Editorial

Issue 2, Sep 2010

Special Edition ICT 2010

Digitally DrivenDear reader,

We are now approaching the central biannual rendez-vous of the Europe-an ICT constituency, the ICT Event. In its 2010 edition EU-Latin America cooperation will take a major position through the EU-Latin America ICT Gateway, continuing the work already started within the 2008 Lyon edition. The “Gateway” is an initiative supported by a cluster of three running EU-LA ICT international cooperation projects: FORESTA, FIRST and PRO-IDEAL PLUS, and representing an innovative approach to RTD cooperation be-tween the two regions as the cluster supports the research dimension in ICT policy dialogue while also enabling the industry to contribute consistently in this process for a more strategic national positioning through the establishment of Latin American counterparts of the European Technology Platforms, LATPs.ICT 2010 Digitally Driven will bring over 5000 participants in Brussels, among key academic, industrial and governmental stakeholders, project participants and programme beneficiaries, on 27-29 September, consist-ing of a crucial appointment where key European research results will be presented and where strategic cooperation is fostered.This special edition of our newsletter is fully dedicated to the ICT Event and focussing on the EU-Latin Ameri-ca initiatives promoted by the different ongoing projects addressing this specific area of international coopera-tion. The “EU-LAC ICT Gateway” has the goal to propose a single point where new potential cooperation in ICT research can be shaped and conducted in the most appropriate forms within ICT 2010.The initiative will be the catalyst for the Latin American delegation travelling to Brussels, including high gov-ernment officials to strengthen the commitment of the whole region in strategic cooperation with Europe in Science & Technology.In order to capitalise on the strong momentum generated around the ICT event, the EU-LAC ICT Gateway is organising a set of activities within ICT 2010 but is also collaborating with the INCO-NET project targeting Latin America in the organisation of an additional workshop on 30 September as follow-up to ICT activities and aiming to stimulate concrete collaborations around ICT work programme opportunities for 2011. The workshop will be presented during the event and will aim to organise an additional day in Brussels dedicated to EU-LA cooperation in ICT research and to fostering new project ideas.Please find herein the detailed programme of activities promoted by the EU-LAC ICT Gateway and I will be looking forward to greeting you in Brussels at the end of the month.

Best regards,Gian Michele MoscaFORESTA project coordinator

Editorial• FORESTA stimulating the research di-•

mension of science and technology cooperation

Join us at ICT 2010• The EU-Latin America ICT Gateway• EU-LAC 2011 DG Research Information •

DayLA with highest presence ever• Of particular relevance for Latin Ameri-•

ca…The point of view: cooperation with LA?!• EULARINET Workshop on EU-LA coop-•

eration possibilitiesFORESTA activities and results• Contact us•

Join us at ICT 2010 Digitally Driven

FORESTA stimulating the research dimension of science and technology cooperation

An increased emphasis on international research cooperation is emerging between Europe and other countries as stated in the research policies during the forum conducted at EU-LAC Madrid Summit, 18 May 2010. In this forum European and Latin American heads of State and Government declared the importance of bi-lateral coop-eration on ICT development and strengthened political dialogue on research and innovation.

EU-Latin America ICT Gateway represents one of these actions to strengthen the research dimension in ICT pol-icy dialogue. EU-LAC ICT gateway will take advantage of the ICT2010 event in order to build a bridge between Europe and Latin America, deploying an articulated set of activities. The principal goal is to allow researchers to know fellow scientists from both regions and enhance the scientific network in matchmaking sessions. Second one to learn about the funding possibilities for international cooperation. Europe sent a challenge, Latin America answers: let´s do research cooperation!

ICT 2010 will be a unique appointment for researchers from the EU to meet Latin American counterparts involved in the field of ICT and digital innovation. This event will present Europe’s Digital Agenda and the opening opportunities of the European Union funding to research and innovation in ICT. Key themes that will be discussed and debated by leading figures from business, academia and politics include:

The potential of digital solutions to promote sustainable growth in a low carbon • economyThe continuing constructive role of ICT in the daily life of citizens and• The importance of public participation in the innovation process•

The scientific community, the industry and policy makers will discuss research trends and key policy options, thus providing excellent networking opportunities among the array of stakeholders that compose the audience of the ICT event, including a consistent participation of Latin American high level researchers and policy makers.

For more information about the event go to http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/ict/2010/index_en.htm

The EU-Latin America ICT Gateway, supported by FORESTA, FIRST and PRO-IDEAL PLUS, will facilitate con-tacts and enable participants to meet face to face with the aim of consolidating Programme related relations be-tween the two regions and thus contribute to raise the attention on ICT and R&D within policy dialogue. Through its set of activities the EU-LAC ICT Gateway aims to be a strong player of this edition of the ICT event.

