From Monday 12 to Thursday 15 September 2022 a SEED4NA project meeting was held in Agadir (Morocco), hosted by Ibn Zohr University. During the meeting, which was held at the Cité de l’Innovation Souss Massa in Agadir, the SEED4NA project partners discussed the status and progress of the project, and especially prepared the implementation of the revised and new courses related to the SEED4NA project curriculum, which takes place in the academic year 2022-2023.

On Monday 12 September, the SEED4NA project partners were welcomed by several key representatives of Ibn Zohr University, who provided interesting presentations on the university and its involvement in international projects. Dr. Latifa Daadaou, national coordinator of the National Erasmus+ Office Morocco, shared some important insights on the Erasmus+ programme and the SEED4NA project.  In the second session of the first day, the status of the tasks related to the development of the SDI and EO courses was discussed. Among these tasks are the development of the project curriculum, the development of VET courses, the purchase and installation of SDI/EO equipment and the training of teachers.

The afternoon session focused on the preparation of the revised and new courses at the partner country institutions. Several North African partners presented the revised and/or new courses they prepared under the SEED4NA project, all covering particular parts of the project curriculum. Also during the second day of the meeting, there was a dedicated session on the status of the course preparations, in which the North African partners provided an introduction to these courses, with information on the learning objectives, teaching methods and teaching activities. The remaining part of this second day focused on the project tasks related to the implementation of the SDI and EO courses, including the localization of the courses at the partner universities, the actual implementation and execution of the courses and the evaluation of these courses.

During the third day of the meeting, a field trip was made to a local citrus farm, in which the irrigation system of the farm was presented and a demonstration was given on how drones could be used to support the monitoring of citrus trees. Also during the fourth day of the meeting, a strong connection was made with local stakeholders and their needs and interested related to the use of GI, SDI and EO. During a national stakeholders event, representatives from the Hydraulic Agency, the Argan and Oasis Agency and the private sector company Agridata explained how they are taking advantage of geospatial data and information in their day-to-day operations, and how GI/SDI/EO-skills are crucial for their organization. After the event with the local stakeholders, the project meeting was ended with a session on quality management and project management.