After two years in the online format, last Wednesday (30/6), the 9th Meeting of Suppliers and Partners resumed in a hybrid format, with the face-to-face meeting in the city of Campinas-SP. The event was attended by 136 participants, including RNP partners and collaborators, 1,154 hits on the Eduplay platform and 1,938 hits on Youtube.  
 
In the first panel, the director of People, Administration and Finance, José Luiz Ribeiro Filho, mediator of the subject of governance and management, shared information for a greater understanding of how RNP works, what are the limits and scope of action for a better alignment between partners and the organization, making it possible to understand how the processes for purchasing and contracting services are operated, the maturity of management and risk assessment, transparency in the institutional relationship, and security and privacy.  
 
Camila Borges, Process and Risk manager, shared how the follow-up and monitoring of processes works and how the risk management process is handled in the organization.  

The Director of Cybersecurity, Emilio Nakamura, brought up the importance of security through the networks of relationships between partners and RNP, where there is a large flow of data, which requires even greater care in terms of legal compliance and protection of the data that are collected by these connections.  

Transparency of information was the topic addressed by the Information manager, Vanessa Macedo. She highlighted data from legislation, decrees and how reliability clauses work. She also shared the restructuring of the Access to Information space, where the regulations are made available, how the process for selecting suppliers, service providers, executors of works, and processes for selecting permanent personnel work. 
 
Bringing the central theme of this edition, "Partnerships in an uncertain digital era", the general director of RNP, Nelson Simões, spoke about the changes that occurred in the period of 2020 and 2021, with extreme digitization, accelerated modernity, which came loaded with uncertainty in business. Nelson mentioned that this is the century of uncertainty, where complicated problems demand specialists so that they can be solved. The complex problems are in the space of partnerships, instead of looking at a single event, however unpredictable it may be, we see a story. It's not just building a solution, but building scenarios. "It's part of our DNA to be curious. This shows the potential we have in jointly dealing with these problems and discovering new solutions. Our greatest value is people, that's where we find our skills, developing those they need for construction of the future", reported Nelson.  

Three reasons for partnerships that transform 
 
The first is sound governance, integrating public policies to generate results, supporting the community in digital transformation. The second reason is excellence in execution, generating proof of concept. And, finally, living the purpose in practice, understanding that we are working for a cause that generates this value, giving meaning to ideas, transforming education and research for everyone in Brazil.  
 
Opening the second panel, the Director of Research, Development and Innovation, Iara Machado, was the mediator, bringing the theme "Innovations and new models of partnerships", and how RNP is seeking to relate with startups. Deputy Director of Management and R&DI, Lisando Granville, shared the results achieved with the Open Innovation Program and how its use stimulates the creation, promotion and development of startups, creating possible potential business partnerships. The Deputy Director of Specialized Digital Services, Marcello de Jesus, spoke about how the search for innovation in the supplier qualification process, through startups, has been evolving. We also had two guests, Bruno Matos, from Startup GetInsight, and Reinaldo Matushima, from BrainIt, who shared their perceptions about this model.  
 
The person who initiated the Infrastructure and Services panel was the deputy director of the Escola Superior de Redes, Leandro Guimarães, who mediated and brought a reflection on what the world would be like without the brilliant minds dedicated to technological evolution. Then, Oswaldo de Freitas, manager of Strategic Projects, explained how Infrastructure and Connectivity projects and programs work, such as Internet Brazil, Connected Schools and Students, among others.  

Another prominent theme on the panel was Rede Ipê. The Deputy Director of Engineering and Operations, Ari Frazão, spoke about the current state of the network and future perspectives, about the new process of exchanging optical channels for points not served by existing partners, the process of contracting links for service to RNP's Points of Presence (PoPs) in the North region and on the equipment acquisition process. 

Still on the subject, the Deputy Director of Services, Luiz Coelho, shared the need to have a network to connect researchers to projects in the academic network, the secure storage of data collected through the exponential demand and the challenges that research institutions are facing in managing, storing and transmitting data. He spoke about RNP's role in this process, creating a new bridge between research and storage systems, the bridge of "simplicity", secure, with no cost of egress traffic and limited to the research system.  In addition, the Deputy Director of Solutions, Claudio Silva, explained how the solutions offered by RNP such as Wi-fi Brasil and SISU work, and their application opportunities. Closing the panel, Leandro Guimarães spoke about RNP's training services unit, Escola Superior de Redes, and the pillars of the new strategy between the partners, the distance learning system and the Educational Consultancy. 
 
In the second part of the Meeting, the traditional moment of acknowledgment of the activities carried out by RNP's Suppliers and Partners was held, with hardware, software, services and connectivity with the best deliveries within the defined deadlines.  
 
The Deputy Director of Relationships, Gorgonio Araujo, was invited to talk about RNP's Social Responsibility Program, about what is done beyond the organization's already programmed objectives, through volunteering, in projects such as Include, Amankay, RNP & British Council with Women in Tech training, among others. 
 
At the end of the meeting, the directors of RNP had a round table on the major movements of RNP, demonstrating the new possibilities and opportunities for the future.  

 
Watch the full recording of the 9th Meeting of Suppliers and Partners: