Cloudscape Brazil 2014 sets the scene for an EU-Brazil common ICT market for research and business development

The audience at Cloudscape Brazil 2014. Image courtesy RNP – Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa.

While cloud computing is becoming mainstream in some countries, several barriers still stand in the way to much wider adoption. Cloud-friendly policy measures, ensuring safe and fair contracts, and a level playing field for the supply side, as well as more informed consumer choices, are essential to build trust in the cloud.  Last month’s Cloudscape Brazil event took a practical look at some of the major barriers to the adoption of cloud computing, exploring pathways for closer collaboration between Brazil and Europe on issues of common interest.

Encouraged by the success of the Cloudscape Europe event series — now in its seventh year — the EU Brazil Cloud Connect project rolled out the first edition of Cloudscape Brazil on 20 October 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event set the bar high on serious policy issues around taxation, bandwidth, energy pricing, and data protection, which are slowing down cloud adoption in Brazil. High on the agenda was the ambition to shape cloud developments in Brazil and Europe by bringing insights into both current market trends and the challenges slowing down mainstream adoption, as well as into the cloud services and best practices to address them. “I like to think that Cloudscape Brazil set the scene for the beginning of some pragmatic discussions going forward,” says Silvana Muscella, CEO of Trust-IT Services.

José Luiz Riberio Filho, director of solutions at the Brazilian research and education network (RNP), offered insights at the event into RNP’s strategy to deploy and operate cloud services in collaboration with Brazilian public universities and research institutions, i.e. the Brazilian Academic Cloud. RNP is now speaking to cloud service providers and Start-Up Brasil on future collaborations to further improve the service it offers.

Connecting with business

Web entrepreneurs, start-ups, and ICT-savvy small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in innovation, taking new products and services to market, creating new jobs, and boosting economic growth. Both Brazil and Europe are making significant investments to create a healthy environment where new businesses can flourish. Cloudscape Brazil connected the Start-up Brasil program with Startup Europe, offering a showcase of entrepreneurs that are gaining from the benefits of cloud to go to market quickly with their innovative ideas. Large companies are also playing their part in supporting entrepreneurs, of which Wayra, Telefonica’s startup accelerator, is just one example. What’s more, the involvement of large companies can also bring new ideas for cooperation between Brazil and Europe, which will enable the creation of new applications to tackle societal challenges.

- Sara Pittonet Gaiarin, project manager at Trust-IT Services Ltd.