Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation SFIC Summary report of the workshop 'Approaching Brazil'

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Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation SFIC

Approaching Brazil

SFIC workshop

17 June 2013, Brussels, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)

Introduction

End of 2012 the Strategic Forum for International S&T Cooperation (SFIC) launched its Brazil initiative. Brazil is emerging as an important player in the global research and innovation landscape. The aim of the SFIC initiative is to advise Member States, Associated Countries and the Commission on areas for which there is potential for a more coordinated European approach vis-à-vis Brazil adding value to existing successful cooperation activities.

As a first step SFIC has collected information on the EU, Member States and Associated Countries R&I activities with Brazil and compiled an overview report.

The SFIC workshop 'Approaching Brazil' was a second step and an opportunity for European actors to share, compare and discuss different experiences, challenges faced and solutions found when seeking to collaborate with Brazil. The outcome of the workshop is a set of recommendations for joint actions to be further developed by the SFIC Brazil initiative.

The workshop was structured around two main parts: the first addressed the opportunities and challenges in R&I cooperation; the second session focused on mobility.

In June 2012 SFIC and SGHRM (Steering Group for Human Resources and Mobility) organised jointly a workshop on the mobility of researchers between Europe and the BRIC countries. Building on the outcomes of the previous workshop the present session on mobility allowed for a more targeted discussion on mobility to and from Brazil.

Recommendations for the SFIC Brazil initiative

The workshop resulted in the following recommendations for activities SFIC could pursue to encourage a more coordinated European approach vis-à-vis Brazil. More detailed ideas can be found in the sections reporting on the outcome of the working groups.

1) Flexibility is very important in partnerships with Brazil. Joint actions should take place amongst Europeans to create a European perspective vis-à-vis Brazil strengthening the bilateral activities, building on existing schemes and promoting Europe as a whole.

i. Promote the European strengths as a package. A European brand would make Europe more visible as a whole with all its richness and diversity.

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2) Structure and sustain information sharing amongst European actors involved in collaborations with Brazil to learn from each other and increase the understanding of the Brazilian R&I environment. Information sharing should result in shared European perspectives and messages which can be promoted in the bilateral dialogues.

i. Map the Brazilian strengths (excellence centres, hot spots) and weaknesses to identify complementarities with Europe and facilitate win-win interaction between prospective partners.

ii. Better define Europe's own strengths, build on complementarities between Member States, prioritise themes for cooperation in R&I and identify the corresponding funding schemes to be fostered.

iii. Provide the Brazilians with an overview of excellence centres in Europe.

3) Innovation and the corresponding actors need to be considered as part of the landscape, the focus cannot be on research only.

i. Carry out an analysis of the Brazilian innovation system and establish a map of it to understand the key-innovation features, actors and networks relevant for Europe.

ii. Develop a joint understanding and joint objectives for improving the framework conditions for R&I cooperation with Brazil, e.g. on tax issues and trade rights, and defend the solutions in a coherent way in bilateral dialogues.

4) Support the development of a European initiative to enhance the European participation to the Science without Borders programme

i. Support the organisation of European focal points for the Science without Borders programme.

ii. Assess the Science without Borders programme from a European point of view and develop a European standpoint for the next phase of the Science without Borders. Discuss this perspective with the Brazilian actors in a coherent way in bilateral dialogues.

iii. Work on selection criteria in partnership with Brazilian actors (to allow prioritising quality versus quantity)

iv. Promote the high quality research in Brazil to European students and researchers to make Brazil a popular destination and thereby address the imbalance between in- and outgoing students and researchers.

v. Promote the mutual recognition of degrees.

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Setting the scene (Opening session)

The workshop was opened by Ms Brigitte Decadt on behalf of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, the host of the event. The opening session was moderated by the SFIC Vice-Chair, Ms Ana Neves (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal).

The opening words recalled that this workshop is the second step of the SFIC Brazil initiative with the objective to share best practices and to discuss where a coordinated European action would add value and increase the impact of the existing bilateral actions.

Prof. Dr. Ing Schmitt, (Aachen University, Germany)

The huge potential of Brazil was highlighted. The Brazilian economy has been growing at an annualised rate of 5% and further growth is expected due to the deep-sea oilfields discovered. In the coming years Brazil will become the world’s fifth-largest economy. Beside the oilfields, Brazil also has the world’s largest freshwater supplies, the largest tropical forests, fertile land and a huge mineral wealth. Several large companies operate in Brazil. Brazil is very strong at selecting its partners according to the needs of the country.

Manufacturing technology is a driving topic for the relationship between Brazil and Germany and is playing an essential role for the sustainable development of both countries. Many German companies have production plants in Brazil and many Brazilian researchers have studied in Germany.

BRAGECRIM is the German-Brazilian collaborative research initiative on manufacturing technology with a long term goal to strengthen the competitiveness of both countries in the global market. Today the network brings together 355 members in 16 collaborative projects and has more than 45 industrial partners involved. The initiative is concentrating on innovation along the whole value added chain and on a fast transfer of knowledge and results to industry. Focused project teams with complementary competences are put in place and the exchange of experiences through the interchange of scientists is encouraged. The example of the development of common measurement systems highlighted the importance of cooperation at the pre-competitive stage to establish common norms and standards. Common norms and standards enlarge the accessible market for companies from both countries and allow the supply chain to be spread over different countries as the measurements are independent of the local users influence.

Dr. Paula Elyseu Mesquita (Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal)

The main findings stemming from the analysis of the overview of EU, Member States and Associated Countries research and innovation activities with Brazil were presented followed by a short overview of the Brazilian research and innovation environment.

