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

Brazil and Switzerland have the possibility to establish new partnerships and renew agreements in strategic areas, such as science and technology. Representatives from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Communication (MCTIC) recently received the president from the Swiss Confederation, Johann Schneider-Ammann, to discuss bilateral agreements between the two countries.

"The goal of this encounter was to examine the progress of the agreements and eventually remove existent barriers from both parties. We have discussed possible new partnerships aiming to prepare a third round of bilateral cooperation. Switzerland is a highly technological developed country, with a strong pharmaceutical industry. Brazil has everything to gain from this partnership," said the executive secretary of MCTIC, Elton Zechariah, who attended the meeting.

Also present at the meeting, the president of the National Council of State Research Support Foundations (Confap), Sérgio Luiz Gargioni, highlighted the importance of Brazil to advance in the S&T partnership with Switzerland. "It is one of the richest countries in the world that thrives on technology and has points of convergence with Brazil," Gargioni said, mentioning the main areas of cooperation between the two countries - neurosciences, health, environment, renewable energy and neglected diseases.

Since 2009, when the first bilateral call was launched, Brazil and Switzerland invested together up to 10 million reais (~2.5 million euros) in research within areas of mutual interest. In 2014, both countries signed a joint declaration to renew the commitment taken under the Brazilian-Swiss Joint Reserch Programme (BSJRP), an international cooperation programme launched in 2010, and established new partnerships for the new phase of this initiative from 2013 – 2016.