We’ll be flying to Sao Paulo in Brazil next week, with MyKolab and other partner, to meet several public and private entities (Italian and Brazilian) that have shown initial interest in partnership with our User Verified Social Telematics research project and the possibility to set up innovation centers or technology parks centered on privacy-enhancing technologies, open Web and NewTV.

The Park and Cluster projects, its R&D initiatives and partnerships are in fact very much in line with: (A) the extremely ambitious technical goals of Brazil to counter the NSA surveillance scandal, (B) the new and predictable brazilian legislations on Internet freedoms and privacy, and (C) the fast emerging national and global market opportunities of the open Web platform, lead by FirefoxOS adoption in Brazil.

In Brazil, even more than in Italy, the Cluster and its R&D projects can constitute catalyse a unique economic development opportunity for Brazil and Sao Paulo, that stems from the synergies of the open development by the state of surveillance-proof technologies for its institutions, through their SERPRO agency, and the upcoming new globally-leading legislation in Brazil, like the Marco Civil. Brazil can become the global early adopter market, and Sao Paulo the leading global IT district, for an emerging market niche for the foreseen global demand of over 100B$ for ultra-private end-to-end and cloud services. That, in turn, would enable Sao-Paulo-based IT companies to exploit a first mover advantage for global expansion in those markets that for national policy and legislation reasons cannot currently enable the growth of such a district.

We’ve also established first contact with Municipality of Berlin, Municipality of Milano, Region of Puglia to explore their interest in the projects of the Cluster, but also Open Media Labs and Open Media Park.

In regards to our permanent location and endowment which are due to the Cluster at the beginning of construction of the Open Media Park, unfortunately, we do not have nearly sufficient assurances to date from local institutions in regards to the the long delays in the approval processes of the Open Media Park, and apparent negative competitive landscape for IT/media tech parks projects in the Rome area.