Brazil and the European Union share the same understanding of digital transformation importance to economical development, job generation, and social inclusion.

It has been 12 years of a successful partnership, in which 50 million Euros were invested in 20 research and innovation projects that involved more than 200 institutions from both sides of the Atlantic. Half of these resources were provided by the Brazilian government, and the majority was derived from the Law of Computing [Lei de Informática], through PPI from RNP.

In order to reaffirm the importance of this partnership, representatives from Brazil and the European Union have gathered in Brussels for the 11th EU-Brazil Dialogue about the Society of Information and Digital Economy, carried out on November 26th. The event happens once a year and takes turns between Brazil and EU, organized together with MCTIC, MRE and DGConnect from the European Commission.

RNP had three representatives in the Brazilian delegation: director and coordinators of R&D from CTIC Lisandro Granville, Wanderson Paim and Lucas Bondan, respectively. The so-called BR-EU coordinates and the support to R&D&I were topics in the talks and both reinforced the interest in continuing or even extending to new support methodologies, which are more focused on technological innovation and transference through larger participation in the Brazilian production industry.

 “It was extremely important for RNP to be part of this event, to present results of the coordination work from the last two BR-EU Calls in ICT, besides contributing in the talks for outlining future initiatives,” highlighted Lisandro.

Common interest subjects of the ICT area were approached, as well as the construction of a submarine cables between Brazil and Europe. In addition, the group has exchanged experiences and visions on the regulation of communications, security, and privacy of data, industry digitalization, smart cities, artificial intelligence, among others.

The meeting has also been a space to establish some commitments, such as the European participation in Brazilian events in areas considered strategic, definition of priority research areas, development and innovation and a well-defined schedule of meetings for 2020. Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and 5G were some of the common areas of interest identified.

The next Dialogue edition will be conducted in Brasília in the end of next year. It is expected the announcement of joined initiatives to be developed and included in the new European program “Horizon Europe”, successor of the current H2020, which will begin in 2021.

This edition counted with the participation of Brazil’s ambassador in the European Union, besides representatives of several Brazilian institutions, including Entrepreneurship and Innovation registrars Paulo Alvim, and Vitor Elisio, registrar of Telecommunications, both from the MCTIC.