INCOBRA - Increasing International Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Brazil and the European Union

Since 2013 Norwegian and Brazilian stakeholders in the oil and gas industry gatjher together for the November Conference which has provided a stage for identifying research topics of common interest to Norwegian and Brazilian .

In 2013, the two countries signed an agreement on increased collaboration within research, development and innovation, The first joint call and funding of common projects is the most concrete proof that the cooperation is bearing fruit.

This November 2016 Norwegian and Brazilian researchers once again gathered in Rio de Janeiro for project showcasing and for discussions of new and hot topics.

An even closer collaboration on research is of great interest to both Norwegian and Brazilian stakeholders. During last year´s conference, the first joint call between a Norwegian and a Brazilian financing institution was launched. 16 projects applied for Norwegian-Brazilian funding after the first joint call by the Research Council of Norway (RCN) and Finep, and the selected projects have now been announced:

4Subsea and Inoceano will initiate a project on a flexible pipe pressure liner life extension tool.

StormGeo and Climatempo will look into integrated realtime environmental monitoring and oil spill forecasting.

IRIS Software and Engineering Simulation and Scientific Software will look into modeling of well multiphase flow for increased oil recovery.

WiSub and EasySubsea will do research on data transfer interface for subsea use.

A 5th project has been selected in case one of the four above cannot initiate their project. This is IFE Flow and DPR Engenharia who want to develop a tool for improved prediction for modeling of sand accumulation in pipe separators.

The announcement was made at the 4th November Conference which took place from October 31-November 1, 2016, in the auditorium of the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) in Urca, Rio de Janeiro.

«Norwegian-Brazilian R&D cooperation is much wanted and has a high level of priority. We are very pleased with the response and with what we have achieved so far. We received many very interesting and good applications, and the process of selecting those who should receive financial support was certainly not easy», says the director of the Department for Petroleum Research, Siri Helle Friedemann.

«The constructive cooperation with Finep has been a positive experience which we will gladly share with our colleagues in the Research Council of Norway that are looking towards Brazil. We now intend to launch a second common call and hope to be contracting in 2018. In this call, priority will be given to universities and R&D institutions», she said in her presentation to the November Conference in Rio.

Her colleague at Finep, superintendent Mauricio Syrio, said that meeting the cost challenge is necessary in today´s scenario and that Finep would like to build bridges between different players and stimulate investments in innovation.

«Economic risk is still an obstacle to innovation in Brazil, but innovation is the key to reduce cost. Finep can reduce financial risk and we promote international cooperation. We are very proud of the results of the joint call with the Research Council of Norway, and it is also the first time Finep has a call with another country where we allocate funding instead of loans», Mr. Syrio said.

In total, Finep and RCN have allocated approximately 2,8 million USD for the projects.

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