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

A memorandum for bilateral cooperation on innovation was signed on August 4^th by the Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Marcos Pereira and the Minister of Trade and Investment from UK, Mark Price. This agreement will allow the launch of a call for Brazilian and British companies that will be funded by the Newton Fund together with the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Innovation (Embrapii).

The call will focus on technology development projects to smart cities and sustainable urban environments, involving internet of things, big data, smart grids, multimodal transport technologies and traffic control, clean energy, control and use of water and infrastructure blue-green.

"For a number of activities that involve scientific research, for instance to plan smart cities, and develop clean energy, international collaboration is crucial. With partnerships among the best researchers from Brazil and the United Kingdom, we will be better prepared to face the challenges of the world and improve lives of millions of people, "Price said.

With the decision of the UK to leave the European Union, the British minister underlined the window of opportunity to strengthen bilateral trade relations between the two countries. Price confirmed that the output from the EU is a fact and reaffirmed the importance of Brazil as one of the major trading partners of Europe.

Marcos Pereira said that this will be a great opportunity for Brazil to increase its exports to that country. "It is important to promptly begin initiatives to boost trade and investment flows between our countries," he pointed out. In 2015, only 1.5% of total Brazilian exports were destined for the UK. Last year Brazil exported to the British up to US $ 2.9 billion in goods and imported $ 2.8 billion, with a surplus of US $ 106 million to Brazil.