Successful Project Angels Skype Conference

The first Project Angels Skype conference was held on 19 January 2011 and it was attended by Project Angels from Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mexico.

The main issues addressed in the conference were focused on the new Call 9 and on ideas about how to better collaborate and work to increase the participation of Latin American partners in European FP7 ICT projects.

The Project Angels are specifically trained in the understanding of the EU's ICT Programme and EU funding mechanisms. Having received their diploma of having successfully followed the course, they will act locally to help potential project participants with advice on how to participate in EU research programmes.

The - new- AMERICAS project will continue with these efforts and will offer Project Angels summer schools in several Latin America countries during the next two years. 

More information on Project Angels

The FP7-ICT Call 9 is now open!

The new call for proposal has been published today (18/01/2012) with a deadline of 12th of April 2012, at 17:00.00 Brussels local time. The indicative budget is 291 million euros.

Several objectives of the following Challenges are open: Challenge 2: Cognitive systems and robotics, Challenge 4: Technologies for Digital Content and Languages, Challenge 5: ICT for Health, Ageing Well, Inclusion and Governance, Challenge 8: ICT for Learning and Access to Cultural Resources, Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) and International cooperation -partnership building and support to dialogues-.

For more information:
Download the call fiche
Visit the ICT wiki
Visit the Participants portal

Important notification:

The PRO-IDEAL blog is now taken over by the AMERICAS initiative. Even if the Blog design was re-styled, the content will remain the same and new information about EU-LA ICT cooperation will be posted regularly in this blog. The AMERICAS website will be soon abailable with detailed information about new activities to promote the ICT cooperation between EU and Latin America. If you bookmarked the Pro-Ideal Blog you don´t need to change your bookmark to continue receiving the news.

EUBrazilOpenBio project embarks in the biodiversity research area

Officially started on 1st October 2011 and funded by the European Commission (FP7-ICT) and the Brazilian Minister of Science Technology and Innovation (MCTI) - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) within the 2010 edition of the EU-Brazil coordinated call, EUBrazilOpenBio “Open Data and Cloud Computing e-Infrastructure for Biodiversity” will set-up a virtual environment -namely an e-Infrastructure of open access resources-, to tackle the complexity of Biodiversity Science, in line with the European and Brazilian drive to join forces and deploy cloud computing solutions to address scientific challenges in fields such as environment modelling, biodiversity and life science.

"Europe and Brazil share many cultural and social roots and values, which are reflected in the way we have been addressing the socio-economic potential and the challenges of ICT. […] Both sides have a lot to gain in further strengthening collaboration in this field."

Ms Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, released this statement in conjunction with the Workshop "Brazil-EU Cooperation in ICT R&D" which took place on 7th & 8th November in Brasilia, Brazil, crowning the launch of a new coordinated call for research and development, while the new project had just started exactly to respond to European and Brazilian need of cooperation in biodiversity.

The principal product of the project will be to operate an e-Infrastructure for the biodiversity user communities working on biodiversity taxonomy and niche modelling. “A user services support and operation centre will be set-up to support our user communities while exploiting the Virtual Research Environment provided by the EUBrazilOpenBio platform“ explained Vinod Rebello, EUBrazilOpenBio Brazilian Scientific Director. “The success of EUBrazilOpenBIo will be measured by the level of our users' satisfaction”.

EUBrazilOpenBio has already been presented in Europe, at the GRDI2020 workshop on 18th October in Brussels, and in Brazil at the Workshop "Brazil-EU Cooperation in ICT R&D" 7th Nov 2011, Brasilia by Vanderlei Perez Canhos, Brazilian Coordinator, and Vassil Alexandrov, European Coordinator. It has two main objectives: to empower user groups to leverage data e-Infrastructure of Open Access resources, tools and services & to educate collaborative communities, especially next generation scientists, on the benefits of such data e-Infrastructure, as an example of cooperative research without frontiers.

For more information please refer to the project website.

18 new Project Angels successfully trained in FP7 ICT programme and EU funding mechanisms

18 Project Angels from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Bolivia have just received the Project Angels Diploma for their success in the last on-line Project Angels coaching course.

