Le Maroc vient de franchir une nouvelle étape dans sa stratégie de transformation numérique et industrielle. À Rabat, le ministère de l’Industrie et du Commerce, le ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche scientifique et de l’Innovation, ainsi que le ministère de la Transition numérique et de la Réforme de l’Administration ont signé une convention de partenariat avec ALTEN Maroc. Cet accord public-privé a pour objectif de structurer un écosystème d’excellence en intelligence artificielle (IA) et en technologies industrielles, afin de renforcer la compétitivité du Royaume et d’accélérer sa transition vers l’Industrie 4.0.

La convention s’inscrit dans le sillage des Hautes Orientations Royales, qui placent le développement du capital humain au cœur de la montée en puissance industrielle et de la digitalisation du pays. Elle vise à doter les jeunes des compétences nécessaires dans les technologies de pointe, tout en consolidant le rôle de l’université comme moteur d’innovation, de recherche et de développement économique. Le dispositif entend également renforcer les synergies entre secteurs public et privé, considérées comme essentielles pour faire émerger des projets à forte valeur ajoutée dans les métiers du numérique et de l’IA.

Ce partenariat est étroitement articulé avec la stratégie nationale « Maroc Digital 2030 » et la feuille de route « AI Made in Morocco ». Les autorités veulent ainsi positionner le Royaume comme un acteur de l’innovation technologique responsable et des technologies dites souveraines, dans un contexte de recomposition des chaînes de valeur industrielles. La convention accompagne par ailleurs la dynamique de transformation du système national d’enseignement supérieur, de recherche scientifique et d’innovation, en alignant davantage la formation et la recherche sur les besoins de l’économie numérique et industrielle.

Trois enjeux majeurs sont placés au centre de cet accord avec ALTEN Maroc : la montée en compétences et l’accompagnement des talents marocains dans les métiers du digital et de l’IA, l’accélération de la transition industrielle vers le modèle 4.0, et la structuration d’un écosystème d’excellence capable de soutenir durablement la compétitivité du Royaume. En misant sur un partenariat public-privé, Rabat cherche à créer un cadre opérationnel propice à l’émergence de solutions innovantes, tout en ancrant sa stratégie dans des objectifs de souveraineté technologique et de développement économique à long terme.

Hong Kong’s national security police have arrested the operators of Hunter Bookstore, one of the city’s best-known independent bookshops, in a move that underscores rising pressure on small publishers and retailers carrying titles deemed politically sensitive by authorities. Police said they detained a 33‑year‑old woman and a 32‑year‑old man on June 24 on suspicion of “acts with seditious intention” and handling property believed to represent the proceeds of an indictable offence. Local media identified one of those arrested as former district councillor and Hunter Bookstore founder Winnie Ho, though police did not name the suspects in their official statement.

Officers from the National Security Department searched the Hunter Bookstore premises in Sham Shui Po on Wednesday evening, according to police and local media accounts. More than a dozen officers were reported to have entered the shop, pulling down its metal shutters and removing stickers from the windows, while checking the identities of customers and passers-by. Police said they seized a batch of items, books and documents they described as having “seditious intention,” alleging that materials on display or for sale incited hatred against the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the judiciary and law‑enforcement agencies, in breach of Article 24 of the city’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

Authorities also said the two suspects were believed to have received multiple remittances from foreign political organisations, and indicated they are investigating potential violations of Hong Kong’s Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance. Convictions for acts with seditious intent can carry sentences of up to seven years in prison, while handling property believed to be derived from an indictable offence can draw terms of up to 14 years. Local reports cited the presence of a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai and works by political cartoonist Zunzi among the titles removed by police; similar books were previously described by pro‑Beijing outlets as “soft resistance” publications when criticising so‑called “yellow” bookstores that supported the 2019 protest movement.

The raid on Hunter Bookstore comes three months after national security officers searched another independent outlet, Yat-Chuen Bookhouse, and arrested its operator and three staff members over the display and sale of the same Jimmy Lai biography. All four were later granted bail, but the case sent a chill through Hong Kong’s small ecosystem of independent booksellers, many of which stock social and political titles alongside general literature. Ho has previously said that government departments carried out dozens of inspections and other actions targeting Hunter Bookstore over several years, even before the latest operation, as authorities and pro‑government media stepped up scrutiny of shops perceived to hold pro‑democracy views.

Ho, a former journalist and member of the now‑disbanded Civic Party, opened Hunter Bookstore after resigning her Sha Tin District Council seat and withdrawing from frontline politics in 2021. She has described the shop’s name, drawn from the Japanese manga “Hunter × Hunter,” as a statement against passivity, and has publicly argued that books should remain “open” and “free” unless and until explicitly banned. In interviews, she acknowledged a climate of fear among publishers and readers but said she sought to maintain a space for discussion within the narrowing bounds of Hong Kong’s legal environment. The latest arrests mark a further escalation in the city’s approach to independent bookshops, reinforcing a message that even small‑scale retail operations risk national‑security scrutiny over the choice of titles they carry and the sources of their funding.