Research and analysis

Brazil: visit of UK chief scientific advisor

Published 1 June 2014

0.1 Summary

Brazil continues to demonstrate desire to work in partnership with the UK on Science and Innovation. Sir Mark Walport leads a delegation of 10 UK science and innovation organisations who between them covered four cities and participate in 25 different events, including the first Newton funding partners workshop, and the signing of an MoU with Brazil’s leading innovation organisation.

0.2 Detail

Building momentum

Science is one of the most fertile issues for work with Brazil, and besides its intrinsic value, offers commercial opportunities and cooperation.

Sir Mark Walport, the Government’s Chief Scientific Advisor (GCSA), was introduced to the breadth of science and innovation activity and helped open up new opportunities for the UK through SIN and UKTI by establishing good relationships with key players. A highlight was a visit to Instituto Butantan, one of Brazil’s major research and production centres for vaccines, which is currently in phase 2 trials of a dengue vaccine, a major health challenge. Butantan are keen to visit the UK to partner with UK research institutions, with the help of the Medical Research Council, and to take up our invitation to see the UK’s catapult system, as they establish their own biotechnology innovation centre.

The visit, a month after the Chancellor announced £27 million over 3 years for Newton Fund cooperation with Brazil, enabled us to bring Brazilian and UK funding partners together for the first time to discuss the three Newton Fund pillars: People, Programmes and Translation. Discussions identified priority themes (health, biodiversity and ecosystem services, urban transformation, and the climate-energy-food nexus) and activities (e.g. PhD partnering, Newton Fellowships, and Innovation Fellowships). We plan to launch the first call for proposals soon.

Public and Private Sector

Increasing constraints on public spending make it a challenge to attract Brazilian scientific cooperation at the multi-million pound scale of Newton. As a result, we have focused also on non-Governmental and private sector sources of funding; two thirds of this year’s match funding falls into these categories.

The workshop, and a number of meetings the GSCA had with key partners, underlined the importance of coordination of approaches and maintenance of scientific quality. The discussions also highlighted to the Brazilians that they have the common goals and ideas to foster a collaborative approach .

The visit also showed UK Delivery Partners and innovation delegates that there is more to Brazil than Sao Paulo – the UK’s traditional science partner (through the state funding agency FAPESP) and that Newton can create opportunities in other parts of the country, for example in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais – Brazil’s 3rd wealthiest state, where the delegation saw opportunities for us to forge ahead of our competition. The SIN team will draw up an action plan for strategic engagement with the State.

Equal and Opposite Forces

Match funding for Newton is essential. The GCSA witnessed the signing of a second match-funding agreement worth £3 million with SENAI, Brazil’s technical training institute, well known for training ex-President Lula. SENAI has recently established 24 Innovation Centres, runs open innovation calls, and is organising an Innovation Grand Prix. It has now begun discussions to take forward Newton projects with both the Technology Strategy Board and the Royal Academy of Engineers.

Brazilian partners highlighted the difficulty in attracting UK researchers to Brazil, in contrast to the number of Brazilians going to the UK (most recently through Science without Borders). Bringing high calibre researchers helps us access the rapidly growing Brazilian research funding pot, whilst also meeting Brazilian objectives on internationalisation of research. Newton provides the key to open up this opportunity.

0.3 Comment

The Newton Fund is one of the most important tools at our disposal over the next few years. This visit has helped us establish links with people who can make things happen. Turning Newton ideas into concrete calls remains a challenge. Matching the expectations of Brazilian funders to the capacity of the UK Delivery Partners will require compromises as two different systems come together. But there is a clear desire from Brazil to make this work and this visit was a big step forward.

0.4 Disclaimer

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