The “Project Angels” network in Latin America is a distinctive contribution of the PRO-IDEAL and the PRO-IDEAL PLUS project that set up a mechanism to train experts (“Angels”) in the understanding of the ICT programme and EU funding rules, thus being able to help potential partners from their countries to become part of a cooperation project. It is an innovative approach to create a sustainable network in the target countries that can provide their acquired special knowledge to potential project partners in their respective countries, and that eventually, will effectively promote the ICT cooperation between the EU and Latin America.

Following the coaching courses and awareness raising events held in the PRO-IDEAL and PRO-IDEAL PLUS target countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Cuba – More than 100 candidates to Project Angels have been recruited and coached so as to attain the “Project Angel” certification. After 3 coaching course editions, the network counts now with more than 45 active Project Angels in Latin America.

Future of the Project Angels

The Project Angels coaching courses where part of the Pro-Ideal and Pro-Ideal Plus projects funded by teh EU FP7 ICT programem and which are now going to the end. However, in order to keep the network and continue the collaboration between Latin America and Europe in the ICT R&D field, new initiatives and activities will be offered from 2012 onwards: Project Angels Summer Schools will be organized within a new project “AMERICAS”, Some Project Angels courses will be continued in several Latin American countries (Run by project partners and/or public institutions), a monthly SKYPE call on Q&A will be offered to the active Project Angels from January 2012 onwards and some Project Angels will be invited to join the external advisors network of EMF.

Consult the list of active Project Angels
For more information please contact us

Horizon 2020, the new EU programme for research and innovation

The European Commission published yesterday its Communication on Horizon 2020, the new R&I Framework Programme. It is fully in line with the EU's policy strategies like the Innovation Union or the Digital Agenda. A SME focus is one of the most important new elements.

With regard to International Cooperation, the Communication emphasises the promotion of internationall mobility of researchers and innovation staff. The focus of international cooperation in Horizon 2020 will be on cooperation with three major country groupings:

(1) industrialised and emerging economies;
(2) enlargement and neighbourhood countries; and
(3) developing countries.

Horizon 2020 will continue with the principle of general openness, while encouraging reciprocal access to third country programmes.

For more information:
Read the Communication
Visit the website

Launch of the Joint Declaration to strengthen EU-LA cooperation

The Joint Declaration to strengthen EU-LA cooperation was launched yesterday at the “Fostering EU-Latin America ICT Policy Dialogue” event in Brussels in front of 120+ stakeholders from Latin America and the EU.

The ambitious programme gave an overview of EU-LA initiatives and showcased the steady development of the S&T relations of both regions. Pro-Ideal presented the network of Project Angels of the Pro-Ideal Plus project. The event closed its first day of work with a discussion on collaboration priorities and instruments that will be part of the Joint Declaration.

Today, in the afternoon, the Joint Declaration will be presented to the Members of the European Parliament in Brussels.

Open publication - Free publishing

The Joint Declaration is based on the results of studies, activities, meetings and discussion brought forward by stakeholders partnered in a number of project initiatives and follows the identification of common challenges, synergies and future opportunities in EU-LAC cooperation in the field of ICT.

The Joint Declaration is an evolving document and all stakeholders active in ICT international cooperation for R&D+i between Europe and Latin America are invited to support and/or give their contributions based on their specific experience and interest.

Support and/or give your contribution to the Declaration

More information

Fostering EU-Latin America ICT policy dialogue

Organized by the FORESTA project funded under the EU’s 7Th Framework Programme to support R&D cooperation between Latin America and Europe in the field of ICT, the conference ‘Fostering EU-Latin America ICT Policy Dialogue’ will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday and Tuesday 28 and 29 November 2011. The event will be an important forum for European and Latin-American research stakeholders to discuss strategies to intensify cooperation in Information and Communication Technologies. It bring together stakeholders from ICT research, industry and industry federations, decision-makers, European and Latin-American research and innovation funding agencies, as well as SMEs and large companies from each region interested in cooperation with Latin America and with Europe.

‘Fostering EU-Latin America ICT Policy Dialogue’ event will use panels and round tables to elicit the insights of invited experts and inputs from the audience in order to develop strategic recommendations in support of a reinforced EU-LA ICT cooperation. The recommendations will be streamlined into a Joint Declaration that will be presented to representatives of the European Commission, the European Parliament and Latin-American governments in the closing session of the event to be held at the European Parliament.

