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

The international consortia INCOBRA launched in August one of its main tool of communication: a website to introduce the project´s objectives and expected impacts in focusing, increasing and enhancing partnerships between the European Union and Brazil. INCOBRA website’s target audience includes all actors from Research and Innovation in Brazil and Europe interested in performing international cooperation on priority areas: Marine Research; Bio economy; Food Security and Sustainable agriculture; Energy; Nanotechnology; and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The page is constantly updated with information about the activities and results of the consortium. the website will feed into and support other communication tools and mechanisms used in the project, such as the social networks, the project newsletters and the promotional materials. The portal has all the relevant information of the project: concept and objectives, impact, priority areas of cooperation between Brazil and the European Union, information on INCOBRA, key contact information, a helpdesk tool to contact the project team, an area for access to the project results, news, events and funding opportunities.

In Stakeholders section, interested actors will be able to sign up as Stakeholder being directly added to the online list of stakeholders that includes information on collaboration interests (demand and offer) according to particular fields. Thus, organizations will be able to search for potential partners and contact them directly. Within the Stakeholder Area, organizations will be able to search for potential partners per scientific field or collaboration interest, and contact them directly. The process is very easy and does not require an account or password.

In addition to the Stakeholder Area at INCOBRA website, a Forum was created as a communication tool similar to a social network that allows members of the Stakeholder group to discuss relevant topics regarding R&I EU-BR international collaboration. In order to get access to this tool the institution needs to sign up as INCOBRA stakeholder and tick the checkbox saying “I would like to participate in the INCOBRA Stakeholder Forum”.

Then the contact point from the institution will receive an invitation via email that allows you to register at the SOCIAL ERA and automatically includes you in the INCOBRA group. The account at SOCIAL ERA is individual and you will be able to relate your personal account to your institution, if needed.

Content

The structure of the website is simple and user friendly. The homepage shows clearly the different sections of the website and provides an overview of the latest news and entries, which can be when applicable highlighted in a calendar with key dates. The news about Brazil are presented in green and from the EU are in blue.

The website is divided in five main sections: About; News and Events; Collaboration; Funding, Stakeholder Area. Each area contains detailed information about the consortium and cooperation in research and innovation between Brazil and the European Union. The page is linked also to the websites of all the project partners, as well as the accounts on Twitter and LinkedIn – the main network used by the international consortium.

About INCOBRA

The international consortium consists on 14 institutions – seven from Europe and seven from Brazil. The project has received funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 Programme, an initiative whose goal is to finance research and innovation projects by 2020.

Selected through a call, INCOBRA is under coordination of the Portuguese Society of Innovation (SPI). The project seeks to build a structure capable of facilitating interaction between Brazilian and European entities of science, technology and innovation (ST & I).

To succeed with the objectives, INCOBRA aims to consolidate a group of stakeholders formed by different stakeholders such as business, science and technology institutions (ICTs) and universities. Members of this group will be informed first-hand about events to be held in Brazil and Europe.