Issue 2, Sep 2010

The EU-Latin America ICT Gateway

The EU-LAC ICT Gateway will host a series of activities within ICT 2010 as well as in the aftermath of the event on Thursday 30/09.

Exhibition Stand• for the three days of the exhibition intended as a one-stop stand for EU-Latin America cooperation, a meeting point between delegations of Latin America ICT stakeholders with European re-searchers and potential partners: International Village, Zone D, stand n° 2956“Empowering EU-LA ICT Collaboration” Networking Session• dedicated to researchers, industries and policy makers involved or still just interested in cooperation activities with Latin America under the ICT Programme: Room 004, Tuesday 28, 11.00-12.30 (for more info: http://ec.europa.eu/information_so-ciety/events/cf/ict2010/item-display.cfm?id=3246)EU-LAC ICT Gateway Workshop• , in collaboration with DG Research project EULARINET also in sup-port of research policy dialogue with Latin America. The workshop will host presentations on future perspectives and opportunities with Latin America as well as hosting a brokerage session, the Project Café, dedicated to matchmaking and screening of project ideas for next FP7 calls: Brussels’ Goethe-Institut, Goethe-Institut (rue Belliard 58) Thursday 30/09 (for more info go to http://www.conacyt.gob.mx/uemexcyt2/w-eu-la2010.html).

This set of activities aim to present existing LA ICT excellence, market opportunities for EU research applications as well as offering EU researchers the opportunity to broaden their networks towards the LA region.

(For information about EU-LAC ICT Gateway initiative please go to http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ict2010/item-display.cfm?id=2956&displaypage=main)

EU-LAC 2011 DG Research Information Day

Issue 2, Sep 2010

A special Information Day will be organised by DG Research on Wednesday 29 September (15.00-18.00, Place Madou 1, 1210 Saint Josse - Ten Noode, Brussels) as it will focus on the forthcoming Programme opportuni-ties aiming to boost science and technology cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean and EU. Although not specifically related to the ICT programme, this event represents a good opportunity to learn about the priorities of the rest of the spectrum of research funding opportunities. For more information and registration for EU-LAC InfoDay please go to http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm?pg=eulac-infoday-2010 )

In addition to the specific activities implemented by the EU-LAC ICT Gateway, a Networking Session is fully dedicated to partner search in the ICT programme and promoted by the Ideal-IST project, with which FORESTA has strong relations.

Networking Session• “Ideal-IST: globally connecting people in FP7!”, in Room T012 on Tuesday from 14:00 -15:30)More information at http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ict2010/item-display.cfm?id=2827

Please take note of the following Exhibition Stands relating to EU-LAC cooperation in ICT:

In the International Village (Zone D): • EU-Latin America ICT Gateway: Fostering the ICT policy dialogue and research cooperation ◊ between Europe and Latin America. International Village (Zone D) – ABEST: besides Liaison Office Argentina◊ International Village (Zone D) – BrTICs: Brazilian Map of Competence in TICs ◊ International Village (Zone D) – MexICT-Coop: Mexican ICT Committee for Cooperation be-◊ tween EU and Mexico

National Contact Points and Ideal-IST: your worldwide ICT Support Network – European Commission • (Zone A)

Of particular relevance for Latin America…

LA with highest presence ever

Latin America’s commitment to the ICT biannual event and the high participation expected for this year shows it. The intention of delegates is to express more proactively their role to play in the ICT Programme, presenting research priorities of the different countries, while fostering opportunities for cooperation between companies and researchers of EU and LA in FP7 projects

A delegation of some 70 participants from different LA countries will travel to Brussels, including representatives from federal and state authorities in Science and Technology, researchers and companies interested in partici-pating in research and technology development projects in cooperation with Europeans.

Among the key research priorities in ICT identified as bearing a common interest from both regions are: Tech-nology-Enhanced Learning, Future Internet, Trustworthy ICT, Computing Systems and Components, Technolo-gies for Digital Content and Languages, ICT for Health, ICT for Learning and Access to Cultural Resources, ICT Systems for Energy Efficiency, among others.

Issue 2, Sep 2010

The European view:

What could be interesting for European research-ers to go for collaboration with LatinAmerica in ICT?

International cooperation in the research domain is a mechanism to share risks when targeting pre-compet-itive research on new technologies, as well as mecha-nisms to extend markets and connection with fellow researchers in Latin America.

Could you mention some experiences with the bi-lateral cooperation which could be useful for col-laboration on the level of FP7?

One experience of relevance in the cooperation do-

The point of view: cooperation with LA?

FORESTA, a project with the objective to stimulate the policy dialogue and the interest in research coopera-tion in ICT between Latin America and Europe, has participated in several meetings and events in Latin America related to thematic, discussing problematics and opportunities. We always hear the same ques-tions “why should I participate in a research coopera-tion project with LA?” and “How can we meet potential partners?”. Trying to answer these questions, we in-terviewed several researchers about their experiences and opinions on both sides of the Atlantic. Below we want to share with you the views from the interview with Dr. Hernández from Spain and Dr. González, Di-rector Phd and Master Computer Science programs from ITESM Campus Estado de México, who we have interviewed and which stand as an example.

Of particular relevance for Latin America…

Conferences of interest to LA

During ICT2010, more than 50 specialized conferences, brokerage events and workshops will take-place. In addition to the specific LA-events already expose, the following events are suitable to participate and exchange ideas in order to give a picture of our Latin American problems. Such ideas may include: Innovation, Infrastruc-tures, Social Inclusion, and International Cooperation. We encourage European and Latin American participants in ICT2010 to attend specifically the following events:

Digital roadmap to the futur• e - Keynote. Auditorium 2000, 28/09/2010 (10:30-11:10)Regions driving digital innovatio• n. T004, 27/09/2010 (14:00-15:30)Driving societal change, opportunities for al• l - Keynote. Auditorium 2000, 27/09/2010 (16:00-16:30)Trusted e-services for the citize• n. T001, 27/09/2010 (14:00-15:30)Driving societal change, opportunities for all• - Panel discussion. Auditorium 2000, 27/09/2010 (16:30-18:00)Open innovation - beyond the hyp• e. Auditorium 500, 28/09/2010 (16:00-17:30)SMEs and the Cluster Experienc• e. SME Forum, 29/09/2010 (10:15-11:15)Standards for e-Infrastructures & Future Internet Researc• h. T 009, 27/09/2010 (14:00-15:30)

Issue 2, Sep 2010

just before being invited to join OASIS, I went to an information workshop organized by the NCP-ICT at Tec Monterrey. I learnt, that I was able to participate as a third party country on similar conditions as a Eu-ropean country. This fact lowered the potential difficul-ties for our institution to accept the invitation. So we started to working on the administrative requirements on one side, for example the registration of the “LEAR”

and getting the “PIC number”, and paral-lel to develop the technical part of our participation. Additionally, I was invited to work during a week with the techni-cal manager of the project to clarify our participation.

Now in your experience: Do you think the participation of Latin America in FP7 should be encouraged? And if yes, what would you sug-gest for increasing that participation? Yes, the FP7 it is an option between many others for LA organizations willing to do international research activities, and it is not my role to judge or comment here, but I can spot that one limit for the LA participa-tion is that the FP7 program is not a typical “interna-tional donor” program. It’s a program where the goals

are oriented to Europe, not to the Mexican direct needs. FP7 projects, in order to be funded, have to keep in mind the Europe-an challenges, the European needs, and the LA organizations must find in these their own interests. LA needs are some-time similar to the European ones, but very often they are not. Therefore, if these FP workprogram objectives could be enlarged a bit for better matching the LA ones, then the LA participation in the FP7 could be

higher.

Dear Dr Hernández and Dr González, Would you recommend others to participate in LA research cooperation projects?

Definitively, yes. You might face at the beginning some communication problems, but these are normally eas-ily resolved. The experience to work as an interdisci-

main is the outcome on the selection of worldwide standards which have been produced in coopera-tion by researchers from Latin America and Europe. Among others, the DVB-RCS has been widely devel-oped through an international cooperation scheme.

But there had been also other answers not so techni-cal or political ones, showing a more human side.

Why are you interested in LA?

My student was from Mexico, so he invit-ed me to visit his country and institution. Really fascinating this country: good food, nice people, the culture is histori-cally very much influenced from Spain and I saw some research approaches which I nev-er imagined, so creative! If I think about the kind of problems they have to solve, it comes to my mind p.e. the energy providing to rural sites in a huge country which requires also efficiency in supplying the energy, where the application of Smart Grids could be useful. Imagine, the country is 10 times larger then Germany! And also on the other side, the problems to solve are not only technical but also social ones: modern so-ciety against traditional and indegenous one and so many different languages and cultures in a single country.

The Latin American View:

Dear Dr. Miguel Gonzalez, thank you for allowing having this interview with you. Your organization is partner of the OA-SIS project funded by FP7. The goal of this project is to enhance the living of the elderly. The project is lead by Philips. Our readers are interested to know: How did you learn about the European RTD funding programs, and how did you get involved in such European funded programs being your organization located in Mexico and quite far from Europe?

I did my PhD thesis participating on a FP6 project called AWAKE. When I came back to Mexico, I was asked to continue to work in the next phase of this project, which is now OASIS. It happened also that

The point of view: cooperation with LA?

Issue 2, Sep 2010

EULARINET Workshop on EU-LA cooperation possibilities

EULARINET with the support of FORESTA, FIRST and PRO-IDEAL PLUS is organizing a workshop focusing on EU-LA cooperation. Future perspectives of EU-LA cooperation will be discussed in that occasion and success stories as well as experiences on how to enhance cooperation will be presented. LA and EU representatives, National Contact Points (NCPs) and researchers as well as companies from both of the regions will meet to dis-cuss in “Project- Café” on on specific topics and information on calls 2011/2012 as well as enhancing scientific networks and defining future perspectives of collaboration.

The ICT workshop targets two audiences in its different working sessions: researchers interested in EU LA cooperation (on September 30) and policy makers to take part in a session of future perspectives on EU-LA cooperation in the field of ICT, defining common priorities and contributing to policy aspects of ICT research (on September 29). The partnering session is open to all interested researchers and the policy oriented session is a closed session for selected participants only.

Expected output of this workshop is to contribute to the identification of mutual research priorities and poten-tials. More information on the ongoing discussion please go to http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/events/cf/ict2010/item-display.cfm?id=2956&displaypage=main

plinary and multicultural team is unique and enriching, so I can only recommend doing it. Latin America is not so different from us, the language barriers are not so high as in other regions of this world. Which are your expectations now on further new projects for your organization?

The new EC funding programs will be known soon and I am looking for new projects and trying to get in touch with potential partners, but sometimes this can turn out to be difficult not knowing the capacities of the region in ICT, and not knowing the research institu-tions existing.

Well our project FORESTA can assist you. Are you aware of events like ICT 2010 Digitally Driven?

Yes, I heard about it and we plan to assist.

Youwillfindournetworkingsessiononthepro-gram, on Tuesday. It is designed to facilitate con-

tact between researchers, presenting also some project ideas. So you it, you will have the oppor-tunity to build future partnerships with apropiate colleages. Thus, it is a unique opportunity for face-to-face gathering of top-researchers from both regions. The second opportunity is, join us at our LA stand; it will be the meeting point for the research community willing to develop projects with organizations from Latin America. A third op-portunity will be the EULARINET workshop on the 30th of September, just after ICT 2010.

Thanks for the information! We will meet there again!

The point of view: cooperation with LA?

Issue 2, Sep 2010

FORESTA activities and results

Colombia: ICT Policies and FP7 proyects

Colombia has updated the normative and regulation of the ICT sector, and has designed new legislation tools as laws, to ensure market access and competi-tion. Some of these are: The National ICT Plan, Tech-nological and Innovation Development 2007 -2019 (PNDCT+I), Law 1341 of 2009 (ICT Law), Law 1286 of 2009 (Science and Technology Law) and CONPES 3582 of 2009 (National Policy on Science and Tech-nology), among others. These policies have been developed by entities as the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies, National Planning Department (DNP).The National Council of Economic and Social Policy (CONPES) and COLCIENCIAS (Fo-cal Point of the FP7 by the General Research Direc-tion of the European Commission).

ICTs in Argentina

Even though the country has no formal Information Society Plan, there are several initiatives that are be-ing presently developed by different stakeholders. One of the most important is a fiduciary fund (FONSOFT) managed by the National Agency of Scientific and Technological Promotion created to foster domestic software production. It was created after the Software Promotion Law (SPL) in 2004 and is funded through the federal budget. The Fund’s objectives are to sup-port the creation, design, development, production and create a new set of tax incentives for firms that develop software. At the moment, almost 400 firms requested to become part of the promotional regime. It is also important to mention the National E Govern-

ment Plan stated by decree in 2005. The goals of this Plan are: Best service for the inhabitant and citizen, better public management, costs reduction, transpar-ency, participation, integration, support for develop-ment and global economy integration. Regarding edu-cation, several programs have been launched to draw young students into higher education ICT programs. The objective is to keep up with the rising demand of qualified human resources in the sector. One of the most important is the scholarships for university de-grees: Launched in mid-2008, consists in a joint initia-tive of the Ministries of Education and Science, Tech-nology and Innovation to promote the enrollment in university careers related to informatics and software. The plan contemplates granting increasing scholar-ships (up to US$ 4,000 a year) to 6,700 students en-rolled in National Universities. This monetary benefit is for a maximum of 5 years and will be complemented with access to the scientific and technological system via research internships and teaching positions.

Contact us:For general information or any enquiry about the FORESTA project, please visit our website

or contact the project coordinator:Mr. Gian Michele Mosca, TESEO Sprl,

Avenue de Tervuren 32-34, 1040 Brussels (Belgium)+322 230 10 90 – mosca[at]teseo.be

Issue 2, Sep 2010