University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) has formalised the Consortium Agreement for the Africa Center of Manufacturing Excellence (ACME) on the sidelines of the Marrakech Airshow 2026. The consortium brings together Morocco’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the National Defense Administration, Boeing, OCP Group, Lockheed Martin, CETIM, Safran Nacelles and Airbus, with the participation of Moroccan institutions alongside leading international aerospace and industrial players providing an institutional and industrial foundation for ACME’s role in strengthening advanced manufacturing capabilities in Morocco, with the ambition of extending those capabilities across Africa.

Hosted by UM6P at its Nouaceur site, ACME will serve as a shared hub where consortium members collaborate to develop, test and support the industrialisation of manufacturing technologies, providing common equipment, coordinated research programmes and training through the ACME Academy to help translate research into industrial applications, strengthen supply chains and invest in Moroccan talent. The consortium will focus on advanced materials, additive manufacturing, machining, composite processing, industrial automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, metrology and non-destructive testing, operating through a project-based approach in which R&D projects are conducted collectively by members or developed in response to specific industrial requirements.

The agreement sets out governance, funding and intellectual property arrangements to support cooperation between institutions with different mandates, while preserving a shared direction for ACME’s research and industrial activities, and provides for a tiered membership model allowing additional organisations to join the consortium and contribute new industrial or scientific capabilities.

Note: Lockheed Martin, one of ACME’s founding members, separately announced this week the first flight of Morocco’s first F-16 Block 72 aircraft, part of a wider pattern of growing aerospace and defence activity in the country this year.