The following countries have contributed to the report: AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, NO, PL, PT. Most of these countries have signed an S&T agreement at state level, but not all. In addition most have cooperation agreements between lower governmental levels, academia or private sector actors. As a standard rule each country funds its own participants in joint initiatives.

The thematic priorities highlighted for cooperation with Brazil are:

• Agribusiness, agro food, food security, biotechnology, (including forestry and fishery)

• Health

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• Energy, biofuel, bioenergy, renewable energy

• Information and Communications Technologies

• Biodiversity

• Nanotechnology

• Environmental and geo-sciences

• Basic research (in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology)

Innovation activities play an increasing role in the cooperation with Brazil. On the Brazilian side the Brazilian Enterprise for Research and Industrial Innovation (EMBRAPII) is becoming a key actor. The Fraunhofer Society is acting as consultant for its establishment. Many European Chambers of Commerce actively support the growing involvement of the European private sector (incl. SMEs) in research and innovation in Brazil.

France, Germany, Portugal and Spain have public joint laboratories with Brazil. Many European companies and public sector actors have recently opened research centres in partnership with Brazilian universities.

The Brazilian 'Science without Borders' initiative is the main scheme for mobility and most countries have cooperation agreements in place with this initiative.

The Brazilian GDP in 2011 was of €1,907 billion, and thereby the world’s 6th largest. In 2010 Brazil invested 1.16% of its GDP in S&T. Brazil is currently the world’s 13th largest producer of publications. Today 80% of Brazilian researchers are active in public institutions (universities and research centres). Business expenditure on R&D in 2010 was 47% of total GERD (exceptions: the oil sector, aeronautics, and agribusiness).

A series of different initiatives and laws set the frame with the Brazilian STI policies. Sustainable development is a main driver of the Brazilian research and innovation strategy. The National Strategy in Science, Technology and Innovation spans from 2012 to 15 and the Inova Empresa Plan announced €12 billion to support innovation in enterprises during 2013-14. The Law of Technological Innovation (2004) set out the conditions for partnership between universities, technological institutes and businesses in Brazil.

The Science without Borders initiative was launched in 2011. Between 2011 and 2015 101000 grants and scholarships will be provided. The bulk of these will go to PhD candidates, visitor professors, postdocs and undergraduate Brazilian students to study and work abroad. About 4000 grants will be for foreign researchers to work in Brazil. Today Europe hosts 60% of the researchers going abroad and European researchers represent approximately 50% of the foreign participants going to Brazil (albeit this is a much smaller number than the incoming Brazilian researchers).

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R&I cooperation with Brazil – opportunities and challenges (Session 1)

This session was moderated by Ms Tiina Vihma-Putovaara (Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Finland) and was composed of two parts. The first part consisted of a series of short presentations outlining challenges and solutions for the R&I cooperation in with Brazil. In the second part participants discussed the main challenges, solutions and opportunities for joint activities between Member States, Associated Countries and the EU.

Main messages of the showcase presentations

Dr Holger Kohl (Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology, Germany)

In the R&I relations with Brazil it is important to consider also training of researchers funded by industry in addition to the public funding. Fraunhofer is working with the Brazilian National Service for Industrial Training (SENAI) to develop the business plans for 23 applied research institutes (innovation institutes) in Brazil, the implementation concepts for the SENAI national management and an evaluation/audit system for the performance of the SENAI innovation institutes.

SENAI is the second largest organisation for vocational training worldwide. The umbrella association has been developed by industry in order to advance independently of governmental decisions and it is becoming a pillar stone for the national S&T strategy.

The overall objective of the Fraunhofer-SENAI project is to use applied research as a mechanism to transfer innovations to industry and to promote national and international competitiveness. The innovation institutes will increase productivity and added value and deliver high qualified human resources. The institutes collaborate intensively with each other and are guided and supported by a competent and enabling headquarter.

The R&D strategy of Brazil is strongly focusing on business needs and innovation to encourage a sustainable development of the Brazilian economy through innovation.

A challenge when working with Brazil is the difference between federal and regional systems. Regions need to be taken on-board before developing a national strategy. But even within a national strategy regional actors remain confined to the geographic boundaries and need to go through the federal level if seeking to collaborate with other regions.

Another challenge is the lack of researchers in Brazil and therefore the importance of the Science without Borders programme. Europe and USA are the opportunities for Brazil to have support in training more researchers, and currently Brazil is looking both ways. Supporting Brazil in the training of its own researchers is a good basis for developing joint R&I activities. Establishing relationships based on trust is fundamental for the good cooperation with Brazil.

The tax regulations are also a challenge to be overcome. A 15% withhold tax is paid by foreign companies as well as an additional 10% on foreign money transfer.

Prof. Paulo Freitas (International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Spain & Portugal)

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) is an intergovernmental organisation located in Braga, Portugal. The scientific infrastructure receives researchers for a medium term stay and they return home afterwards. Four thematic areas are addressed:

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nanomedicine, environmental monitoring and food control, nanoelectronics and energy, nanomanipulation.

INL has an established international network. Since March 2013, an agreement between Brazil, Portugal and Spain is in place to promote the scientific cooperation between Brazil and INL. The agreement covers the use of facilities, trainings for PhD, post-docs and professionals, research projects, technology transfer, collaborative networks and outreach and dissemination activities.

The Brazilian Interministerial Nanotechnology Committee consists of 8 ministries. MCTI and the Education ministry have been the main contact points to establish the cooperation. But it has been a challenge to have a stable contact point in these ministries and the frequent changes have rendered the discussions more difficult and time consuming. Brazil has defined its strategic areas and industry sectors and the expected goals for nanotechnology in 2012-15 and the common interests with INL are the basis for the collaboration.

