São Paulo and Spain discuss strategies to increase cooperation in science, technology and innovation

According to participants at the opening session of FAPESP Week Spain in Madrid, there is still a lot of room for increased collaboration between the two countries in these areas.

By Elton Alisson, from Madrid  |  Agência FAPESP – Spain is one of the countries with the greatest scientific collaboration with Brazil. But there is still plenty of room to increase cooperation in research, development and innovation, said participants at the opening session of FAPESP Week Spain, on November 27th.  

The event, which ends on November 28th at the Faculty of Medicine of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), in the Moncloa-Aravaca region (Spain), aims to strengthen links between researchers from the state of São Paulo and Spain in order to promote research partnerships.

“Joint scientific publications by researchers from the state of São Paulo and Spain have been steadily increasing over the years, which shows that we can explore and promote even more scientific collaboration since we have excellent research groups on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Márcio de Castro, scientific director of FAPESP.

“Almost 60% of this collaboration is in the natural sciences, followed by the medical sciences, and it has made it possible to increase the visibility and excellence of the research carried out by both countries,” he concluded.

Marcio de Castro, scientific director of FAPESP (photo: Elton Alisson/Agência FAPESP)

As the largest public university in Spain, with nearly 65,000 students and 3,500 researchers, and one of the oldest in Europe, the UCM is very interested in expanding scientific relations with Brazil, said Lucía de Juan Ferré, the institution’s vice-rector for Research and Transfer.

Founded in 1499 and based in Madrid since 1836, the UCM has cooperation agreements with 340 universities and 934 research institutions in 77 countries, including Brazil.

“The Complutense University of Madrid is an institution deeply committed to research and innovation. We have a huge academic community that provides the perfect environment for intellectual, cultural and research exchange,” said Ferré.

One of the tools currently used by the institution to expand scientific cooperation with Latin America is the Ibero-American Union of Universities (UIU). The network was established in 2016 between five universities in Latin America and Spain – the University of São Paulo (USP), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), UCM and the University of Barcelona (UB) – to develop joint research, teaching and researcher mobility programs. However, in her opinion, it is possible to study and implement other new instruments for this purpose.

“We’re already collaborating with Brazilian researchers, but we know we can do more. We need to encourage our researchers to look for new collaborations. And we know that initiatives such as FAPESP Week are very important to further increase our international collaboration because they aim to create connections between researchers to seek new partnerships, as well as to discuss new funding opportunities and also to identify gaps that we have in both research and funding,” said Ferré.

The executive director of FAPESP’s Executive Board, Carlos Américo Pacheco, emphasized that international collaboration in research is essential to improve the quality of science.

“International collaboration is strategic not only for scientific production but also for innovation. We’d also like to discuss with Spanish funding agencies the possibility of increasing collaboration in innovation, inviting companies and startups from Brazil and Spain to participate in this type of challenge,” he stated.

Science diplomacy

The Brazilian ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra, Orlando Leite Ribeiro, who was also present at the opening of the event, said that events such as FAPESP Week expand collaboration by promoting dialogue and initiatives aimed at increasing knowledge and solving challenges.

“Meetings like this are the concrete expression of what innovation diplomacy seeks to promote. Here, scientists, researchers and students have the opportunity to talk, share experiences and explore new opportunities for collaboration, reaffirming that science and innovation, like trade and culture, transcend borders,” he said.

In this sense, diplomacy can also be a tool to help promote sustainable development globally, said Isabel Diaz, vice-president for International Cooperation at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Spain’s largest research organization has the highest number of collaborative projects with Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, she said.

“We’re also creating additional tools so that we can improve these international collaborations with Latin America and Africa,” said Diaz.

More information about FAPESP Week Spain can be found at: www.fapesp.br/week/2024/spain.