The PACEIM program (Programmed’Accompagnement à la Créationd’EntreprisesInnovantes en Méditerranée) is a program initiated by the French government destined to expatriates from countries south of the Mediterranean Sea and residing in France, who either are enrolled in higher-education, or have a post-graduate diploma, or are technicians, engineers or researchers within public research centers.

The program proposes to mobilize the expertise of scientific and technical diaspora in France for the benefit of the countries of the southern Mediterranean basin. The objective is to:
• enable scientific and technical diaspora to promote their science knowledge,
• bring an added value to the local economic environment; contribute to the creation of wealth in the home countries (jobs, investment) and to the vitality of the entrepreneurial fabric by the emergence of technological SMEs and SMIs.
• Provide a springboard for young graduates and promote entrepreneurial activity with diasporas,
• supportinginnovative business creation projects and providing them with the means necessary for starting their venture.

The services offered within the program consist of individual support within the home country of the project holders including:
• access to a technology portfolio (patents adapted to the context of the countries of the South)
• identification of opportunities for development in the home countries
• development of relationship with future potential partners
• the consolidation of the project (business plan)

The process in competitive, and the launch of the 2011 edition was in Marseille on April 9, during a workshop grouping the major stakeholders in entrepreneurship and innovation within the countries South of the Mediterranean. Dr. Nicolas Rouhana from Berytech represented Lebanon and presented the show-case of Berytech in particular and Lebanon in general to provide a ground to welcome and support “reverse-migration”. Berytech is to become the focal point of this program in Lebanon.

More on the program and the deadlines/modalities can be found at www.ird.fr/paceim