Workshop “ICT for better living", Brussels 15 April 2013

The EU-LAC Senior Officials Working Group on ICT for Societal Challenges, with the support of the AMERICAS project, are organizing the workshop “ICT for better living: increasing welfare of the societies in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean”, which will be held in Brussels on the 15th of April, in the context of the Senior Officials Meeting (16th and 17th of April). The workshop will address four topics of ICT for Societal Challenges: e-Inclusion, e-Health, Living Labs and Smart Cities. 

The Senior Officials Working Group on ICT for Societal Challenges was created in 2011 in the frame of the Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation (JIRI), endorsed by the European and Latin American and Caribbean Heads of State and Government at the 2010 Madrid Summit. The main objective of the Working Group is to enhance policy level cooperation on research and innovation in ICT between Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. 

Objectives of the workshop 

• Share the initiatives of the Working Group to a wider range of experts and stakeholders. 
• Definition of joint research topics in ICT, in the light of future funding opportunities. 
• Explore possibilities of coordination of research initiatives and national funding instruments. 

Who should attend?

The workshop is oriented towards EU and LAC experts, ICT stakeholders, senior officials, funding agency representatives and ICT researchers from the academia and industry. 

Venue: Chilean Embassy in Belgium, Rue des Aduatiques 106, 1040, Brussels.

The agenda can be downloaded here  

To attend the Workshop on ICT for better living on 15 April 2013 in Brussels please register at http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5934110083#

Is Linguistic Diversity becoming a greater business challenge in Latin America and southern Europe?

Interestingly, linguistic diversity – or the lack of it – is considered by some margin to be a greater business challenge in Latin America and southern Europe than elsewhere. For example, 38% of those surveyed in Brazil and 40% in Spain believe the difficulty in communicating in non-native languages to be a significant hindrance to effective cross-border relations.

A recent study by The Economist "Competing across borders: how cultural and communication barriers affect business" reveals the importance of languages for businesses. Two-thirds of respondents say that differences in language and culture make it difficult to gain a foothold in unfamiliar markets.

More information about the full report (.pdf).

Why the future is Latin American

“This 21st century will be our century, the century of Latin America,” wrote Sebastián Piñera, the president of Chile, in a recent article for The Economist. Piñera is right and the bet on “LatAm” as financiers like to refer to it, is a bet that is almost certain to come off.

Latin America has always been sexy and exciting, but now it is also a good place to make millions. A report from Deloitte last year said that the number of millionaire households in Brazil would pass a million by 2020.

More information about this article.

Virtual Info Days for LA presentations on-line

On 16/17 July, Virtual InfoDays for Latin America to share first-hand information about collaborative opportunities with Latin America and the Caribbean in the 2013 work programmes of FP7 were held. These are the last and biggest work programmes in FP7 and are already designed to facilitate the transition towards Horizon 2020. 

All presentations can be found here. Of special interest is the overview of all opportunities by Cornelia Nauen and Paul Vossen and the ICT presentation by our new PO, Vlassios Venner.

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

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