Pro-Ideal and Pro-Ideal Plus partners will also actively participate at the event

More information

New EU Strategy for SME internationalisation

The EC issued a new communication on the internationalisation of SMEs yesterday, 9 November 2011 in which it laid down a new strategy to pave the way for SMEs to expand their business outside the EU. Among the activities are:
1. Strengthening and mapping the existing supply of support services
2. Creating a single virtual gateway to information for SMEs
3. Making support schemes at EU level more consistent
4. Promoting clusters and networks for SME internationalisation
5. Rationalising new activities in priority markets
6. Leveraging existing EU external policies

More on SME internationalisation

Communication text

Occupy the digital

The central challenge our minds and leaders have to face is promoting digitization of the creative economy, health and culture.

Deepens the global crisis, but digital growth continues. In Brazil and the world. The Internet 3.0 is emerging, development is increasingly the result of an individual and collective intelligence that breaks boundaries, territorial and even emotional.

This internet of "the future" is already coming to schools, businesses, governments and civil society. Intelligent cities, creative, social networking and challenges to intellectual property standards, income generation and governance occupy our daily lives. We are becoming social beings that feed semibodies that are growingly embedded in technological audiovisual digital life. The crisis sealed the fate of the financial game. In the network society, the way out of the crisis is digital.

It is a fact that panic often leads to resistance to the digital. Many cling to the occupation of physical space, the place, which still seems to be "real."

But even the physical occupation of the square only works if turned into images, news, digital information circulating in the net as the only means to generate value while remixing the real and the virtual square, as media.

Whether by increasing access to information, communication and knowledge, the many new forms (positive and negative) to colonize the virtual space or turn it into battlefield to change the world, digital realities are now the condition for the survival of individuals, groups, businesses and governments.

On the horizon of the global digital society, three structuring vectors integrate the agenda of the ICT Forum (information and communication technologies), which is now installed by the Pro-Ideal consortium at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of Sao Paulo.

The first vector is health, individual and public, seen as a priority to translate the power of ICTs to accelerate faster improvements in indicators of human development.

The second is digital culture, a process that combines digital and real to redefine the boundaries between education and fun, knowledge or technology and employment, income and wealth.

The scenario os one of expanding the "creative economy", which in many countries have been presented as a "lifeline".

It is worth warning: what are we going to do with the World Cup and the Olympics, not in terms of stadiums, roads and airports, but in education and culture?

Last, but not least, ICTs have been and continue to be a determining factor in the design and reconstruction of debit and credit networks, means of payment and financing, with the emergence of social and creative currencies which can change the speed and give more meaning to local development policies.

To promote the digitization of health, culture and the creative economy is the central challenge that our authorities, business and social leaders as well as academic and cultural intelligences must face.

To occupy the digital is to go beyond weeping and teeth gnashing now plaguing societies worldwide, so many victims of a global financial "meltdown". However, to build the network society, we should not only buy machines or extend cable and wireless networks. We must know how to make the best use of this infrastructureas well. Do we want to change the world? Let´s occupy the digital, now.

An article by Gilson Schwartz and Guilherme Ary Plonski

New coordinated call EU-Brazil for R&D proposals in the ICT field

The European Commission and the Brazilian Government have agreed, at their annual Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) dialogue in Brasilia, to launch a new coordinated call for research and development proposals with €10 million available in funding.

This call for proposals will allow researchers and industries in the two regions to extend their work together into areas like cloud computing for science, sustainable technologies for smart cities, smart platforms for a smarter society, and hybrid broadcast-broadband TV applications and services. The Commission and the Brazilian authorities have also agreed to share their respective experience and knowledge of policy and regulatory aspects in the ICT field, such as broadband development, internet governance and security, cloud computing and digital broadcasting and content.

This agreement builds on more than a decade of Brazilian participation in the EU's Research Framework Programmes (FP), with a total EU contribution for Brazilian organisations of more than €7 million. 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. This represents more than a quarter of all Latin American participants in the EU’s research programmes and is expected to grow in the future, thanks to new funding opportunities to support collaboration with third countries. [Source: Europa press releases]

