Morocco stands at a pivotal juncture in its economic trajectory, reflecting on the incredible advancements made over the past two decades. The nation has experienced a remarkable physical transformation characterized by the development of expansive harbor basins, high-speed rail connections, and a comprehensive network of modern highways that have enhanced connectivity across the country. Additionally, the establishment of world-class energy and water complexes underscores these efforts. Such monumental investments were not only necessary but also essential prerequisites for fostering a robust technology industry. It was imperative to construct a logistical framework that would facilitate the opening of provinces, create ports to connect our coasts with global trade, and build dams to safeguard our resources. This foundational work was critical for overcoming the historical infrastructure deficit and has set the stage for future advancements.
However, it is crucial to recognize that the achievements of the past will not suffice for future progress. With the completion of various projects, the central question remains: what lies in the hands of our engineers and industrialists? Too often, the outcome of these efforts manifests as a burdensome import bill and unsatisfactory macroeconomic returns. This phenomenon can be measured by the Incremental Capital-Output Ratio (ICOR), which indicates the investment volume needed to generate a single additional point of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While countries like South Korea and Taiwan have achieved an ICOR of between 3 and 4, reflecting high capital efficiency during their industrial boom, Morocco’s ICOR has been significantly higher, hovering around 7 as estimated by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) in 2014 and corroborated by World Bank research. Despite a gross investment rate exceeding 32% of GDP and a public investment budget projected to reach 380 billion dirhams by 2026, we find that our physical accumulation efforts are yielding insufficient gains in overall productivity.
The downside of our current trajectory is that we risk becoming mere consumers of foreign technology rather than developers of our own sovereign innovations. This imbalance undermines the value generated from our major infrastructure projects. While our civil engineers excel at constructing buildings, laying tracks, and pouring concrete, a significant portion of the higher-value technological expertise and advanced systems remains imported, leaving local laborers to toil while foreign companies reap the intellectual property and profits. Recent economic history has shown that major nations have successfully used infrastructure and public procurement as catalysts for technological advancement. For instance, the United States bolstered its tech giants not through conventional public procurement, but through federal initiatives like SBIR/STTR, which allocates a portion of public R&D budgets to innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for proof-of-concept projects. Similarly, South Korea has effectively integrated industrial policy with public procurement and domestic technology development, gradually elevating its companies up the value chain.
In contrast, Morocco faces three critical structural barriers that inhibit this transformation. The first barrier is rooted in a public procurement system plagued by legal risks, which often leads bidding committees to draft criteria that inadvertently exclude local companies in favor of costly imported solutions, thus perpetuating our industrial dependence. The second barrier arises from financial conservatism that stifles intangible investments; national R&D spending remains around 0.7 to 0.8 percent of GDP, while banks continue to require physical collateral that is ill-suited for the knowledge economy. Instead of mobilizing venture capital and private debt to finance applied research, we are demanding property titles from engineers whose true wealth lies in their intellectual contributions. The final obstacle is human capital-related, as we allow a significant number of trained engineers and technical managers to emigrate in search of advanced projects abroad, inadvertently funding the very minds that will later return to sell their technologies back to us at a premium.
The diagnosis is clear: while Morocco has succeeded brilliantly in laying the groundwork of concrete and infrastructure, it is now time for the next phase of development. Concrete connects regions, but it is knowledge that liberates nations. Economic power is not merely achieved through the construction of highways and ports, but through fostering domestic innovation that designs the machines and software operating within these infrastructures. To catalyze this transformation from a logistical giant to an industrial powerhouse, public procurement must evolve from a mere formality into a strategic instrument of economic sovereignty. It is essential for the government and major public agencies to systematically allocate contracts that reserve entire sectors of high technology, industrial subcontracting, and software engineering for local micro-enterprises and SMEs.
Furthermore, there is an urgent need to establish pre-commercial procurement mechanisms that fund local prototyping and engage public buyers from the outset of technical validation, while imposing industrial compensation and co-development rules on all international suppliers. Concurrently, regulators, the Mohammed VI Investment Fund, and the financial sector must enhance cash flow for subcontractors by ensuring guaranteed direct payments within thirty days and facilitating direct credit for R&D, technological equipment, and intellectual property at scale. With the groundwork firmly established, the onus now rests on Morocco to demonstrate that it has not merely built highways for foreign trade but is committed to nurturing its productive sector, empowering its SMEs and engineers, and enabling them to harness their ingenuity on those very highways.
As reported by telquel.ma.
