On December 6th, the Brazilian National Research and Educational Network (RNP) has promoted the second edition of the Workshop on BR-EU Cooperation Program. The event, held in Brasilia, assessed the four cooperation programs carried out since 2010, and that included, overall, 20 scientific cooperation projects between Brazil and the European Union, with funds of around EUR 50 million, half of which was allocated by the Brazilian side, using sources from the Lei de Informática (Informatics Law), and the other half by the European. The workshop also determined the official launching of the projects chosen at the 4th BR-EU Cooperation Program, in a ceremony headed by the director of Digital Ecosystems from the Secretariat of Informatics Policies (Sepin) of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC), Otavio Caixeta, and the minister-adviser of the European Union Delegation in Brazil, Carlos Oliveira (picture1).

“The expectations for the results of the program are big, and come from both levels: the first one is having better qualified researchers since they will be working with the most sophisticated technological developments and international science. Besides, this collaboration between different realities is what created the possibility for innovation. In another level, we expect concrete results since we have fantastic ideas, which can be used to improve public policies and to the society. And these projects can only be realized through this partnership”, highlighted Caixeta.

In Brazil, the project monitoring is made by the RNP, under the MCTIC supervision, and on the European side, by the European Commission (EC). The purpose of the program is to strengthen the synergy between the existing competences in the Research and Development (R&D) communities in Brazil and in Europe, especially institutions strongly involved with the industry. According to RNP R&D coordinator, Wanderson Paim, the results of the cooperation can already be seen at strategic, tactical and operational levels. “Through the program, it is possible to cooperate in the development of common interest topics, for the preparation and implementation of projects, through direct work between researchers, students, professors and entrepreneurs, in scientific productions, prototypes, and even new solutions”, he says.

The event opening ceremony happened along with the 10th Brazil-European Union Dialogue on Information and Digital Economy Society, held on December 6th and 7th, in the same venue. The table was comprised of the European Commission representatives Carlos Oliveira, in the Brazilian side, and Tonnie de Koster, in the European side; the director of the Department of Science, Technology and Digital Innovation of the MCTIC, José Gontijo; and the member of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Carlos da Fonseca (picture 2). According to Koster, this is an important moment for the partnership between Brazil and the European Union. “We have been living a digital revolution in the past ten years, and we need to come up with simple digital strategies that are easy to understand, in order to regulate new strategies”, he emphasized.

The workshop agenda included the presentation of an assessment commissioned by the MCTIC and by the EC on the projects developed in the second program, held in 2012, carried out by Paulo Siqueira, from the CNPq, and Jorge Pereira, from the European Commission (picture 3). The results highlighted challenges and achievements from the cooperation program. “It was clear how we can interpret these initial experiences as learning by doing”, emphasized Siqueira, reinforcing the need to always review the actions and implement improvements in order to have a more beneficial cooperation for both sides.

The contemplated in the 3rd program, in 2015, were invited to report the status of their projects. The initiatives represented were EUBrasilCloudForum, Priscila Solís, from the University of Brasília (UnB), and Marco Vieira, from the University of Coimbra (PT); EUBrazil-Bigsea, Ignacio Blanquer, from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (ES); Securecloud, Andrey Brito, from the Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG); HPC4E, Alvaro Coutinho, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ); and Futebol, Cristiano Both, from the Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA). Details on the results can be followed on the websites for each project (see below).

It was also presented the Fibre testbed, a platform for researches in computer networks developed as one of the projects in the 1st BR-EU Cooperation Program, now coordinated by the RNP. The explanation on the experimentation environment was given by the deputy director of the RNP Advanced Internet, Iara Machado. “Fibre fosters the development of new technologies in Brazil and the world, in addition to provide support to researches from the academic community and small companies”, assessed Iara.

Awards

In the last edition (4th Program), held this year, six projects were contemplated, divided into the areas of Cloud Computing , Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G Networks. The initiatives gather 68 institutions, of which 39 are Brazilian and 29 are European. The selected ones received an award during the event and presented the proposals that will be developed in the next three years, between 2018 and 2020.

Ahead of Necos (Novel Enablers for Cloud Slicing) on the Brazilian side, the Unicamp researcher Christian Rothenberg (picture 4) says that the award is also an opportunity to meet in person the researchers selected in other projects, and to exchange experiences, since everyone has a lot of expectations and challenges to overcome, and must also support one another. “We want to find in the project a ‘slice’ – as the initiative name suggests – that has a positive impact and a technological contribution to the society. I believe this is the mission of all awarded here today”, he says.

According to the researcher, it is possible to see an alignment among the projects in terms of trends and technologies explored, such as the use of artificial intelligence and open code methods. “Everyone agrees, for example, that the open source must be addressed for the development of common technological bases that can provide a more extensive contribution to the global community”, he highlighted. See below the link for the articles on each project of the 4th program.

Preparation for the 5th BR-EU program

Topics to be addressed in the 5th Cooperation Program were also discussed, and its public notice should start being developed in 2018. The director from the RNP’s Research and Development Centre in Information and Communication Technology (CTIC/RNP), Lisandro Granville, presented the results of a research commissioned by the Sepin to the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) regarding the most popular ICT topics among the scientific community in Brazil.

In first place was the Internet of Things (IoT), mentioned by 50.8% of the respondents, followed by big data and analytics (41.7%), cloud (30.8%), next generation internet (25%), advanced networks in communication (19.2%) and cybersecurity (14.2%). “This information is very important so we can map the researchers’ interests, and develop programs more aligned to their expectations. We believe that we have reached the level we did, in terms of project quality, because the topics proposed are always well-aligned to the reality”, he said.

The guests also participated in a round of presentations for the discussion of topics of interest for the fifth program. Among the topics addressed were IoT, cybersecurity, machine learning and high performance computing. The Inesc P&D Brasil representative, Roberto da Piedade, elicited a debate on the industry digitalization. “We need to deepen the discussions on this new generation of the industrial sector, and develop platforms and tools that allow a more connected and flexible industry, expanding the production potential, thus contributing to the countries’ economies”, he said.

Projects from the 3rd BR-EU Cooperation Program

Futebol: http://ict-futebol.org.br(link is external) 

HPC4E: http://hpc4e.eu(link is external) 

SecureCloud: http://securecloudproject.eu(link is external) 

EUBra-BigSea: http://www.eubra-bigsea.eu(link is external) 

EUBrasilCloudForum: https://www.eubrasilcloudforum.eu (link is external)

Projects from the 4th BR-EU Program

Project will allow the more effective use of cloud computing resources

Researchers map people’s habits to improve industrialized goods

Technology based on the Internet of Things promotes reduction in childhood obesity

Sensors connected to irrigation systems promise to prevent waste

Project takes internet and development to rural areas

Credits for pictures 1 and 3: Ivo Lima/MCTIC