This Thursday, 23 May 2019, Université Côte d'Azur and the Association des Communes de la Moyenne Vallée de l'Itajaí, in Brazil, signed a letter of intent to cooperate in the field of territorial resilience. The signing ceremony took place via videoconference between Professor Pierre-Jean BARRE, director of IMREDD and scientific lead of the project, and Mr Mario Hildebrandt, mayor of the city of Blumenau and president of the Association of Municipalities of the Middle Itajaí Valley, in the presence of the mayors and deputies of the 14 municipalities concerned.

The aim of this cooperation will be to create a partnership ecosystem and a collaborative platform in this Brazilian territory and on the Côte d’Azur, with the participation of local authorities, local businesses and academia, in order to develop risk management and prevention projects and to boost the economy in this field. This new platform will follow the model of the one already developed by IMREDD in the Azuréen territory, in the field of Smart City.

The Association of Municipalities of the Middle Itajaí Valley (AMMVI) is a territorial cooperation entity comprising 14 municipalities in the State of Santa Catarina, in the South of Brazil. Its territory covers 4.5 million km², with a total population of 782,000 inhabitants.