EU en Brazilië stellen €10 miljoen beschikbaar voor onderzoeks- en ontwikkelingsvoorstellen op ICT-gebied (en)

European Commission - Press release

Brussels 8 November 2011 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.

Neelie Kroes i , European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda said, “The EU 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. This new research funding is another great step forward for EU-Brazil collaboration. Both sides have a lot to gain in further strengthening collaboration in this field."

Today's agreement means that EU and Brazilian researchers will join forces to deploy cloud computing solutions to address scientific challenges in fields such as environment modelling, bio diversity and life sciences. They will also work together to exploit sustainable technologies solutions (including microsystems and microelectronics) for smart cities and will deploy interoperable Internet infrastructures looking at how new trends on data (e.g. from sensors) and social networking can be applied to domains such as the management and monitoring of large crowds at large scale events, emergency situations and mobility. Europe and Brazil also agreed to work together towards the development of a new generation of hybrid broadcast-broadband TV applications and services, which take advantage of widespread internet connectivity, both for commercial use and for educational or public purposes.

Background

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.

This call builds on the first coordinated call that was launched in September of last year at the ICT 2010 "Digitally Driven" event held in Brussels (see IP/10/1200) with a joint funding of €10 million, which has funded projects in the areas of future Internet experimental facilities and security, microelectronics and micro-systems, networked monitoring and control, and e-Infrastructures.

This was the latest session of the annual Dialogue that the Commission and the Brazilian Government have established in the ICT field, covering policy and regulatory aspects, as well as R&D cooperation, in the context of the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership launched in 2007.

Brazil also plays a pivotal role in the Latin American RedCLARA network, the first regional Latin American research and education network spanning 12 countries, which is currently co-funded by the EU @LIS2 Cooperation Programme with €12 million until 2012. RedCLARA and its high speed link to the pan-European GEANT2 network have triggered high-level cooperation between EU and Latin American researchers. For example, this powerful intercontinental infrastructure has enabled European astronomers to access data produced by a unique radio-telescope situated in Chile and to collaborate with their peers in Brazil or United States to dramatically improve astronomical observation.

Links

Digital Agenda website: http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda

Neelie Kroes' website: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/kroes/

Follow Neelie Kroes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/neeliekroeseu