Today's afternoon, on 18/05, was entirely devoted to strengthening relationships with suppliers and partners in the 8th edition of the Meeting with Suppliers and Partners of RNP. With the main goal of sharing the organization's strategy with these stakeholders who are fundamental to deliver value, the virtual event was attended by over 200 spectators, with four hours of content on various subjects, among them, 5G network, technology, and services made available to client institutions, and success cases of innovation by RNP.

The director-general Nelson Simões kicked off the event by highlighting the importance of constant communication with our suppliers and partners.

"Thank you very much for the participation of you all, partners of RNP, here, once again, remotely. We hope we will soon be able to have a different format because the new "in-person" will also be different. First and foremost, this moment has now become a tradition in the company, a day for us to meet, share our strategies, and hear from you as well, which is very important. It is an afternoon to exchange ideas and collaborate," stressed Nelson, who then gave a brief presentation on the achievements of RNP over the past 10 years and the challenges to come in the next decade.

Opportunities in strategic projects and 5G

In response, the manager of Special Projects, Oswaldo Alves, and the coordinator of the Backbone, Aluízio Hazin, addressed the subject "The research network for digital inclusion", presenting the opportunities created by strategic projects, among them, Connected Northeast and North, Connected Education, and State Infopaths, in addition to current infrastructure of the backbone.

The first panel of the event was moderated by the Director of Engineering and Operations of RNP, Eduardo Grizendi, and brought a debate about the 5G network, with the participation of the Gartner director, Marcus Pinheiro, of the Business Tribe Leader at Algar Telecom, Luiz Guilherme Del Gaudio Bocoli, the Marketing Director of Embratel, Alexandre Gomes da Silva, the of Pre-Sale director of Oi, Fernando de Sá, and the advisor of Abrint, Erich Rodrigues.

Technologies and services available and innovation

In the second part of the meeting, the Director of Services and Solutions, Antônio Carlos Nunes, and the associate director of the School of Higher Education in Networks (ESR) informed the suppliers and partners about the technologies and solutions developed by RNP to be made available to the client institutions.

"The challenge we received was to talk about "Technologies and services for essential networks, which are formed by people". We serve an audience of researchers, research units, teachers, students, and ICT managers who were hugely impacted by the difficulties caused by the pandemic. This also forced RNP, with its value proposition, to reinvent itself to present our institutions with alternatives, solutions, and innovations. And all this was done in partnership with you, our suppliers and partners, who are always with us so that we can deliver these services, training, and value in general in the best possible way," said Antônio.

Leandro Guimarães brought to light the transformations and results achieved by ESR in 2020. "We are celebrating the 15 years of ESR, and we have already reaped many fruits. The impact on training for our institutions is clear and measurable. In the past year, we had to adapt to the context of the pandemic and closed 2020 with 3,267 students trained in 149 classes. We hoped to achieve these figures in 2023, so we anticipated our strategic planning in two years," said the associate director.

Continuing with the event, the Director of Research, Development, and Innovation, Iara Machado, presented the success cases of innovation by RNP and briefly presented the trajectory of the R&D Program in the organization.

"It is a strategy that RNP adopted back in 2001 when it created programs to develop products and services for its portfolio. RNP was not interested in being a funding agency; it wanted to do this together with the research community by providing an approach that took advantage of the best things in those laboratories. Bringing the research into RNP and, therefore, encouraging technological development. At that time, it was something very innovative and daring. For this reason, we created our R&D management," explained Iara.

For the first time, the event included a panel entitled "Supplier Time", in which the Director of Administration and Finances, José Luiz Ribeiro, invited the national director of technology at Microsoft, Ronan Damascus, and the government executive of Cisco Brasil, Paul Osterkamp.

"Our goal with this new panel is to listen and understand how you see RNP. Unfortunately, we cannot bring everyone at once, but little by little, we are working and improving this model, seeking the perspectives and perceptions of our partners regarding this interaction, with our strategies that you had the opportunity of getting to know in the presentations, and also getting to know your strategies, which are synergistic and converge with ours", said José Luiz.

Acknowledgment Time

Already a tradition in all editions of the Meeting with Suppliers, the moment to acknowledge suppliers who stood out in the previous year was commanded by the Procurement Coordinator, Rodrigo Campos. And the business analyst and responsible for the surveying of sponsorship, Fracislaine Oliveira, handed out the certificates to partners who supported RNP events in 2020.

Social responsibility and sustainable partnerships

The final part of the event focused on two issues that gain more strength in organizations every year. The manager of Corporate Communication, Stela Tsirakis, spoke about RNP's first Social Responsibility Program, which is under preparation, and invited all suppliers and collaborators to contribute with suggestions for projects or actions in which they participate and can generate interest in building a partnership with RNP.

"We want to stand by our partners and suppliers in this challenge! We will soon publish a call for initiatives, and we count on your participation, as always, by our side. We are sure that, this being a subject of social nature, with digital inclusion at heart, valuable projects to society, which are RNP's mission, we will work together on this," said Stela.

The Director of Administration and Finances, José Luiz Ribeiro, returned to the main screen to talk about sustainable partnerships and wrap up the event.

"For a partnership to be sustainable in the RNP ecosystem, it must meet certain criteria, which include, at least, compliance with the ethical and social values and principles of RNP. Our greatest asset is our credibility. Engagement to RNP's purpose of responding to the challenges of our mission of meeting the demands of our community, searching for innovation in both technological solutions and processes and, in particular, in business models. Leveraging growth opportunities both for our community and for partner companies also involves insight and sensitivity to the economic scenarios in the country", explained the director.