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Science and Technology
by Paulo Isnard Ribeiro de Almeida
with assistance from Lúcia Klein
and José Sávio Junqueira Henrique
The history of science and technology in Brazil goes
back to the early 20th century with the research work
of two great scientists: the medical hygienist Dr. Oswaldo
Cruz, who pioneered experimental medicine in the Country
and was responsible for the first initiatives in the
area of health and sanitation, and Carlos Chagas, who
contributed to basic research the great discovery of
the disease which bears his name. In the agricultural
area, the Campinas Agronomic Institute (IAC) - founded
by King Pedro II in 1887 - turned its activities at
the beginning of this century to the solution of problems
in the sector and in the 1920s, the basic research carried
out there contributed to the genetic improvement of
coffee and cotton crops. Today Brazil has around 60,000
active scientists and technologists and is among the
twenty Countries with the greatest number of scientific
articles published in international journals.
This science and technology universe only began to gain
a structure when the National Research Council was set
up, at present called the National Council for Scientific
and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Committee
for Postgraduate Courses in Higher Education (CAPES)
in the early 1950s. In 1969, the National Science and
Technology Development Fund (FNDCT) was set up, which
has been administered ever since by the Studies and
Projects Funding Body (Finep). The evolution of those
agencies for the development and management of science
and technology in the Federal Government generates the
formulation of the National Science and Technology Development
System (SNDCT).
SNDCT is formed by the set of bodies which have an interface
with the generation of knowledge, from basic science
to the application of this knowledge in industrial production.
It includes universities and faculties, research and
development centres, development agencies and companies,
many of which have tax incentives for this purpose.
The main instrument of the policies conceived within
the scope of the SNDCT of incentives for postgraduate
studies and research was contract funding granted by
specialist government agencies through direct negotiation
with the beneficiary institutions, enhancing specific
areas. Results of these may be assessed, stimulating
competition between institutions and favouring their
development.
The federal agencies for the development of research
redefined their functional specialisation by using their
budget as a lever for their activities. Thus, most of
the CNPq resources are used to provide study grants
and various types of support for researchers. Finep
has specialised in granting loans for technology projects
in the private sector and in institutional support for
teaching and research bodies.
Investing around 0.7% of its Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) in Science and Technology, the federal government
consolidated academic research in the Country in the
mid-eighties. There are around 60,000 active scientists
and technologists in Brazil. Although this is still
a small number compared to the population of Brazil,
it represents significant progress compared to previous
decades and third world nations.
The main research centres in the Country are in public
universities. Most of the postgraduate courses which
train our researchers and the co-ordinators of research
carried out are concentrated therein. Most of the 15,000
PhDs in Brazil work in universities.
The public universities also concentrate the greatest
number of first degree courses, currently around a thousand
courses. In Latin America, this pattern of institutionalising
postgraduate studies and carrying out research distinguishes
Brazil from other Countries. In comparative terms, Brazil
is among the twenty Countries with the greatest number
of scientific articles published in international journals,
ahead of Countries such as Austria, Poland, Korea or Taiwan.
Consequently it is the universities themselves which
generate Brazilian scientific production and, within
this universe, public bodies are far more proficient
than private educational and research institutions.
Within the pattern of public universities, the State
universities of São Paulo play a leading role,
contributing almost two-thirds of the Country's scientific
production and training of researchers with doctorates.
At State level, several research and development institutes
were created in the seventies - Cetec in Minas Gerais,
Ceped in Bahia, Cientec in Rio Grande do Sul, Itep in
Pernambuco, among others, and these joined the traditional
Technology Research Institute (IPT) and the Butantã
Institute in São Paulo, IAC in Campinas, the
National Technology Institute (INT) and the Oswaldo
Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro. Their operation
concentrates on technology problems with a state or
regional scope, and their operation covers terms of
technological areas and they seek to reduce the gap
between the supply of academic research and the demand
for knowledge by industrial sectors.
Other research and development institutes operate at
national level, aimed at sectors or areas of specific
knowledge. Examples of this are the cases of Empresa
Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (Embrapa)
(Brazilian Farming Research Company) and the IAC, in
the area of agriculture and cattle raising; Fiocruz
and the Ezequiel Dias Institute, in the Health area;
and the National Space Research Institute (INPE) in
the area of space research.
The processes of organisational management gave a boost
for the creation of research and development centres
geared towards the area of Administration, such as the
Cristiano Otoni Foundation and the Dom Cabral Foundation,
among others.
The occupation of the space between research and production
mainly led the public universities to make an institutional
adjustment in order to guide negotiations with the private
industrial sector, for the purpose of carrying out research
work in industry. University foundations appeared on
the institutional scene, with powers to sign contracts
and agreements without the bureaucratic restrictions
on public bodies. Examples of this are the José
Bonifácio Foundation and the Coppetec Foundation,
both linked with the Rio de Janeiro Federal University
(UFRJ); Funcamp, linked with the Campinas State University
(Unicamp); Fundep, linked with the Minas Gerais Federal
University (UFMG); and FUB linked with the University
of Brasília (UNB).
The strategy of the Ministry of Science and Technology
for coming years foresees a substantial increase in
expenditure in the sector, mainly in technology research,
which must be increased from 0.7% to around 1.5% of
the GDP at the turn of the century, including resources
in the private sector.
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