Brazil and Germany strengthen their Digital Dialogue at Annual Meeting

On 20 May 2022, the second Annual Meeting of the German-Brazilian Digital Dialogue took place in Berlin, Germany. It brought together representatives of government, academia and the private sector who exchanged on current developments in digital policy, joint initiatives of the biannual Work Plan as well as future collaboration topics.

The Annual Meeting was chaired by Benjamin Brake, Director General for Digital and Data Policy of the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), as well as by Sergio Freitas, Executive Secretary and Vice Minister of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI).

MCTI delegation exchanged views with S&T organisations in Berlin

In the previous week, a delegation of MCTI visited S&T organisations in Berlin, including SAP Labs, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) and Technology Park Adlershof as well as Siemensstadt. The aim was to intensify bilateral cooperation.

The delegation included high-ranking government representatives of both parties: José Gontijo, Secretary for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of MCTI, Marcelo Morales, Secretary for Research and Scientific Training of MCTI, and Fernando Coelho, Secretary for Digital Government of the Brazilian Ministry of Economy.

The Annual Meeting was the highlight of the delegation visit

The highlight of the Brazilian delegation visit to Berlin was the second Annual Meeting of the German-Brazilian Digital Dialogue. Representatives of MCTI and BMDV, together with selected private-sector stakeholders, reviewed key areas of cooperation and implementation steps of the Work Plan. For 2021 and 2022, the Work Plan includes bilateral initiatives on (1) internet governance and data policies, (2) emerging technologies and (3) digital business opportunities and models.

The Digital Dialogue was highlighted as an important forum to discuss strategic directions in digital policy. The two ministries shared current challenges in the implementation of their national digital strategies and discussed possible alignment of positions in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF 2022) and the G20 Digital Economy Ministers’ Meeting.

Outlook on future cooperation topics and joint innovation projects

During the exchange, both MCTI and BMDV outlined common challenges in the implementation of digital policies across federal, state and municipal level. They discussed the possibility for future exchanges on infrastructure rollout and data governance at state and municipal level. The participants stressed that the German-Brazilian Digital Dialogue is an important platform to coordinate bilateral funding opportunities for joint innovation projects.

Regarding the cooperation in the next months, MCTI proposed to increase bilateral alignment prior to the UN IGF 2022. BMDV expressed interest to learn more about Brazil’s response and prevention mechanisms to cyberattacks in 5G public networks.