FAPESP maintains pace of investment despite adverse economic situation

The latest activity report shows that in 2016, FAPESP increased investment in Thematic Projects and invested more in support for small business innovation research than at any time in the past 20 years.

By Fabrício Marques  |  Pesquisa FAPESP magazine – The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) invested R$1,137,355,628 in 24,685 research projects in 2016. In Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, the total was equivalent to $ PPP 533.9 million, a slightly lesser sum than the total disbursed in 2015 ($ PPP 557.7 million for 26,445 projects). Despite the adverse financial situation brought about by the fall in São Paulo State’s tax revenue due to the economic recession in Brazil, FAPESP approved 10,480 new projects in the year, up 4% compared with 2015, linked to 5,491 fellowships in Brazil, 1,162 fellowships abroad, and 3,827 research grants.

“FAPESP was able to maintain its commitments and the pace of its research funding despite the economic problems Brazil faced in 2016,” says physicist José Goldemberg, President of FAPESP.

FAPESP’s 2016 performance is detailed in its latest annual activity report, published on August 15 and available at fapesp.br/en/publications/2016report.pdf. Executive summaries of the annual reports published since it began operating in 1962 can be downloaded in Portuguese from fapesp.br/publicacoes, and in English (for 2009-16 only) from fapesp.br/en/5437. 

The 2016 report is illustrated by the work of street artists Gustavo and Otávio Pandolfo, known worldwide as OSGEMEOS.

Growth of cooperation with the business sector is one of the report’s positive highlights. The Innovative Research in Small Business Program (PIPE) had its best year since its inception in 1997, with 228 new projects approved, more than four per week or almost one per working day, and investment totaling $ PPP 26.0 million. This compared with 159 projects and $ PPP 16.1 million in 2015.

PIPE was the first initiative by a Brazilian research-funding agency to offer non-repayable grants for small enterprises to develop initial-stage innovations. “The program has made an enormous contribution to scientific, technological and economic development in São Paulo State, stimulating the establishment of companies that prosper and create jobs and wealth,” says Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, FAPESP’s Scientific Director.

The establishment of Engineering Research Centers in cooperation with the business sector also forged ahead in 2016. The Center for Applied Research in Human Wellbeing & Behavior was established as a partnership between FAPESP, cosmetics firm Natura, the University of São Paulo (USP), the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), and Mackenzie Presbyterian University. Hosted by USP, the center is dedicated to multidisciplinary studies on human behavior for an aggregate investment of $ PPP 18.7 million over a ten-year period. The goal is to assemble knowledge, methodologies and technologies in areas such as experimental psychology and neuroscience, create indicators of wellbeing for the Brazilian population, and help develop innovative products.

For Andrea Álvares, Natura’s Vice President of Marketing & Innovation, the model is at the cutting edge of open innovation. “The greater the diversity of researchers involved, the richer the results will be,” she said during the center’s launch event.

The partnership with Natura joined four other Engineering Research Centers set up in previous years, two with pharmaceutical company GSK, one with automotive manufacturer Peugeot-Citroën, and another with oil and gas company BG. In this model, FAPESP’s investment is matched by an equivalent amount from the business partner and twice as much from the host university or research institution. The five centers will receive a total of $ PPP 121.6 million in investment.

Another highlight of the report is the growing support for interdisciplinary research, which accounted for 11.5% of the total disbursed in 2016. The largest share went to Life Sciences, with 40.5%, followed by Exact Sciences, Earth Sciences & Engineering, with 37%. Human & Social Sciences accounted for 11%. This was the best performance yet for interdisciplinary research, which accounted for 10.4% of the total disbursed in 2015, 7.78% in 2006, and 3.08% in 2013.

FAPESP also continued to consistently invest in globally competitive research projects. Thematic Projects, which have ambitious objectives that justify funding for up to five years and often involve researchers from several institutions, received $ PPP 120.3 million in 2016, up from $ PPP 117.6 in 2015. The number of projects approved was 88, the largest in six years and six more than in 2015. The number of Thematic Projects in progress in 2016 reached 477.

