In reflecting on Morocco's trajectory, it is essential to acknowledge the significant national ambitions that have shaped our journey over the past two decades. The nation has undergone a remarkable transformation, evidenced by the construction of massive port basins, the establishment of high-speed rail systems, the development of modern highways, and the creation of leading energy and water complexes. These monumental investments in infrastructure were not merely beneficial; they were indispensable precursors to any technological advancement. Without a robust logistical framework to connect provinces, ports to link our coasts to global markets, and dams to secure our resources, the emergence of a technology-driven industry would have been impossible. Establishing this physical foundation was crucial to bridge the historical infrastructure deficit and to commit to the long-term demands of civil engineering. This initial phase has been successfully accomplished.
However, it would be a grave mistake to assume that the achievements which have brought us this far will suffice to propel us into the future. Once the ribbons are cut and construction projects are completed, what remains in the hands of our engineers and industrialists? Too often, it is merely an import bill and a constrained macroeconomic yield. The thermometer measuring this anomaly is known as the Incremental Capital-Output Ratio (ICOR), which calculates the amount of investment needed to generate an additional point of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economies like South Korea and Taiwan displayed an ICOR between 3 and 4 during their industrial take-offs, reflecting formidable capital efficiency, while Morocco's ratio has frequently hovered at levels twice that high. The High Commission for Planning reported our ICOR at nearly 7 in 2014, with subsequent World Bank analyses confirming a structural slowdown in investment efficiency.
Despite a gross investment rate exceeding 32% of GDP and a public investment envelope projected to reach 380 billion dirhams by 2026, our physical accumulation efforts yield insufficient gains in overall productivity. We are paying a steep price to build the stage without yet scripting the narrative of our own value addition. We find ourselves trapped in the illusion of modernity through proxy, remaining predominantly as mere purchasers of foreign equipment rather than becoming architects of sovereign technologies. The imbalance permeates all our major projects. Our civil engineers pour the concrete, erect the structures, and lay the tracks, yet a significant portion of high-value technological intelligence—such as automated systems, critical components, embedded software, and precision machinery—arrives pre-packaged and locked by foreign suppliers. We provide the manpower and the gravel, while they collect the patents and the profits. We remain the laborers of our own land, relinquishing cognitive rents and mastery of technological bricks to external stakeholders.
Recent economic history illustrates that great nations have strategically leveraged their infrastructures and public procurement to catalyze technological leaps. The United States did not cultivate its technological giants through mere conformity in public markets; rather, it was through the power of federal programs like SBIR/STTR, which reserve a portion of public R&D budgets for innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs), fund their proof of concept, and pave the way for public procurement and disruptive commercialization. South Korea has meticulously orchestrated industrial policy, public procurement, domestic technological development, and knowledge transfer to progressively elevate its companies within the value chain. Meanwhile, Singapore has mobilized foreign investment, collaborative R&D, and innovative public procurement mechanisms to attract and anchor high-tech activities within its borders. Their approach to public procurement has never been a simple catalog purchase; it has served as a strategic instrument of economic sovereignty.
Addressing Structural Barriers to Technological Transformation
In Morocco, three structural barriers continue to hinder this metamorphosis. The first barrier resides in public procurement processes paralyzed by legal risks, where tender committees draft selection criteria that de facto exclude local enterprises, favoring instead to pay a premium for imported turnkey solutions rather than nurturing a national consortium. In the quest to avoid administrative errors at any cost, we effectively guarantee our own industrial dependency. The second barrier is rooted in a financial apprehension that stifles intangible assets: national R&D spending remains stagnant at around 0.7% to 0.8% of GDP according to the latest data, while banks persist in demanding physical collateral that is ill-suited to a knowledge economy. Instead of mobilizing venture capital and private debt for applied research and patents, they seek property titles from engineers whose only wealth lies in their intellectual capabilities. The third barrier is human: by allowing a significant portion of engineers and technical executives, whom the country has trained, to leave for foreign shores due to a lack of advanced design projects at home, we inadvertently finance the very minds that will later sell their technologies back to us at exorbitant prices.
The diagnosis is unequivocal: we have successfully navigated the phase of concrete, rail, and foundational work. This effort was essential, courageous, and foundational. However, the next stage begins now. While cement connects territories, only knowledge can emancipate nations. A country does not become an economic powerhouse merely by aligning highways and port terminals; it becomes one when its own factories design the machines, software, and equipment that traverse these infrastructures. To transform this logistical giant into an engine of industrial emancipation, public procurement must evolve from a mere bureaucratic act into a powerful tool of economic sovereignty. The state and major public agencies must systematically allocate contracts to reserve entire segments of high technology, industrial subcontracting, and software engineering for the fabric of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the nation.
There is an urgent need to establish pre-commercial procurement mechanisms that fund local prototyping and involve public buyers from the outset of technical milestone validation, while imposing industrial compensation and co-development requirements on all international suppliers. Concurrently, regulators, the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment, and the financial sector must enhance the liquidity of subcontractors through guaranteed direct payments within thirty days and substantially direct credit towards R&D, technological tooling, and intellectual property. The steel is laid, and the tracks are ready. It is now our responsibility to demonstrate that Morocco has not only built the highways for the commerce of others but is finally equipping its productive fabric, SMEs, and engineers with the courage and resources to channel their own intelligence through these pathways.
As reported by mobile.telquel.ma.
Amine Jamaï is a writer and director of a strategic consulting firm.