A joint programme has been launched in March 2013 and a workshop was organised in May. In June a first call for projects within defined areas was launched. The projects will be funded for 4 years.

Prof. Pedro Fardim (Åbo Akademi University, Finland)

For cooperation with Brazil it is important to build two way bridges and identify win-win scenarios. It is always easier to start an initiative than to sustain it, therefore the best actors need to be selected to lead initiatives and keep them going. Personal contacts are needed to build trust and find the right partners. It would be an advantage for Europe to group interested European actors and ensure they have a stable and dedicated leader to sustain the collaboration with Brazil.

When dealing with Brazil it is important to understand the culture and accept that flexibility is a key requisite. Things change very fast and you need to be able to negotiate change. Myths about Brazil circulating in Europe needs to be countered with facts e.g. Brazil is today the 6th largest economy in the world. There is cultural similarity and 3 languages, well known in Europe, are spoken in Brazil – PT, ES and EN.

Biomass and renewable energy are areas of joint interest for Europe and Brazil and less of interest for the US, so it is a good area to develop joint European-Brazil ventures in. Advances in biomass utilisation are today depending on new ideas emerging from the cooperation between industry, universities and governmental agencies. As it is a new growing area the market opportunities are big and the framing conditions are still to be established driven by new discoveries. Brazil already has a good knowledge about renewables but now wants to go further and is in search of good brains. This Europe can offer.

On the other hand Brazil is facing the challenge of strengthening its education system to provide itself with enough researchers. The level of the free public education system is low. Costly private schools perform better but are out of reach for the less well-off pupils. There is a huge potential to collaborate with Brazil for improving its basic education system e.g. projects to educate educators. The state and federal universities are good partners for collaboration, but there is a need for deeper reciprocal knowledge to facilitate the interaction.

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Prof. Ivan Ingelbrecht (IPBO, VIB, University of Gent, Belgium)

Bioeconomy is an area in which Brazil is highly advanced and which is of high interest to Europe also. Brazil is a leader in the use of renewable energies - 47.3% of its energy use comes from renewable (in 2009). In 2012 3.1 out of 3.4 M new cars sold in Brazil were running on flexfuel. The carbon emission per inhabitant is much lower in Brazil compared to most EU countries.

Brazil has a very efficient agricultural system with fertile soils and high efficiency and Brazil could become the ‘farmer for the world’. Developing sustainable agricultural systems is a priority for Brazil and is supported by research to continuously innovate e.g. on plant bioengineering, the use of no-till agriculture or biological nitrogen fixation. Brazil also has increasingly strong international influence on agricultural policies, especially in developing countries with similar agro-ecologies where its model is being followed.

In the areas linked to the bio-economy, Brazil is looking for equal partnerships not for development support. Brazil wants to move in the direction of innovation and value added to raw biomass rather than towards the export of raw materials which should form the basis for identifying win-win situations for collaborations.

There are opportunities for R&I cooperation between the EU and Brazil on value addition to secondary streams from biomass related industries: recycling, converting side/’waste’ streams into useful products. Another area to support could be R&I cooperation for agricultural innovations, e.g. GMO technology/crop biotechnology, in view of the importance of agricultural innovations for Brazilian agriculture and the available scientific expertise in the EU.

Visibility and effectiveness should be enhanced through larger, multidisciplinary clusters that work across the value chain (feedstock to end product). Therefore, joint product development between the EU and Brazil involving the private sector (e.g. SMEs) are opportunities.

Divergent policies with regards to bioeconomy development and sustainability in Brazil and the EU are considered bottlenecks for international trade and cooperation, e.g. in the area of GM crops, biofuels, and market standards for bio-based products. There is a need to overcome these differences, recognizing the specific conditions in Brazil and the EU, and to strive for more harmonized regulations and policies which will guide new investments and stimulate EU-Brazil cooperation.

Eleanora Catella (Business Europe)

BusinessEurope is the European confederation of industry and employers. Forty-one national federations of industry are members and the confederation represents over 20 million of companies of all sizes, active in all industrial sectors.

On 23 January 2013 Business Europe, Eurochambers and CNI, the Brazilian confederation of industry organised the 6th EU-Brazil business summit in Brasilia, on the eve of the EU-Brazil political summit. Over 170 European and Brazilian participants attended the meeting. The focus of the business summits is on how to allow for greater innovation and competitiveness and create bilateral cooperation opportunities.

Brazil is the largest economy of Latin America. In 2011, its trade with the EU accounted for 37% of the EU's total trade with the Latin American region. Brazil has a strong

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economy that is experiencing at the same time a steady growth and a competitive challenge because of high energy prices and comparatively high cost of labour. Brazil is putting in place programmes to promote the long-term competitiveness of its enterprises and has heavily invested in infrastructures.

The EU-Brazil economic relationship is a complementary one. The EU runs a surplus in services trade and Brazil has a surplus in goods trade (primarily export of raw materials, food and drink). Brazilian companies are increasing their competitiveness on the European market.

There are still many opportunities to boost trade and investment through further tariff liberalization, regulatory cooperation, opening procurement markets and promoting investments in particular in science and technology, and research and innovation programmes. European companies' leadership position in sustainable technologies is a core element of Europe’s competitiveness on the global market. It could be the basis of new partnerships with emerging markets like Brazil that have high economic growth rates but face significant sustainability challenges over the medium to long term.

