FAPESP’s 2023 Annual Report shows resumption of research activities

The number of grants and scholarships awarded in 2023 rose 18% year over year, reflecting measures taken by FAPESP to foster a resumption of research.

By Jussara Mangini  |  Agência FAPESP – Research activities in São Paulo state (Brazil) were resumed in 2023 after a three-year drop in the number of proposals submitted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of scholarships and grants awarded by FAPESP rose 18% compared with the previous year, according to the 2023 Annual Report. Disbursement for all active projects (23,029) totaled nearly 560 million in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), for year-on-year growth of 15.5%.

“Our performance reflected a return to normal by countless laboratories and graduate programs, but it was also a response to actions taken by FAPESP to foster a resumption of research in São Paulo,” said Marco Antonio Zago, President of FAPESP.

One of these actions was the allocation of $ PPP 184.4 million for investment in 56 proposals to purchase large items of research equipment selected in three calls issued by the São Paulo State Special Program of Support for Research Infrastructure. In 2023, FAPESP issued a new call for the acquisition of small and medium items of equipment corresponding to the investment of $ PPP 81.9 million. “With these investments, FAPESP promoted the modernization and expansion of São Paulo’s research infrastructure, and encouraged the resumption of research,” Zago said.

Support for research for innovation

FAPESP also undertook several initiatives to foster research for innovation in 2023. Two of these initiatives involve the Innovative Research in Small Business Program (PIPE): PIPE Start supports entrepreneurs as they conduct initial validation of innovative technological solutions; and PIPE for Knowledge Transfer (PIPE-KT) encourages small enterprises to achieve proof of concept for research originating in higher education or research institutions.

FAPESP also partnered successfully with SEBRAE-SP (the São Paulo branch of the Brazilian Small Business Support Service) and FINEP (the Brazilian Innovation Agency, an arm of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, MCTI) to help companies commercialize new products and technologies, as well as issuing calls for the accreditation of accelerators and seed capital funds. These measures affected the 2023 results: the number of grants and scholarships linked to PIPE projects rose 17% and disbursement rose 52%.

Also in innovation, FAPESP issued a call to select a new Engineering Research Center (ERC), which will be established with Citrosuco. Eighteen ERCs were operating in 2023. They were set up by FAPESP in partnership with companies such as Shell, Embraer, Equinor and GSK, among others, and hosted by research institutions. In the same period, implementation was underway at three of the ten Applied Research Centers (ARCs) in Artificial Intelligence selected in a 2021 joint call with MCTI, the Ministry of Communications (MCom) and the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br).

The benefits of the partnership model embodied by ERCs and ARCs were evidenced in the results of a survey conducted by FAPESP’s Planning & Indicators and Research for Innovation units, showing that the public money invested in these research centers is multiplied by 4.8 via the matching investments made by companies and research institutions. 

Research in cooperation with the public sector

The 2023 Annual Report also notes strong growth of FAPESP’s investment in the implementation of Science for Development Centers (CCDs), which saw an increase of 279% year over year in 2023, with 28 CCDs selected in two calls for proposals up and running in the year. CCDs involve collaboration by researchers at universities and research institutions with government agencies and others in pursuit of solutions to challenges previously set by departments of the São Paulo State Government. In 2023 FAPESP issued a third call for proposals to establish new CCDs. 

Another collaborative initiative was selection of 70 proposals in a call issued for the Research in Public Policies Program (PPPP). They were submitted jointly by researchers and public administrators, who will conduct research projects to contribute to the formulation, review, improvement, monitoring or implementation of public policies. 

The report also notes that FAPESP’s investment in grants for research on public education rose 369% in the year, mainly owing to PROEDUCA, a program implemented in partnership with the São Paulo State Department of Education. The program’s second call for proposals was issued in 2023. Its remit is to contribute to the improvement of public policies and innovative pedagogical approaches that facilitate learning and reduce educational inequalities.

Cooperation in research 

FAPESP announced the selection of five proposals for new Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) in health, biology, agronomy and veterinary medicine in 2023. They were approved in the first of five calls to be held until 2025. The year also saw the third call for proposals to establish research centers in exact sciences, earth sciences and engineering.

FAPESP continues to promote cooperation in research at home and abroad. The number of active research cooperation agreements reached 197 in 2023: 79 with academic organizations, 108 with funding agencies, and ten with companies and research funding associations.

In domestic partnerships, a noteworthy development was cooperation among 25 of the 27 state research foundations (FAPs) to fund the Amazon+10 Initiative. The Scientific Expeditions call, issued in partnership with the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), allocated $ PPP 24.2 million in funding for research to extend scientific knowledge of sociobiodiversity in little-known parts of the world’s largest tropical rainforest.

In two other partnerships, FAPESP seeks to attract young people to science. In 2023, it associated with the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) in the Aristides Pacheco Leão Program to Stimulate Scientific Vocations to offer 48 scholarships for undergraduate students at institutions that conduct research projects led by members of ABC. In addition, it partnered with Roberto Marinho Foundation to issue a call for proposals entitled Communicating Science, whereby it will award more than 200 scholarships under the Science Media Program (MídiaCiência) for undergraduates in any knowledge area to produce podcasts, social media videos/reels, and filmed or written reportage on science projects. The aim is to train undergraduates to disseminate information about science and technology, and to engage them in research.

The 2023 Annual Report is available at: fapesp.br/publicacoes/report2023.pdf.