Taller Interactivo Pro-Ideal Plus, 10 Noviembre, Bogotá

La Universidad Nacional de Colombia, en cabeza de la Oficina de Relaciones Internacionales e Interinstitucionales, tiene el agrado de invitarle a participar en el Taller Interactivo PRO-IDEAL PLUS, que se desarrollará en la ciudad de Bogotá el día jueves 10 de noviembre de 2011, entre las 8:30 y las 12:00h en las instalaciones de la Hemeroteca Nacional – Auditorio Principal. E

l proyecto “Pro Ideal Plus” tiene como objetivo fortalecer la dimensión de la investigación, fortalecer el dialogo en políticas TIC en los países objetivo y el establecer la comunidad de investigación y desarrollo en el área de las TIC entre Europa y Latino América.El taller interactivo busca acercar a los actores involucrados en el tema ubicados Bogotá, con el fin de sentarse a dialogar con una metodología de trabajo ya establecida, y poder definir una ruta de trabajo para el futuro de las políticas TIC en Colombia, así como su alienación con la Unión Europea.
Mayor información:Pablo Andrés Deossa Molina: padeossa@gmail.com - 3012383099

Mas información

Global Public Policy Summit 2011, 6-8 November, Guadalajara

The WITSA Global Public Policy Summit 2011 will be held from November 6th to 8th, 2011, in the of Guadalajara, Mexico. The theme for this year is "Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age: e-Inclusion in an i-Society".

The event will gather 500 ICT executives, government officials and policy makers from more than 40 countries to share and learn how to promote the use of ICTs in public policies to overcome social exclusion and improve economic performance, employment opportunities, quality of life, social participation and cohesion.

More information

ICT Forum in Brazil. 3 and 4 November 2011, Sao Paulo

The Brazilian ICT Forum 2011 will be held the 3 and 4 November 2011 at Auditório Lupe Cotrim Prédio Central ECA - USP in Sao Paulo . The event, organised by USP and the PRO IDEAL PLUS consortium aims at reinforcing international cooperation between Brazil and the European Union in the ICT field.

The dialogue between national and international ICT leaders and decision makers will focus on the relevance of S&T cooperation in the ICT field between Latin America and Europe, the opportunities to enhance Latin America participation in FP7-ICT R&D cooperation projects, the role of ICT R&D as an enabler for growth, competitiveness and innovation, and the key ICT R&D priorities for international cooperation.

The forum will include a panel on EU - Latin America ICTs: Scenarios, Policies and Connections Intensive Seminar on "Project Angels 2011".

Download the agenda

ICT Forum held in Mexico

The ICT Forum: Mexico - EU Cooperation in ICT Research was held at the Santa Fe campus of the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City on 10 October 2011.

Representatives from Academia, the Public Sector and industry discussed how cooperation between these three stakeholders groups can be reinforced. An important part played the discussion on innovation and how Mexican partners can benefit from European projects in the future.

More information including the presentations of the ICT Forum will be
up-loaded soon at: http://www.pro-ideal.eu/ict_forum_mexico_2011

ICT Forum held in Buenos Aires

The ICT Forum Argentina - EU Cooperation in ICT Research was held in Buenos Aires on 6 October. Representatives from Academia, the Public Sector and industry discussed how cooperation can be reinforced in the future. An important part played the network of Project Angels is considered as core to support Argentinian project participants and that is strongly supported by MINCYT and ABEST.
More information including the presentations of the ICT Forum will be up-loaded soon here.

Foro de Innovación de las Américas (FIA 2011)

El Foro de Innovación de las Américas (FIA 2011) tendrá lugar del 20 al 22 de noviembre de 2011 en el Centro de Exposiciones del LATU en Montevideo.

El Foro de Innovación de las Américas surgió como continuación del Foro de Competitividad de las Américas (Americas Competitiveness Forum – ACF), llevado a cabo en junio de 2007 en Atlanta, Estados Unidos y ya celebró sus dos primeras ediciones en Uruguay, en 2008 y 2009, organizado por la Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación (ANII).

El evento incluye sesiones plenarias y talleres paralelos en los cuales se disertará sobre economía, políticas de innovación, turismo, biotecnologías (tanto en lo que tiene que ver con salud como lo referido a agroindustrias), energías alternativas, innovación social, diseño y temas de interés general.

El encuentro contará con la participación de oradores de prestigio mundial incluyendo CEOs de reconocidas empresas internacionales, gestores de implementación de políticas públicas en innovación y desarrollo y académicos de primer nivel en la temática. Asimismo se prevé la presencia de ministros de estado en C&T, responsables de instituciones científico-tecnológicas públicas y privadas, empresarios y emprendedores de varias ramas de actividad.