The business summit identified the following investment and trade priorities:

o Create a favourable climate for private sectors investment through the formulation of sound and stable macroeconomic policies and the predictability of rules and regulations.

o Improve the Brazilian tax system on services imports and reduce the tax burden (double taxation) on investments. Tax authorities and business representatives should together find common grounds to formulate new proposals that reduce tax burdens.

o Enhancing support measures for the internationalization of business, in particular for SMEs.

o Short term and sector-specific measures that remove non-tariff barriers and in particular, barriers that hit expanding key sectors like agrochemicals.

o Developing technology and innovation partnerships: there are cooperation opportunities for Brazilian and European companies in a number of sectors e.g. infrastructure development, applications and processes in fields from the extractive industries to energy intensive sectors and secondary goods producers.

Video interventions

Nilson Zaramella Boeta (VTT Brasil LTDA) talked about his experience with setting up a VTT branch in Brazil. The three different government layers (federal, regional, local) and the resulting different regulations are a challenge. The best solution is to have good local contacts that are familiar with the framework and facilitate the understanding. It is recommended to thoroughly carry out market studies so as to have realistic objectives for the first 2-3 years. The Brazilian government has recognised research and innovation as a strategic tool and there are many funding possibilities available for projects considered attractive. Investors are most interested in projects delivering prototypes already close to the market. For public funding the successful combination is: a project involving academia, a research organisation and business; in line with the national priorities and going from bench research to demonstration. International cooperation is factored into the Brazilian R&I

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strategy and there are good opportunities for mutual cooperation projects. The Science without Borders programme is a good tool to establish relations. Brazil today has qualified labour, a growing market, interest in innovation, making it a good moment to engage in cooperation.

Paulo Chebat (Global Approach Consulting) talked about the different possibilities for financing innovation in Brazil. Innovation is high on the agenda and since 2004 the legal framework has been considerably improved for research and innovation matters. A remaining challenge is the financing on SMEs. The ‘Lei do Bem’ is a young law installed in 2008 which allows for tax exemptions for expenses incurred by companies on innovation. It is however mainly used by big and medium sized companies today. Inova Brazil launched by FINEP is an innovation fostering program for Brazilian companies offering low-cost financing for research projects, development and innovation in Brazilian companies. Brazilian companies are aware that international cooperation is important to allow sustainable innovation and to ensure their global competitiveness.

Outcome of the working group discussions

1) Challenges: which are the most important challenges experienced?

o The Brazilian overall international strategy does not yet appear clearly to its international partners.

o Innovation is important in the R&I relationship with Brazil and this involves new actors.

o Identifying the right partners and stakeholders at all levels is the pre-requisite for good and sustainable R&I collaborations. Collaboration projects will in most cases have to be multidisciplinary.

o Given the high number of networks and on-going cooperation's in Brazil, it is difficult to identify the best.

o Sustainable long term cooperation built on trust and open dialogues should be the objective of any collaboration activity.

o At the same time flexibility is a pre-requisite, last minutes changes are not uncommon.

o In most cases if a common interest is found it is also possible to secure financing, however the financial support systems do not match seamlessly and therefore both sides need to be open to adapt.

o The language problem is a barrier in both ways.

o Overcoming the bureaucracy. Different laws and regulations are valid at state and federal levels in Brazil, similar to the European regulatory landscape, and both levels involve many actors.

o The legal framework in Brazil is still challenging e.g. the “one way transfer” of science and technology, the strict federal laws on export of biomaterials even on a temporary base and the issue of high taxes for foreign partners.

o Differentiating the bi-regional (Brazil is now involved in EU-CELAC) approach versus a bilateral approach without making them mutually exclusive.

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o The expenses linked to running research labs in Brazil is high e.g. the high salaries of professors in engineering and science.

o IPR issues are not currently considered a major challenge. Participants agreed that this is because of the 'trust building' exercise which goes ahead of any collaboration and during which most problems are overcome. However IPR issues should not be underestimated and it is important to monitor them. There is added value in quickly sharing experiences in Europe as soon as first persisting problems arise.

2) Solutions: which are the best solutions found and the easiest to share?

o For cooperation and strategy development it is important to differentiate between long, mid and short term objectives. Sustainable long-term win-win cooperation should be the driving objective.

o Finding the mutual benefit (win-win projects) and complementarity between partners both in strategy and expertise is important. Finding the matching partners can be more important than the area of cooperation. Mutual trust and dialogue are important to establish the mutual benefit. Personal contacts are often important to find the right interlocutor.

o A theme-based approach searching for a win-win situation for both sides is favourable for cooperation. Themes can be broad but they help setting the boundaries of the collaboration and make it more concrete.

o Focus on projects with a relevant content for both sides and not on funding considerations.

o It is easier to launch sustainable collaborations when focusing on new fields where there is still flexibility and less bureaucracy.

o Develop flexible project strategies: continuous re-adjustment and re-negotiation are necessary to adapt to the ever-changing project realities and to make the projects sustainable.

o Recognise there are also areas for Europe to learn from Brazil e.g. in social innovation, and bio-economy. Success stories must be promoted and learned from. Existing good practices – both at EU level and national level must be exploited. EU level actions should be shaped based on the individual experiences and build on individual success stories.

o The good experiences with COST collaborating with Brazil should be built on.

o Europeans and Brazilians would benefit from better sharing the information related to the networks they rely on. This would foster new matching partnerships.

o Bridges between European and Brazilian networks of excellence should be sustained to allow building the required mutual knowledge and trust. Mobility creates links.

o Social media is highly used in Brazil and should be explored to promote European assets.

o Internationalisation of SMEs could be increased by short, sector specific measures.

o SMEs can get funding from FINEP but need to be operating in Brazil for this. InovaBrazil offers good opportunities for companies.

