The Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks (RedCLARA) and the Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet (CUDI) will hold the workshop "The Role of Universities and NRENs in Building a Viable, Sustainable and Impactful Digital Future in Latin America and the Caribbean" on 8 April in Yucatan, Mexico.
The workshop is an action that gives continuity to the open strategic dialogues of BELLA II, a regional project implemented by RedCLARA and funded by the European Union, which aims to reduce the digital divide and support the development of the necessary infrastructure to consolidate and expand a digital ecosystem of science, technology, education, and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
As part of the project, which is one of the pillars of the EU-Latin America Digital Alliance, the first four strategic dialogues were held last year in Brussels, Belgium (18 July), El Salvador (10 October), Panama (16 November) and Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (29 November). These spaces sought to facilitate and promote the participation and co-investment of digital ecosystem actors.
The Yucatan Dialogue aims to develop a strategic vision of the role of universities and NRENs in the challenges of the digital economy and to establish a roadmap that will enable them, in the framework of the BELLA II project and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance, to make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of the data-driven, people-centered digital ecosystem RedCLARA, a driver of innovation, knowledge management, and bi-regional socio-economic development.
The meeting is expected to bring together representatives from government agencies, policymakers, connectivity providers, universities and research centers, CUDI members, businesses, and financial organizations.
The dialogue will include a plenary session where the project will be presented, and roundtable discussions on financing and sustainability, governance, innovation, data and computing capacity, digital skills, and human capital development and connectivity.
