Territorial Development and Economic Dynamics in Morocco: What Prospects for Equitable Regional Development?

Since its independence in 1956, Morocco has launched several territorial development models to address socio-economic and spatial challenges, and to mitigate spatial inequality. Even though the government is committed to ensure socio-economic development—while maintaining its territorial control—polices were not always in response to the needs of local development and realities. As a result, of this grass root perspective absence, neither provincialization nor regionalization initiatives have allowed the achievement of their goal, and uneven regional development persists. To overcome these issues, the government launched alternative strategies such as advanced regionalization to enhance existing initiatives and incorporate innovation and technology as part of the overall inclusive vision. This chapter sheds light on different territorial reforms by exploring factors in the genesis of regional development, and then it examines development policy trends that integrate high-tech industry and Research and Development, both closely linked to university technology transfer.