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o Develop cooperation with Brazilian start-ups.

o Brazilian companies are aware that they need to become internationally competitive and are looking for faster mutual learning and technology transfer cooperation.

3) Joint actions: where would joining forces help to better address the challenges

The following proposals were made for areas in which joint actions between the EU, member states and countries associated to FP7 would have added value:

o Facilitate information and best practices exchange in Europe. Support upfront and continuous exchange of information amongst European to increase the understanding of the Brazilian R&I environment.

o Carry out a detailed mapping of the Brazilian strengths (e.g. centres of excellence) and weaknesses to help identify the best matching interests and partners.

o Carry out a detailed mapping of existing challenges for cooperation.

o Carry out an analysis of the Brazilian innovation system and establish an atlas of it.

o Set-up the right framework conditions for successful R&I cooperation e.g. trade rights to be agreed on.

o Better define the European strengths and develop a European strategy which exploits the complementarities between member states. What is important for Europe and where can win-win scenarios be found?

o Develop an EU brand to make Europe more understandable and visible as a whole.

o Use the lead agency model to develop cooperation with and amongst funding agencies.

o Launch focused activities to build STI cooperation.

o Use the Framework Programme and intergovernmental schemes to foster cooperation.

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Researchers' mobility between Europe and Brazil (Session 2)

Professor Pierre Quertenmont (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium) moderated this session which focused on the mobility of researchers between Europe and Brazil. Like the previous session it was composed of two parts: a first part with a series of short presentations outlining challenges and solutions for mobility to and from Brazil. In the second part participants discussed the main challenges, solutions and suggestions for joint activities between Member States, Associated Countries and the EU in smaller working groups.

Main messages of the showcase presentations

Carmela di Santo (Directorate General Education and Culture, European Commission)

The speaker introduced the Marie (Sklodowska-) Curie Programme (MSCP) and presented an overview of the experience of mobility with Brazil.

Brazil is the 5th country in terms of absolute participations in the MSCP. There are 23 different Brazilian organisations participating in the MSCP the most active being the University of Sao Paolo and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. For the participation of Brazilians the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) has been the most popular scheme, with 153 participating organisations and 8.6 million EUR allocated to Brazilian organisations in 96 different projects. Brazilian researchers coming to the EU amount to 96, and are mostly going to UK, France, Germany and Spain. Yet only 6 European fellows are going to Brazil.

The obstacles to mobility for academic staff identified are:

o Language problems on both sides (English on the Brazilian side, Portuguese for the Europeans)

o EU border restrictions

o Difficulties in coordinating the academic calendar for short term exchanges.

o Brazil is reluctant to recognise shorter degrees than master degrees.

o The delays in delivering diplomas in the European Universities.

o Different approaches to quality assurance in Brazil and Europe

o Problems in recognition of degrees and credits in the home university.

o EU perception of Brazil

Prof. Carla Salvaterra (Bologna University, Italy) and Joaquim Ramos de Carvalho (Coimbra University, Portugal)

This presentation gave an overview of the Brazilian Science without Borders programme and presented an initiative aiming at providing a coordinated European response.

The Science without Borders programme today represents twenty thousand fellowships (September 2011 – March 2013) of which most are undergraduate students (over 14.000), followed by visiting PhD, postdoc, full PhD and visiting researchers. About 60% come to Europe, mostly to France, Portugal, Spain, UK and Germany.

In response to a growing need to share experiences in operating the Science without Borders programme implemented by many bilateral agreements the European University Association

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(EUA) hosted on 6 February 2013 a first meeting of the national focal points for the Science without Borders programme in Europe. The following challenges were identified:

o Increase the sustainability and quality of mobility by

− Strengthening the links and shared approaches among different actors at EU level and structuring the dialogue with the Brazilian higher education institutions and other stakeholders.

− Improve coordination information and support to enhance the appeal of European higher education institutions and research centres as a destination especially for Brazilian PhD’s and postdocs

o Fill the gap between the high level policy dialogue and huge mobility flow of students and develop mobility as a resource to improve cooperation and structuring academic links, research links and innovation and knowledge exchange.

o Improve the Brazilian students’ and researchers’ understanding of the European Framework, the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area as well as the European actors’ understanding of the Brazilian education and research system.

The following areas would benefit from joining forces in Europe:

o Promote Science without Borders as a policy instrument in the bilateral dialogues.

o Stronger and systematic interactions at the level of higher education institutions to connect the higher education and research cooperation agendas.

o Active Involvement of higher education institutions and academics in the implementation of the objectives of the policy dialogue.

o Establish a forum among coordinators of Science without Borders in Europe to interact in a more structured way also with Brazilian stakeholders.

As an outcome of the meeting a pathfinder group was set up to look at how best to structure a coordinated dialogue among European focal points and Brazilian stakeholders and thus add a European dimension to the many bilateral arrangements through which the implementation takes place. A project (ALISIOS) was proposed within the Erasmus Mundus Action 3. The project started on 1 September 2013 with duration of 28 months. Portugal (University of Coimbra and the Foundation of Portuguese Universities) has taken the leading role due to the language and historical links with Brazil, the other core partners are France (Campus France), Italy (University of Bologna), the European University Association, the Association of Brazilian Higher Education Offices for International Relations, the Coimbra Group of Brazilian Universities and the Institute for Studies Brazil Europe of the University of Sao Paulo. All the Science without Borders focal points are invited to participate to the activities of the project.

Anne Bonvalet (Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France) and Clarisse Angelier (National Association for Research and Technology, France)

Three different mobility programmes between France and Brazil were presented. Two of these are established programmes (BRAFITEC and CAPES-COFECUB) and the third is a new scheme (CIFRE) recently launched.

