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Leading experts, academics and authorities from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean met on November 16 and 17 at the workshop "Digital Transformation as an Enabler for the Improvement of Food Security and Clean Energy Transition", to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the innovative use of digital tools for the development of initiatives in agriculture, energy transition and climate monitoring.

The event was organized by RedCLARA, the Spanish Energy, Environment and Technology Research Center (CIEMAT), and the EU-LAC Foundation, in Panama City. "These types of initiatives seek to promote debates and create spaces for dialogue and information, in order to create a proactive dynamic and generate relevant information for decision-makers. We thank RedCLARA and CIEMAT for organizing this workshop for the region," said Adrian Bonilla, Executive director of the EU-LAC Foundation, in his welcoming remarks.

The event was also preceded by RedCLARA's Executive director, Luis Eliécer Cadenas, the President of the Board of Directors of the regional network, Eduardo Grizendi, and GEANT's Chief Communications Officer, Cathrin Stover, who introduced the concept of Twin Transition to refer to the link between digital transformation and environmental action. "Digital transformation must go hand in hand with environmental actions, and in this sense, NRENs and regional networks such as GEÁNT and RedCLARA will become increasingly relevant to leverage both," she explained.

The hosts of the event gave way to the round of presentations with "Digitalization in Panama's Energy Transition", presented by Guadalupe González, Director of Electricity of the National Energy Secretariat of that country. In total, Panama has outlined 56 lines of action related to digitalization, divided into electric mobility, universal access to energy and its rational and efficient use. "During the pandemic, we did a social and economic analysis to see if we were going in the right direction. We realized that investing in the energy transition would bring us many economic, social and environmental benefits," he explained.

Other presentations in the packed agenda included "Distributed Logging Technologies (DLT) and their role in climate transition and food security," by Albi Rodríguez Jaramillo, Senior Consultant at IDB Lab and Head of Ecosystems at LACCHAIN, and "Results of a common space for technology and development," where Rafael Mayo, ICT Area Manager of the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED), emphasized the need for joint initiatives to address the energy, climate and food challenges facing the regions. "Ibero-America has enormous potential for high-quality science, and CYTED is a successful example of this. We need to seize the opportunities offered by initiatives such as BELLA II," he said.

The role of Copernicus and new developments in food production

Harnessing the EU Space Program and Copernicus: Digital Solutions for Food Security and Sustainability" was the opening theme of the second day of workshop activities, led by Stephane Ourevitch, Senior Executive Advisor of the Copernicus Support Office. In his presentation, Ourevitch highlighted the functions of each of the Copernicus "Sentinel" satellites and how they enable the monitoring of the land surface, water bodies and vegetation, providing monitoring indices such as vegetation indices (NDVI) or water and moisture indices (NDWI). "Copernicus services offer open data that allow working products based on indicators, territorial variables, climate information, forecasts or specific analysis of territorial areas, among others," he explained.

These functionalities are already turning into benefits for society, with the implementation of Galileo and Copernicus in open source applications for smartphones. "We have programs that use the measurements for agricultural controls and help farmers with reporting under the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, and others that provide information on land, water and air monitoring, specifically providing maps of crop condition, water and air quality, vegetation condition and urban planning," Ourevitch detailed.
The topic of food security was discussed in depth with the presentation "EERA: Catalysing EU Research for twin digital and green transition in Europe" by Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of the European Energy Research Alliance, and "Food security: Challenges and axes of cooperation between Latin America and the European Union", by Pamela Aróstica, Senior Researcher at the Center for Asia-Pacific and India Studies (CEAPI).

Also presented were use cases such as "COLMENA Network: an initiative to strengthen beekeeping, meliponiculture and food sovereignty in Latin America," by Karina Antúnez, Research Associate Professor at the Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute, and "Innovations in vegetable production to feed the future," by Professor and Director of the Center for Post-harvest Studies (CEPOC), University of Chile, Víctor Escalona Contreras. In his presentation, Contreras presented the work developed at the university on the use of light treatments for vegetable production and the possibilities of using containers for cultivation, which means savings in water and fertilizers, as well as advantages in the distribution process.

The recordings of the first and second day of the workshop are already available on the RedCLARA channel on Youtube. The workshop "Digital Transformation as an Enabler for the Improvement of Food Security and Clean Energy Transition" was organized by RedCLARA and CIEMAT as a result of the VI Annual Call of the EU-LAC Foundation for the co-organization of events on topics relevant to the bi-regional strategic partnership between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.