A Workshop to articulate the work of actors promoting the 'Joint Initiative on Research and Innovation' and the 'EU-CELAC Common Higher Education Area' took place in Hamburg on 8-9 April, under the organization of the EU-LAC Foundation. The initiative aimed, among other objectives, to follow up on the most recent agreements of the EU-CELAC Joint Initiative on Research and Innovation Senior Officials Meeting (JIRI SOM). Meeting in the premises of the Cervantes Institute in Hamburg, specialists, academics, representatives of university networks and executives of interregional organizations addressed different aspects of research cooperation between the countries that make up the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean. They also identified opportunities and challenges at a time when Europe's attention seems to be increasingly divided by the needs of a changing world.
The discussion was moderated by the EU-LAC Foundation, whose director, Adrián Bonilla, also contributed to the discussion by providing much-needed contextual data around which to anchor the conversation. Among the issues addressed were the adequate mobility of researchers between the two regions and access to the necessary infrastructure, as well as the problems that arise from this, among which were mentioned the equivalence of credits, funding or the dissemination of results. There was also time devoted to the challenges posed by the European Union's Green Agenda and the digital transformation.
Some of the participating institutions were: Colombian Association of Universities (ASCUN), Latin American and Caribbean Higher Education Area (ENLACES), Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI), Permanent Academic Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union (FAP-ALCUE), Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), EU-LAC Interest Group towards the Common Research Area, UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC), Mission to the European Union and NATO, Embassy of Colombia to the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), University Council CELAC-EU, Delegation for European and International Affairs, Ministry of Higher Education and Research of France, The League of European Research Universities (LERU), Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Universities Caribbean (UC), Institute of the Americas, OBREAL Global, RED LAC NCP, Project Management Agency DLR-PT, National Research Council of Italy (CNR), University of Salamanca, Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group (AUGM).