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BRAFITEC (Brazil-France-Engineers-Technologies) is an over ten-year-old cooperation programme (established in 2002) between the Brazilian CAPES, the French CDEFI (Association of French Engineering Schools), the French Ministries of Higher Education and Research and of Foreign Affairs. The objective is to foster high-level training of French and Brazilian engineering students. The programme gathers 50 French engineering schools involved in large-scale networks (over 100 individual schools) and 40 Brazilian universities. BRAFITEC supports 2-year renewable projects providing for the mobility of student engineers and academic staff from both sides.

In January 2013, 80 projects were supported by BRAFITEC and 5,000 students have been exchanged on both sides since the start of the programme. The annual fora are organised alternatively in France and in Brazil. The BRAFITEC programme also contributes to the Science without Borders initiative.

The current challenges are:

Consolidating the integration of BRAFITEC in the Science without Borders programme and meet the challenge of ‘quality’ versus ‘quantity’.

Developing PhD training and research cooperation based on BRAFITEC to strengthen the links with companies.

CAPES-COFECUB: This programme was set up 34 years ago (in 1979) between CAPES, and the French Ministries of Higher Education and Research and of Foreign Affairs. The programme funds French-Brazilian projects of four years in all research fields and provides for the training of PhD candidates in both countries. Costs for the mobility of staff as well as 2 to 4 PhD or post-doctoral fellowships are covered per project.

In total, 800 projects have so far been funded and have provided training for 3.000 PhD candidates. In 2013, there are 126 projects running. Over the years, the programme has significantly contributed to structuring the French-Brazilian cooperation on an equal footing. CAPES-COFECUB is contributing to the Science without Borders programme.

The main challenge to be addressed is the unbalanced mobility flow. The outgoing mobility from France to Brazil should be strengthened.

CIFRE-Brazil scheme: The CIFRE programme offers PhD grants in partnership with companies and academic laboratories. The programme exists in France since 1981. The CIFRE-Brazil scheme targeting Brazilian PhD candidates willing to carry out their PhD in France has been set-up in 2013 between the Brazilian council for science and technology (CNPq), The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the French National Association for Research and Technology (ANRT). The agreement signed in February 2013 covers a 4-year period and foresees the funding of 30 fellowships per year by CNPq, each covering a period of 3 years. The CIFRE-Brazil scheme involves a French company, a French research laboratory and a Brazilian PhD student having obtained a ‘Mestrado’ degree. The Brazilian student is employed by the French company. The research laboratory provides the academic supervision. The ANRT is in charge of the overall programme management.

For CNPq the aim is to train future Brazilian executives with knowledge about academic and industrial research in both countries and to boost the exchange between laboratories and companies. The French objectives (French Ministry of Higher Education of Research and ANRT) are to train future Brazilian executives familiar with French companies and academic

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laboratories and to foster links between French companies and academic research laboratories and Brazilian companies.

Martina Schulze (German academic exchange service, DAAD)

This presentation addressed the cooperation between the DAAD and CAPES which has existed for 40 years now. DAAD has a regional office in Rio de Janeiro since 1972 and now also one in Sao Paolo. A series of exchange schemes have been developed over the years. In 2012 the budget for exchange with Brazil was €9.7 m and almost 20 % of Brazilian students at German universities are receiving a DAAD-scholarship. In 2012 1,649 Brazilians and 902 Germans were funded by DAAD. DAAD is also a major player in the German response to the Science without Borders programme.

DAAD and CAPES are natural partners and joint exchange scheme, joint funding and recognition schemes have been developed. Since 2011 more emphasis has been put on subject related networks and the move has been towards more focus on programme cooperation. Examples are: 1) the Novas Parcerias – new partnerships joint programme linking academic and technical cooperation with the aim to build and improve pathways between research, policy and practice to foster innovations. 2) The German-Brazilian project network for law „Social state and globalization“ which is a self-organised research network of 12 universities and research institutes with the aim to develop joint models and definitions to cope with the effects of global changes on societies.

Javier Orozsco (Universidad Politecnica de Valencia)

The Spanish conference of rectors, bringing together both public and private universities, manages the Spanish reply to the Science without Borders initiative. Although for the first round of replies to the Science without Borders programme the information was passed on only very late to the Spanish Universities, 41 Spanish universities participated, 1,671 places were offered and 1,200 Brazilian undergraduate students came to Spain for a year. The Spanish universities made the academic offer and CNPq assigned the graduates. The Spanish universities were in charge of the acceptance letter, enrolment and accommodation, welcome and follow-up and issuing the evaluation and certificates. Language seemed not to be a problem. The welcoming and integration process of Brazilian students into the Spanish system worked very well. Students were directly paid by Brazil thereby avoiding difficult procedures. Internships with companies have been proposed to extend the stay. The problems encountered were:

o Credit recognition/equivalence due to different education systems.

o Legal problems with personal evaluation performance data.

o Too equalitarian selection in Brazil leads to loss of existing links (number of available fellowships had to be split among all Brazilian institutions).

o Brazilian students take too few credits.

A second round has been launched now in 2013, again targeting undergraduate students with 59 participating universities and 5,246 placed offered. This time a B1 Spanish language certificate was imposed on Brazilian students and this resulted in a downfall of applications. Classes are all taught in Spanish and internships in companies are possible from the beginning. CNPq contributes to the participation cost and internship management for each

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student. The timing has been better planned this year and very good Spanish Universities have participated. The certification for credit recognition has been improved.

