FAPESP Week 2012 begins with symposium in Toronto

FAPESP Week 2012 began this Wednesday (10/17) with a symposium in the Canadian city of Toronto. The symposium, conducted by FAPESP together with the University of Toronto (UoT), was held at the Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research on the campus of the University of Toronto.

The event brought together more than 60 researchers from Canada and Brazil to discuss subjects on the cutting-edge of advanced research in several fields of knowledge.

In the opening, R. Paul Young, Vice-President for Research and Innovation at UoT, emphasized that the symposium represents an “important time” for the university, which, together with FAPESP and the University of Western Ontario, is part of a cooperation agreement to support projects that involve collaboration between researchers in the State of São Paulo and Canada.

The agreement’s request for proposals issued in 2011 selected and now supports five collaborative research projects. Young says, “Our various ties with Brazil are growing and I’m very happy to be holding this symposium. It’s a wonderful opportunity for strengthening the ties between scientists from both countries. I’m very optimistic about what we’re doing and even more optimistic about what we’re going to do in the future.”

Young highlighted the many commonalities between Brazil and Canada, saying that he admired “Brazil’s commitment to support scientific and technological research.”

Next, Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, Scientific Director of FAPESP, did a presentation on “Science and Technology in São Paulo” in which he provided several indicators about the sector in the state.

“With 34% of Brazil’s GDP, the State of São Paulo accounts for nearly half of all science in the country. It has three state universities, three federal universities and 52 state technical schools, in addition to 22 research institutes, 19 of which are run by the state.”

Brito Cruz went on to say that “Unlike the Brazilian scenario, in São Paulo 62% of all research and development is done by companies, 23% is state sponsored and 14% is federally sponsored.” He then offered a brief overview of FAPESP, which in 2011 alone invested R$ 938 million (nearly US$ 450 million) to support scientific and technological research.

Brito Cruz described the FAPESP system for analyzing requests for grants and scholarships. “All the proposals are evaluated by two people working together. Over 20,000 proposals were submitted in 2011. Despite this high number, it took FAPESP an average of only 70 days to evaluate each request,” explained Brito Cruz.

The FAPESP scientific director went on to speak about some of the foundation’s principal programs such as BIOTA (biodiversity), BIOEN (bioenergy) and the Innovative Research in Small Businesses Program, mentioning some of the research projects financed by these and other support mechanisms.

Brito Cruz also called attention to the increase in the number of scientific articles published in Brazil. He said, “Between 1995 and 2010, we experienced an increase of over 500%, which puts our progress behind only that of China and South Korea over the same period.”

FAPESP Week continues with meetings at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA (10/22); the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC (10/23); and at the University of West Virginia, in Morgantown, WV (10/24).