FORUM MED IA Research Prize 2026: Call for Applications Now Open

EuroMedAI is opening the FORUM MED IA Research Prize to its network: two grants of €5,000 for AI research answering Mediterranean challenges, open to teams in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia until 21 September 2026. We are carrying it because it matches a position we have defended since FMIA 2025 in Tunis: Mediterranean AI capacity already exists on the southern and eastern shores, and it deserves visibility, funding and a seat at the table.

The Prize recognises research projects that mobilise artificial intelligence to address the social, environmental and economic challenges of the Mediterranean region. Laureates are announced at the third edition of the Mediterranean Artificial Intelligence Forum (FORUM MED IA), on 5 November 2026 at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille.

The Official Fact Sheet

The organisers’ presentation document sets out the rules, the categories, the evaluation grid and the calendar in full. You can page through all seven pages below, or open the PDF directly.

FORUM MED IA · Research Prize

Fiche de présentation (French, 7 pages)

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Prix de recherche FORUM MED IA — fiche de présentation

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Two Categories, One Application

Applicants submit a single application and do not choose a category. The jury assigns each project to one of the two categories at the evaluation stage.

One laureate is designated per category, each receiving a €5,000 grant. The grant covers purchases, services, subcontracting and compute time, but not staff costs. The awards ceremony is held on 5 November 2026 at the Palais du Pharo.

Who Can Apply

Eligibility conditions are identical for both categories:

• Geographic anchoring: the applicant, or the organisation they are affiliated with, must be established in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco or Tunisia.
• Field: the project must rest on a concrete application of AI, developed or under development — not simply the use of existing tools.
• Maturity: no technology readiness level is imposed; projects are eligible at any TRL.
• Submission: a complete file must be submitted before 21 September 2026 at 23:59 (Paris time, UTC+2) on the online platform. Late applications are not examined.

Eligible profiles and structures include researchers and teaching researchers, doctoral and post-doctoral candidates, research teams and laboratories, universities and higher education institutions, and innovative young companies and research spin-offs.

Applications led or co-led by women are particularly encouraged by the organisers.

How Projects Are Assessed

The jury evaluates applications against five criteria:

1. Scientific quality and innovation
2. Mediterranean relevance and contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
3. Frugality, sovereignty and ethics
4. The criterion specific to the category assigned by the jury
5. Team and feasibility

The jury brings together representatives of Expertise France, the IRD and ANIMA Investment Network, alongside qualified figures from the research, innovation and investment communities, selected for their AI expertise and their knowledge of the Mediterranean region. Its members are designated jointly by the three partner organisations, and the final composition is published on the call page. The jury assigns each project to a category, deliberates behind closed doors on the basis of the evaluation grid, and designates one laureate per category.

What the Six Selected Candidates Receive

Six applications are shortlisted, on the strength of the written file alone — there is no interview. Selected candidates then receive targeted support before pitching in Marseille:

• A one-day online preparation workshop in October 2026, focused on structuring a short, compelling pitch, articulating a clear value proposition, and adapting the presentation to an audience of researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and public decision-makers.
• Hands-on support from the Prize partners on the pitch deck, the business model and the investor-facing value proposition, including help in making the science accessible to non-specialists without compromising rigour.
• Individual feedback on each presentation.
• Travel and accommodation in Marseille covered by Expertise France for selected candidates residing outside France, together with an official invitation letter and, where needed, support with visa procedures. Visa issuance remains the decision of the competent consular authorities.

Attendance at both the workshop and the Forum is expected. Where a candidate is prevented from attending for reasons beyond their control — a visa refusal, an inability to travel, or force majeure — adapted arrangements can be examined with the organisers without calling their selection into question.

Beyond the ceremony, selected candidates and laureates are connected to the wider Mediterranean AI network: introductions to laboratories, companies and investors present at the Forum, networking activities under the Sila initiative, and project promotion by the IRD and ANIMA Investment Network in the months following the event.

Timeline

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through the organisers’ platform on F6S: f6s.com/forum-med-ia-prix-de-recherche. The application form is single and bilingual, common to both categories, and does not ask applicants to choose between them. Only complete and eligible files are evaluated.

Questions about the call can be addressed to aymen.bouazizi@expertisefrance.fr. Personal data collected through the call is processed by Expertise France as data controller, under the EU General Data Protection Regulation.

Organisers and Funding

The FORUM MED IA Research Prize is carried jointly by Expertise France, the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and ANIMA Investment Network. It sits within Sila — the France-Mediterranean Initiative for Artificial Intelligence, funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) through the Fonds Équipe France (FEF+) and implemented by Expertise France — and is awarded as part of the Mediterranean Artificial Intelligence Forum, initiated by the Interministerial Delegation for the Mediterranean (DIMED).

Why This Call Reaches You Through EuroMedAI

EuroMedAI is the Euro-Mediterranean Network for AI Governance. We connect researchers, civil society organisations, technologists and public institutions across both shores of the Mediterranean, and we work to make the region’s own AI capacity visible in the places where AI policy is actually decided.

That is the context for this post. Calls like this one are written in Paris and Marseille for laboratories in Algiers, Cairo, Beirut, Rabat and Tunis, and the distance between the two is where strong applications get lost. EuroMedAI closes that distance: we take the call directly to the research communities it is aimed at, we set it against the wider Mediterranean funding and governance picture instead of presenting it in isolation, and we stay with the question long after the deadline passes.

We have been making that case in the rooms where it counts — at FMIA 2025 in Tunis, where we contributed to a long-term Mediterranean cooperation agenda for AI governance; at the first UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva; and in our written submission to that process, which argued that closing the AI divide is a precondition for legitimate global governance rather than a footnote to it. Two €5,000 prizes for teams in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia are that argument put into practice, and we will keep pressing for more of them.