LEADERSHIP identifies top 10 ICT Research and Innovation Priorities in Latin America
The results of the LEADERSHIP survey show that Europe and the Horizon 2020 programme are perceived in Latin America as a great opportunity for future cooperation between both regions in the field of ICT.
International cooperation is becoming a crucial element for the implementation of R&I policies in Latin America: More than half of the survey respondents have participated in R&I international cooperation initiatives and projects funded by bilateral programmes, IDB programmes and FP7 and other European programmes. Overall, the experience of Latin Americans in participating in previous EU-funded projects has been assessed as very positive, in particular in Argentina and Mexico, and also among government organisations and associations. The less satisfactory experiences in cooperation with Europe have been reported by respondents from Colombia and Brazil, along with private companies and universities.
Future Internet and ICT for societal challenges are key topics for Latin American participants in Horizon 2020: Half of the ICT stakeholders responding the survey in Latin America are planning to participate in R&I projects under Horizon 2020 programme, especially on topics related to Future Internet; efficient energy and smart cities; ICT for learning; big data; and ICT for health. Only in Brazil the intention to participate is lower, which could be also explained by the fact that the country is not automatically eligible for EU funding, with the exception of the ICT-coordinated calls.
ICT R&I priorities in Latin American are aligned with Horizon 2020 topics of ICT-related work programmes: According to the survey’s data, the ICT research and innovation priorities identified in Latin American target countries match within topics associated to societal challenges: inclusive, innovative and reflective societies; secure, clean and efficient energy; and health, demographic change and wellbeing; as well as ICT Work Programme topics: Future Internet; Content technologies and information management; ICT Cross-Cutting Activities – Cybersecurity; Robotics; e-Infrastructures, a new generation of components and systems and advanced computing.
The top 10 ICT priorities for EU-LAC cooperation: Six of the top 10 priorities involve R&I areas under societal challenges topics: inclusive, innovative and reflective societies, Secure, clean and efficient energy and Health, demographic change and wellbeing. The other four priorities in the top 10 ranking are associated to ICT Work Programme topics: Future Internet, Content technologies and information management and ICT Cross-Cutting Activities – Cybersecurity.
Most of the top 10 ICT priorities are of common interest for Latin American countries: ICT for Learning and Inclusion is a priority in all Latin American countries. Other R&I areas like ICT-enabled open government is the number one priority of Argentina and Colombia, while technologies for better human learning and teaching is the number one priority in Chile and Mexico. As for Brazil, the number one priority is smart networks and novel Internet architectures within Future Internet. This priority is the only one that is not included in the general Top 10 ranking. Moreover, in Brazil there exist a clear interest in advanced cloud infrastructures and services (second priority), as cloud computing is a priority of EU-Brazil ICT coordinated calls and it is outlined in the ICT H2020 work programme EUB1-2015 call.
There are still important barriers for Latin America participation in Horizon 2020: The findings of the survey also indicate that in spite of the interest of Latin America researchers to participate in ICT R&I projects, there are still some important barriers that need to be overcome to increase Latin America participation. Major obstacles perceived by respondents are associated with the lack of access to information about EU programmes, difficult access to funding for LAC participants and lack of experience in participating in EU projects.