Más información

Mexican ICT Forum. October 10, 2011

The Mexican ICT Forum 2011 will be held in October 10 at ITESM facilities, Campus Santa Fe (Mexico City). The event, organised by ITESM and the PRO IDEAL PLUS consortium in collaboration with CONACYT, aims at reinforcing international cooperation between Mexico and the European Union in the ICT field.

The dialogue between national and international ICT leaders and decision makers will focus on the relevance of S&T cooperation in the ICT field between Latin America and Europe, the opportunities to enhance Latin America participation in FP7-ICT R&D cooperation projects, the role of ICT R&D as an enabler for growth, competitiveness and innovation, and the key ICT R&D priorities for international cooperation.
Please confirm your participation to mgonza@itesm.mx. For more information on the ICT Forum in Mexico, please refer to the ICT Forum 2011 programme.

Uruguay el país latinoamericano más avanzado en TIC

Según el último informe publicado por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones (UIT), Uruguay es el país más avanzado en tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) de América Latina. En el documento se evalúan los niveles de acceso a las TIC y su uso eficiente de 152 países, entre los cuales Uruguay ocupa el puesto 54.

En el primer puesto del ranking mundial se encuentra Corea del Sur, seguido de Suecia, Islandia, Dinamarca y Finlandia. Estados Unidos aparece en la posición 17 y España en la 25.

En América Latina, Uruguay ocupa el primer puesto, seguido de inmediato por Chile y Argentina. Brasil, Venezuela y Panamá son los siguientes tres países de la región en el índice de la UIT, en los lugares 64, 65 y 66, respectivamente. Más allá, en el puesto 70 se ubica Costa Rica, México en el 75, Colombia en el 76, Perú en el 83 y Ecuador en el 88.

El informe también proporciona datos acerca de cobertura, velocidad y precios de los paises.

Sincronizando la investigación entre la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica en TIC

Sincronizando la investigación entre la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica en TIC

Agencias latinoamericanas de financiamiento de Investigación y Desarrollo Tecnológico por primera vez tendrán cita en un simposio internacional, en el que podrán discutir acerca de los retos y oportunidades de una estrategia coordinada entre la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica en temas de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación (I+D+I).

Los próximos 21, 22 y 23 de septiembre, en Brasilia (Brasil), se llevará a cabo el panel internacional Euro-Latinoamericano en el que se darán cita los principales actores del gobierno, la academia e industria involucrados en temas de cooperación en Ciencia y Tecnología, evento denominado “Sincronizando Investigación, prioridades y oportunidades de la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica” en el que se debatirá acerca de los retos y oportunidades de una coordinación estratégica en I+D+i para la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica. Esta iniciativa permitirá reunir por primera vez a representantes del gobierno y agencias financiadoras de investigación, de distintos países latinoamericanos desde Chile hasta México, un completo hito del proyecto FORESTA, una acción de soporte del Séptimo Programa Marco (7PM) , cuyo objetivo es avanzar en la cooperación en investigación de TIC con los países Latinoamericanos que han establecido acuerdos de cooperación en Ciencia y Tecnología con la Unión Europea.

En los últimos meses, este proyecto llevó a una intensa consulta con las partes interesadas en el dominio de cooperación internacional, y organizaron una serie de conferencias en 5 diferentes países latinoamericanos en los que se han debatido los planes digitales nacionales y expectativas alrededor de la cooperación con Europa. Se han identificado áreas tecnológicas de mutuo interés y se han generado recomendaciones para un marco de colaboración mayor.

En la próxima cita en Brasil, participantes de los países Latinoamericanos, incluidos Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Brasil, México y Argentina compartirán sus experiencias y prácticas específicas relacionadas con la financiación de investigación con el fin de facilitar la generación de posiciones comunes y fomentar la sincronización de instrumentos de cooperación en investigación en TIC con la Unión Europea. El resultado esperado será un acuerdo sobre un trabajo conjunto para futuras actividades de cooperación con el objetivo final de armonizar mejor las estrategias de investigación de Latinoamérica y Europa.

Las agendas del evento, así como información práctica y detalles de inscripción, están listos y disponibles en la página web del proyecto www.forestaproject.eu. La participación en este evento es libre y se enfoca en todas las personas que tiene alguna relación con Investigación en Innovación y Tecnología, en particular los representantes de organismos de financiación, directivos de programas de financiación, personas involucradas en el dominio de cooperación internacional, así como empresarios interesados en la internacionalización de negocios.