ACTIVITIES :: International Relations :: Dialogue Coop :: Latin America

Latin America

EU relations with the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region in the Information Society field have been substantially reinforced over the last years. Information Society is now firmly in the bi-regional political agenda. Relations with Brazil in this field will have an impulsion following the launching of a EU/Brazil Strategic Partnership.

Relations with Brazil

Relations between the European Union (EU) and Brazil entered a new era with the Strategic Partnership launched in 2007.

The EU-Brazil Dialogue in the Information Society field between the European Commission and Brazilian authorities - covering aspects of policy, regulation and research & development cooperation in the ICT sector - has been strengthened over the last years and has been made annual, as a concrete step to implement this Strategic Partnership.

The 2010 session of the Dialogue identified a number of priority topics for cooperation, namely: telemedicine; internet governance; e-learning/skills; child rights and empowerment online; ICT and Africa; e-government; interoperability, standards, procurement; e-inclusion; and regulatory challenges.

The importance of cooperation with Brazil in the Information Society field stems from the following factors:

The growing importance of Science and Technology in general, and the Information Society/ICT especially, in the context of the EU Strategic Partnership with Brazil;
The increasing globalization of the economy, and the ICT sector in particular, as well as the leadership role that Brazil plays in Latin America and its growing importance in the world in strategic issues for the EU, such as Internet governance, network and information security, etc.;
The significant investments of European industry in the telecommunications and ICT sectors in the country following the privatization process in the late 90s.

R&D cooperation with Brazil in the ICT field has seen major progress, notably through a coordinated call with Brazil which was launched in September 2010 with a €5 million funding from each side. This call covered 5 topics: Microelectronics/Microsystems, Networked Monitoring and Control, Future Internet – experimental facilities, Future Internet – security, and e-Infrastructures. It was published on the same day by both sides and evaluated in one single co-evaluation in February 2011. It should lead to five pairs of twinned projects, which are expected to start during 2011.

Moreover, Brazil has an excellent participation record in the EU Seventh R&D Framework Programme (FP7), which covers the period between 2007 and 2013, and is expected to continue performing well in future. Indeed, in the first 4 years of FP7 there were 36 participations by Brazilian organisations in projects in these fields. This compares to 40 participations during the full duration of FP6 (which covered the period 2002-2006).

EU cooperation with Brazil is a substantial part in the broader cooperation framework with Latin America in the Information Society/ICT field

4^th EU-Brazil Information Society Dialogue

The 4^thand latest session of the annual Dialogue that the European Commission and the Brazilian Government have established in the ICT field in the context of the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership, took place in Brasilia between 7^th and 8^th of November 2011.

The Commission and the Brazilian authorities shared their respective experience and knowledge of policy and regulatory aspects in the ICT field, including broadband development, internet governance and security, cloud computing and digital broadcasting and content. A number of events took place: meetings of the ICT Subcommittee, a number of workshops and presentations related to the state of play of the first coordinated call projects as well as presentation of topics of the second coordinated call.

The Dialogue concluded in a press conference with an official announcement on the preparation of the launch of a second EU-Brasil coordinated call for proposals with as much as €10 million in joint funding.

This agreement builds on a success of the first coordinated call and on the experience of a decade of Brazilian participation in the EU's Research Framework Programmes (FP). In FP7 (2007-2013), 48 Brazilian organisations have already become partners in projects funded under the EU’s ICT R&D and e-Infrastructures programmes.

In the second coordinated call researchers and industries in the two regions will be supported to conduct research in four crucial thematic areas of Cloud computing for science, Sustainable technologies for a smarter society, Smart services and applications for a Smarter Society, and Hybrid broadcast-broadband TV applications and services.

Publication of the full text of this call is foreseen for the second semester of 2012.

Meanwhile, both European and Brazilian parties are working progressively in order to finalise a set of common reference documents including a Work Programme and evaluation criteria for the call.

Similarly to the previous call, the 2nd Coordinated Call will be published via Participants Portal and the full text will be available in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Projects' presentations, 1^st EU-Brazil Coordinated Call:

1. Microelectronics/Microsystems:

ProTrodi

2. Networked Monitoring and Control:

BEMO-COFRA

BEMO-COFRA - part 2

3. Future Internet-Experimental Facilities:

FIBRE

4. Future Internet:

Security-SECFUNET

Security SECFUNET - part 2

5. e-Infrastructures: