THE JOINT DECLARATION TO STRENGTHEN THE EU-LAC COOPERATION IN ICT

RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION (R&D+i)

Considering, in particular:

1. The long-standing and well-documented cultural and economic complementarity of the European Union (EU) and the Latin American & Caribbean (LAC) regions;

2. The European Commission’s recognition in its Communication “A Digital Agenda for Europe”i that “the digital Single Market… needs an external face because progress on many of the policy issues can only be achieved at international level”;

3. The Madrid Action Planii’s call for “new initiatives for more effective coordination and cooperation aiming at interconnecting knowledge, science; research and innovation; as well as business and entrepreneurial, and research centres and networks from the EU and LAC countries”;

4. The steady increase over the last decade in LAC participation in EU Framework Programme (FP) projects from 29 in FP5 to 79 in FP6 and 120, so far, in FP7.

We declare:

1. The relationship between the EU and LAC regions with regard to ICT collaboration should be re-appraised as a partnership driven by clearly identified interests and leading to mutual benefits.

2. Investment in R&D+i is meant to have a positive impact on the overall economy; it is therefore important – particularly in times of economic crisis - to concentrate it, first and foremost, on topics that have a clear spill-over effect on sustainable economic growth and wealth creation; priority investment areas should be reconsidered in terms of their capability to generate wealth (for the EU and for the LAC regions, respectively).

3. Public support of R&D+i is also intended to stimulate employment; hence, it should be concentrated on the true creators of employment, particularly SMEs.

4. R&D+i has a major role to play in addressing societal challenges such as facilitating the relationship between government and citizens, deliver good public services, improve ROI in governments, contributing to a cleaner environment and a more sustainable re-industrialisation, bridging the digital gap, supporting health and education, etc.; many of these challenges are common to the EU and LAC regions; intensified collaboration should aim at identifying solutions that can be locally deployed and globally sustained.

5. Innovation agendas should be defined by innovators; R&D+i agendas should be articulated in support of the innovation agendas and should clearly map their intended contribution to a) wealth generation, b) employment creation and c) addressing societal challenges.

In view of the above, the following recommendations are put forward: Strategy

1. A strategic body (e.g. an “EU-LAC ICT R&D+i Forum”), coordinated by the European Commission on the European side and by ECLAC on the Latin American side, should lay down the strategic agenda for cooperation and should be the depositary of the various segmental innovation agendas and roadmaps on the basis of which ICT cooperation is implemented between the two regions. This body could also be the main point of contact for information, training and coaching.

2. Cooperation should be based on the reciprocity principle. In the absence of reciprocity agreements opening LAC programmes to EU entities, funding of non-EU partners through EU programmes is acceptable if there are clear benefits for the EU. The increased availability of funds on the LAC side complementing the EU funding could serve to preserve and consolidate the interests and leadership of LAC participants in projects. Coordinated calls based on jointly defined priorities should be considered as ultimately offering the best foundation for well-balanced, long-term partnerships.

3. The EU-LAC ICT policy dialogue should aim to promote the elaboration of policy agendas with a strong participation of the industrial sector, particularly of organisations that have a track record of generating employment through innovation.

Innovation areas

1. Priority areas for R&D+i investment in ICT should be based on strategic economic and societal goals.

2. ICT for a sustainable re-industrialisation based on clean technologies (“3rd industrial revolution”) should be given absolute priority in view of the current state of the planet and the world economy.

3. Seeking to boost industrial competitiveness through ICT-driven rationalisation may still make sense from a pure economic point of view, but may have a negative societal impact in as much as it contributes to employment destruction; hence, investment in this field needs to be targeted at players who share the benefits of their increased competitiveness through job creation.

4. The development of value-added, multilingual, ubiquitous ICT-based services for businesses and citizens should become the real corner-stone of a forward looking ICT strategy in the EU and LAC regions alike; these high-margin services increasingly constitute the bread-winner of the leading global ICT players.

5. ICT for major societal challenges (governance, inclusion, health, learning, etc.) will play an important role in ensuring that the fabric of our societies does not break at the seams as they cope with globalisation / re-industrialisation.

6. Investment into advanced and pervasive ICT networks should be seen as an important pre-requisite of the above rather than an end in itself.

Tools for policy implementation

1. The special international cooperation line of the ICT Programme (or its successor) should be empowered to coordinate all international R+I cooperation on the EU side. A similar approach may be developed at continent level on the LAC side. Such coordination appears crucial in terms of determining the overall strategies to be pursued.

2. Coordinated callsiii, such as the ones initiated between the EU and Brazil and the EU and Mexico, could be a good instrument not only to streamline the adequacy between the EU and LAC Innovation agendas and roadmaps, but also initiate a more systematic planning of the ICT collaboration between partners on both sides of the Atlantic. Sub-regional concept coordinated call, eg: The Caribbean, Central America, etc could be introduced.

3. As part of coordinated calls or independently, it might be useful to explore the concept of Mini-Integrated Projects (mini-IPs) in areas of common interest. Such mini-IPs should be envisaged only in areas where a common joint Innovation agenda & roadmap has been defined. They should involve 5-6 partners from each side of the Atlantic for a total budget of 5 to 10 MEUR. Mini-IPs could thus be a way to ensure that a critical mass of resources is combined in strategic areas of common interest to make a real difference in EU-LAC R&D+i collaboration.

4. Joint Innovation agendas (addressing research, development, innovation and market research) should be developed and maintained through the duration of a Programme (min. 5 years) involving the representative bodies of all categories of stakeholders in the value-chain as well as building on the achievements of past support actions in the field.

5. The setting up of a permanent training and coaching programme on the development of joint innovation agendas and roadmaps, the definition of joint R&I+i priorities, strategic partnership building and project development should be considered in the wake of successful mechanisms pioneered by recent support actions.

6. ICT standardisation is crucial in the innovation cycle: a permanent dialogue between the key standardisation bodies in the EU and LAC should be encouraged.

Brussels, 28 November 2011

i A Digital Agenda for Europe ii EU-LAC SUMMIT, Madrid, 18 May 2010 - “Towards a new stage in the bi-regional

partnership: innovation and technology for sustainable development and social inclusion”

Madrid Action Plan 2010-2012 iii FP7-NMP-2010-EU-Mexico and FP7-ICT-2011-EU-Brazil - New EU-Brazil coordinated

call announced on 8 November 2011