The strategic objectives, basic premises, and expected results of the BELLA II Project (Building the Europe Link to Latin America and the Caribbean) were officially presented to Latin American and Caribbean audiences in three online meetings organized by RedCLARA, which brought together more than 150 people between 22 and 24 May.
The first BELLA II webinar, "Allies to build the digital ecosystem of Latin America and the Caribbean", fulfilled the objective of being a space for rapprochement and exchange between stakeholders in the region and a preamble to the policy dialogues that will take place in the framework of the project and the EU-Latin America Digital Alliance.
In the three sessions - 22 May for South America; 23 May for Central America; and 24 May for the Caribbean - the event brought together representatives from governments, innovation agencies, universities, research centers, companies, and civil society, among others, who attended to presentations from the organizations involved in the development of BELLA II, resolved their doubts about the implementation of the programme, and mainly, was motivated to join the initiative.
"The webinars aim to clarify the focus of BELLA and invite all interested parties to active participation, that is all the sectors, not only companies, universities, and national networks. In this way, we can design something that responds to the needs of our region, so much in need of development and innovation," explained RedCLARA's executive director, Luis Eliécer Cadenas.
For this purpose, the webinar was attended by panelists such as Emma Clua, representing the Department of International Relations of the European Commission (DG-INTPA), Sebastián Rovira and Valeria Jordán from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Sergio Bandinelli, Juan Gárate and Maika Gorostidi from TECNALIA, Florencio Utreras and Jaime Ortega from the Copernicus Programme, and Paola Arellano and Carlos Gamboa, executive directors of the advanced networks of Chile (REUNA) and Costa Rica (ResCONARE), respectively, besides Luis Cadenas de RedCLARA.
According to Emma Clua, Team Leader of DG-INTPA's Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean Team, BELLA is an excellent example of the impact of the recently signed EU-LAC Digital Alliance. "The digital transformation agenda is a priority for the EU and, for this reason, we are in permanent communication with the countries involved in the Digital Alliance working together based on shared values between the two regions, such as meaningful and human-centered connectivity," she said.
In addition to the impact of the EU-LAC Digital Alliance and its relation to the objectives of BELLA II, the event also addressed the importance of policy dialogues, the investment accelerator with the development of test beds and the connection with start-ups, universities and research centers, and the value of BELLA for the EU's (European Union) Earth observation programme, Copernicus.
The videos of the sessions of the first BELLA II Webinar, "Allies to build the digital ecosystem of Latin America and the Caribbean", are now available on RedCLARA's Youtube channel, RedCLARA-TV.
For further information on the Programme and its progress, visit https://bella-programme.eu/