The Young Investigator Awards program also maintained momentum, receiving $ PPP 32.0 million in grants and fellowships for 313 ongoing projects, up from $ PPP 31.6 million in 2015. Fifty-eight of these projects were contracted for in 2016. The program provides funding for up to four years to support the creation of groups led by young researchers with PhDs and outstanding potential, preferably in institutions that have not yet focused on the topic of the project.

Since 1989, the São Paulo State Constitution has required that 1% of annual tax revenue be transferred to FAPESP for investment in scientific and technological research. In 2016, the state treasury transferred $ PPP 496.6 million. In nominal terms, the total rose 1.2% year over year, but after allowing for inflation as measured by the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), it fell 5% compared with 2015. This transfer, which accounted for 78.7% of FAPESP’s annual income, was supplemented by $ PPP 101.0 million from agreements with other agencies, institutions and companies and by $ PPP 33.5 million from the investment fund maintained by FAPESP to provide financial income for investment in research funding alongside its share of tax revenue. These supplementary sources decreased 6% in nominal terms compared with 2015.

The size of FAPESP’s investment can be gauged from several different angles. One is the breakdown of disbursement by funding line: 39.5% of the total went to fellowships in Brazil and abroad, 34.1% to research grants, 14.3% to special programs such as Young Investigator Awards and eScience, and 12.1% to technological innovation programs.

In the case of regular grants, disbursement fell 9% year over year, and the number of projects approved fell 3%. The decrease was most conspicuous in modalities such as participation in or organization of scientific meetings. Grants linked to projects funded for up to two years rose 17%, and funding for thematic projects increased 9%.

The amount disbursed for regular fellowships was $ PPP 210.7 million, 6% down year over year in nominal terms. Nevertheless, the number of new fellowships rose 4%, and funding for those already in force rose 11% due to annual adjustment. Scientific initiation was the leading category of fellowships in Brazil, with a total of 2,287, 12% more than in 2015 (2,036). The number of master’s, PhD and direct doctorate fellowships rose 0.4%, 8% and 21%, respectively. The number of postdoctoral research fellowships fell to 634, from 684 in 2015. 

Research fellowships and internships abroad fell 7% to 1,162, from 1,244 in 2015, with the decrease occurring mainly in overseas research internships lasting up to a year depending on the funding line, while research fellowships abroad rose to 258, from 254 in 2015.

The number of foreign researchers awarded postdoc fellowships in Brazil by FAPESP fell to 93, from 123 in 2015, but remained fairly stable as a proportion of the total, accounting for 19% of all postdoc fellowships in Brazil, slightly down compared with 21% in 2015 but above the levels seen in the previous five years, which ranged from 13% to 18%. Recipients of postdoc fellowships, most of whom were foreigners, worked in Exact & Earth Sciences (36%), Engineering (26%), Human Sciences (26%), and Applied Social Sciences (25%).

FAPESP’s investment can also be broken down in terms of its objectives in funding research. From this angle, it can be seen that applied research received 53% of the total disbursed in 2016. This category includes grants and fellowships for projects in such areas as agronomy and veterinary medicine, engineering and health, which almost always result in applications, as well as programs that foster innovation in universities and private enterprise, and a number of special programs.

Knowledge advancement accounted for 39% of the total disbursed, via programs that form human resources and stimulate academic research, including fellowships and grants. Lastly, 8% of the total went to research infrastructure, for refurbishment, modernization and acquisition of laboratory equipment, library expansion at higher education and research institutions, and fast internet access for researchers.

In 2016, cooperation agreements were in force between FAPESP and 94 organizations, 28 of them signed during the year. Only one of the new agreements with funding agencies and academic institutions involved a Brazilian organization, the National Space Research Institute (INPE). The other 24 were international agreements signed with seven organizations in the United States, three each in the United Kingdom and Australia, two each in Canada, France and China, and one each in the Netherlands, Italy, Norway and Chile, as well as one with a multilateral organization. Agreements were signed with three companies: Statoil (Norway), Koppert (Netherlands), and IBM (USA).

Two scientific symposia in the FAPESP Week series, designed to foster scientific collaboration between researchers in São Paulo State and other countries, were held in 2016, one in the US in March, and the other in Uruguay in November.