Lebanon’s economic crisis has clarified many structural issues, one of the most pressing being that isolated efforts no longer work. Universities conduct research in silos, private companies innovate on their own, public institutions struggle with limited capacity, and business-support organizations operate in parallel rather than in sync. In such a fragmented landscape, collaboration is no longer a buzzword or just “nice to have.” It has become an essential form of economic infrastructure: the mechanism that allows knowledge, skills, policy, and markets to connect in ways that generate real, concrete value.
While Lebanon’s economy shrank by nearly 40% between 2019 and 2024, the country spent just 0.23–0.25% of its GDP on research and development, well below its national target of 1%, the Arab region average, and the global average. This was before the economic crisis, which highlights how underfunded and fragile innovation remains.
Over the same period, Lebanon’s position in the Global Innovation Index has hovered in the low 80s and 90s between 2020 and 2025, reflecting weak performance in translating research, skills and creativity into economic outputs. These figures point to a structural problem: ideas exist, talent exists, but the link between knowledge and market impact remains fragile.
Research and development (R&D) refers to the process of turning knowledge into new or improved products, services and technologies. In functioning economies, R&D does not remain confined to universities or private labs; it moves through partnerships, pilot projects and shared platforms that allow innovation to scale. In Lebanon, such connective platforms have largely been fragmented.
This is where Knowledge & Innovation Communities (KICs) come in. Introduced in Lebanon through the Lebanon Innovate program funded by the European Union and implemented by Berytech, KICs are structured, sector-based collaboration models that intentionally bridge academia, industry, public institutions and business-support organizations. Rather than relying on informal networks or one-off events, KICs create regular coordination, shared priorities, and clear responsibility for action.
Internationally, KICs are best known through the European Institute of Innovation and Technology model, which has demonstrated how long-term collaboration across sectors can produce startups, commercialized research and sustained economic impact. Lebanon’s version adapts this logic to a more constrained environment, focusing on three sectors where collaboration can realistically generate value: Agrifood, Healthcare and ICT.
A concrete illustration of how this works can be seen in international models such as the U.S. Manufacturing USA network. Operating as a linked set of public–private institutes, Manufacturing USA brings together industry, universities, federal agencies and support organizations to tackle sectoral bottlenecks by offering shared facilities, technical assistance, standards work and direct pathways to markets. Instead of leaving firms to navigate these challenges alone, the network coordinates resources and pilot projects so research and industry needs align. This is the KIC logic in action: small, coordinated interventions that help sectors move from potential to performance.
What makes KICs particularly relevant to Lebanon today is their ability to address the country’s weakest links. KICs do more than connect institutions: they build the practical pipeline that turns research into marketable products. In concrete terms a KIC facilitates sector road mapping, brokers partnerships between universities and firms, and offers shared services (training and consultancy.)
Recent annual KIC steering meeting under the Lebanon Innovate program illustrates this operational focus. These meetings review the previous year’s progress and translate lessons learned into concrete roadmaps, governance arrangements and sustainability plans for the year ahead, with an emphasis on pilots that can demonstrate value quickly.
In parallel, KICs face real constraints. Sustainability remains a challenge in a fragile financing environment, and building a mindset of technology transfer and collaboration between academia and industry does not happen automatically. Visibility is another hurdle, as many potential stakeholders are still unfamiliar with the KIC model or unsure of its relevance. Yet these challenges are precisely why structured collaboration matters. By embedding sustainability measures into each initiative, maintaining regular coordination, and producing visible results, KICs can gradually build credibility and momentum.
Success will also not mean transforming Lebanon’s economy overnight. Rather, it will look like functioning public–private partnerships, clearer pathways for research commercialization, improved products in sectors such as Agrifood and Healthcare, new job opportunities, and better access to regional and global markets.
KICs are not a cure-all for Lebanon’s economic challenges. But in a country that continues to produce highly skilled researchers, engineers, entrepreneurs and creatives, often despite institutional collapse, the opportunity lies in better connecting what already exists.
Lebanon has immense potential: highly educated talent, entrepreneurial energy and vibrant sectors that remain underleverages. By bringing these elements together, KICs offer a framework where structure challenges become opportunities. Through technology transfer, partnership building and shared services, these communities can convert resilience into long-term economic impact and transform innovation potential into real-world solutions.
Funded by the European Union, the Lebanon Innovate program, implemented by Berytech, introduced and supported the KIC model in Lebanon across the Agrifood, Healthcare and ICT sectors.