The exchanges of undergraduates give rise to bilateral exchanges at higher level – master and PhD – funded directly by the involved Spanish University. Unfortunately, since all the funding sources have currently been cut down in Spain, the Brazilian Science without Borders programme is the only remaining significant funding source to maintain the existing cooperation. The following lessons have been learned for the future:

o Web-based processes facilitate.

o There is a need for a better quality process for credit recognition and certification and improved bilateral recognition of specific course programmes.

o Academic networking (including staff exchange) and alumni networking is needed to facilitate the process.

o E-courses for language training are helpful.

o Joint degrees should be established.

o Move towards postgraduate education also including master and doctoral programmes and collaboration around research projects.

Outcome of the working group discussions

1) Challenges: which are the most important challenges experienced?

o Language is clearly a major obstacle for most countries in Europe. Mostly for Europeans to go to Brazil but also for Brazilian students and researchers coming to Europe especially when their second language competence is not strong enough. Linguistic preparation (e.g. specific language training) needs to be taken into account when preparing mobility.

o Differences in the degrees delivered by the Brazilian and European education systems are an obstacle for the transfer of credits between the two systems.

o The bilateral nature of the Science without Borders programme hampers mobility of Brazilian students in Europe between Member States.

o When receiving a student to work in a laboratory trust is essential as there is a potential for IPR problems later on.

o The image Europeans have of the Brazilian R&I landscape is improving, but concerns still need to be overcome (e.g. quality of higher education and universities, safety issues etc.) to make Brazil a more attractive destination for researchers.

o The Science without Borders initiative as developed by Brazil is not always in line with the European needs making it challenging to develop complementary measures. A dialogue with Brazil, based on the acquired experience, would allow for improvements.

o The Science without Borders programme does not sufficiently rely on existing cooperation. The too equalitarian selection in Brazil leads to loss of existing links (number of available fellowships had to be split among all Brazilian institutions) whilst sustaining this links is important to build stronger collaboration.

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o Undergraduates coming from Brazil are generally considered as well-prepared. In Europe most countries carry out a second evaluation of the proposed candidates or the initial selection is done in a joint procedure. The compatibility of the student's curriculum with the host education system is often used as a criterion.

o Re-integration into the institution of origin can be a problem due to the different education systems.

2) Solutions: which are the best solutions found and the easiest to share

o A better analysis of the whole mobility would be helpful to achieve a better understanding and should include also mobility between universities not covered by major programmes. A reference indicator could be the citation index but other tools could also be developed.

o On-line language seminars help to establish the necessary basic knowledge and are easily accessible.

o Mobility and visibility for professors willing to teach courses in English for a period in Brazil could raise the use of English in Brazil and maybe also attract more European students.

o Foster bilateral cooperation between universities and support academic contact points.

o Enhancing two-way mobility requires knowledge of high quality spots in Brazil and a better knowledge about supervisors. Personal contacts are important and should be built on whenever possible.

o Brazil uses social media a lot and this could be explored to promote Europe as a destination for R&I.

o The Science without Borders has been implemented very rapidly and therefore experienced problems linked to management, planning and compatibility with other research environments. However the Brazilians are open to discuss how to improve the system, and now is the right time to engage in such a dialogue.

o Mobility should not be an aim on its own but a tool to increase cooperation.

o Increase information sharing about opportunities offered by the Science without Borders initiative amongst Europeans and with Brazilians. Supervisors are key players in such information networks.

o Personal contacts between institutions are important to ensure a win-win situation for the researcher/student coming and the host.

o Share good practice in mobility management acquired in Europe with Brazil e.g. the ERASMUS experience.

o Facilitate reintegration of scientists in their home country.

3) Joint actions: where would joining forces help to better address the challenges

o Share experiences of international programmes and the use of English as vehicular language with Brazil in a coherent and coordinated way to encourage them to make more use of English in their education systems.

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o Europe with all its richness and diversity should be promoted as a whole, e.g. a European brand, and as an open world region encompassing the many initiatives developed bilaterally for example through 'Destination Europe' activities or by using social media like an EU-Science without Borders WebTV programme.

o Assess the Science without Borders programme from a European perspective. Monitor the quality and quantity of exchanges, the numbers of students and their academic experience and relations with industry, their locations and possibly future career choices.

o Set-up a network of European focal points for the Science without Borders initiative and also support self-organised platforms of National Contact Points.

o Develop a joint European perspective for the next phase of the Science without Borders programme and share it with the Brazilians in a coherent way in bilateral dialogues.

o Work on the selection criteria for fellowship holders in partnership with Brazilian actors to overcome the ‘quantity versus quality’ challenge.

o Promote the mutual recognition of degrees.

o Prioritise themes for cooperation and establish thematic cooperation agreements

o Develop and strengthen alumni networks, e.g. through EURAXESS.

o Promote Brazil to Europeans to improve mobility from Europe to Brazil and make better use of the existing networks and mobility schemes.

o Let fellowship holders in Europe meet with ERA personalities to learn about ERA and promote success stories.

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Conclusions

In the closing session the moderators of the two sessions and the SFIC Vice-Chair presented their conclusions of the day.

Brazil offers numerous opportunities and amongst all the on-going bilateral activities there is a great potential to engage in a more structured and coordinated approach. Europe needs to keep in mind that it is competing with the US for the attention of Brazil and that speaking with once voice and promoting Europe as a whole, while maintaining the necessary flexibility, will increase the impact of Europe.

1) R&I cooperation with Brazil

o Information sharing is important and should be continued in a sustainable way. It should allow European actors to better know each other.

o Trust building and identification of win-win scenarios through dialogues are fundamental ingredients for good cooperation. Long term, sustainable cooperation should be the key objective.

o Sharing and building on each other experiences in Europe supports the development of a good framework for cooperation with Brazil.

o Joint actions should look at developing and supporting optimal framework conditions including tackling the current tax issues.

o Cultural issues also need to be understood and best practices applied.

o The economic strength of Brazil compared to many European countries should be taken into account when cooperating with Brazil.

o EU instruments do facilitate cooperation but other instruments should also be identified and brought to contribution.

o Defining common positions at European level enables to increase the impact in the bilateral dialogues.

o Mapping activities of the Brazilian environment can be carried out. Europeans need to acquire further knowledge about the excellence centres in Brazil. The current FP7 BILAT project B.BICE+ will contribute to some mappings.

o The European strengths need to be identified and promoted as a package. Brazilians should be provided with an overview of excellence centres in Europe.

2) Researcher's mobility between Europe and Brazil

o The language issue is a main obstacle for mobility in both directions. On-line language courses seem to be a good solution when preparing for mobility. Best practices should be shared. E.g. the union of francophone universities have developed experience in running courses specifically adapted to the university language for students and researchers.

o The imbalance between in- and outgoing students and researchers needs to be addressed. Currently the Science without Borders is mostly a one-way programme. Brazil must become a popular destination for Europeans and the high quality research in Brazil should be promoted in Europe as a joint action.

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o Science without Borders is currently mainly focused on the quantity of Brazilian students and researchers sent abroad rather than on their quality. It is in the interest of Europe to increase the quality dimension and to attract also high quality PhD and researchers. The current preparation of the new phase offers the opportunity to discuss the European interests and promote a higher focus on quality.

o Best practices and experiences should be shared between European stakeholders, building on already existing initiatives such as the Science without Borders focal points in collaboration with the European University Association.

o Europeans should assess the Science without Borders programme from a European perspective to provide feedback and ideas to the Brazilian side, which is very open for suggestions to improve the programme. Brazilians looking forward to feedback and ideas and it is of mutual interest to increase the sustainability of the programme.

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Annex Agenda of the SFIC workshop: Approaching Brazil

Monday 17 June, 2013, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)

9.15 – 9.30 Registration

Opening session

Moderator: SFIC Vice-Chair Ana Neves, Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal Rapporteur: Sofie Nørager, Directorate General Research and Innovation, European Commission

9.30 – 9.40 Welcome by Brigitte Decadt, Belgian Federal Science Policy Office, Belgium

9.40 – 10.00 Prof. Dr. Ing. Robert Schmitt, BRAGECRIM: German-Brazilian Research Association, Germany

Brazil and the most challenging cooperation conditions

10.00 – 10.15 Dr. Paula Elyseu Mesquita, Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal Landscape of the EU/MS/AC - Brazil cooperation (SFIC overview report)

10.15 – 10.30 Q&A

Session 1: R&I cooperation with Brazil – opportunities and challenges

Moderator: Tiina Vihma-Purovaara, Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Finland Rapporteur: Anne Bonvalet, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, France

10.30 – 11.30 Brief presentations of the opportunities, challenges and solutions found when (10 min slots) cooperating with Brazil.

1) Dr. Holger Kohl, Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK), Germany Strengthening Brazil’s national innovation system by applied research as a mechanism for technology transfer

2) Prof. Paulo Freitas, International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) The INL and the recent agreement signed with Brazil

3) Prof. Pedro Fardim, Åbo Akademi University, Finland Building bridges in research, innovation and education

4) Prof. Ivan Ingelbrecht, IPBO, VIB, University of Gent, Belgium Approaches towards S&T cooperation with Brazil for a bio-based economy

5) Eleonora Catella, BusinessEurope Feedback on the EU-Brazil business summit

6) Video interventions: Nilson Zaramella Boeta,VTT Brasil LTDA, Finland and Paulo Chebat, Global Approach Consulting (GAC), France

11.30 – 12.00 Coffee break

12.00 – 12.45 Break-out into working groups

1) Each working table selects a moderator, who will take note of the discussion and make a short summary report at the end of the session.

2) The groups will discuss the following questions:

Challenges: which are the most important challenges experienced?

Solutions: which are the best solutions found and the easiest to share?

Join actions: where would joining forces help to better address a challenge?

12.45 – 13.15 Short (3 min) reports of working group moderators and discussion

13.15 – 14.10 Lunch break

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Session 2: Researchers' mobility between Europe and Brazil

Moderator: Pierre Quertenmont, International Office, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium Rapporteur: Wim Schreurs, Advisor at the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium

14.10 – 15.00 Brief presentations of the opportunities, challenges and solutions found with regards to (10 min slots) enhancing the mobility of researchers between Brazil and Europe.

1) Carmela di Santo, Directorate General Education and Culture, European Commission Marie (Skłodowska-) Curie Actions: An overview of mobility with Brazil

2) Prof. Carla Salvaterra, Bologna University, Italy and Prof. Joaquim Ramos de Carvalho, Coimbra University, Portugal

'Science without Borders' in an European Perspective

3) Anne Bonvalet, Ministry for Higher Education and Research and Clarisse Angelier, National Association for Research and Technology (ANRT), France

Three successful mobility programmes with a public-private partnership dimension

4) Dr. Martina Schulze, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Germany From bilateral to joint exchange schemes: 40 years of cooperation DAAD – CAPES

5) Prof. Javier Orozco, International Affairs Director, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain

Evolution and perspectives of the cooperation between Spain and Brazil

15.00 – 15.30 Break-out into working groups

1) Each working table selects a moderator, who will take note of the discussion on a flip-chart and make a short summary report at the end of the session.

2) The groups will discuss the following questions:

Challenges: which are the most important challenges experienced?

Solutions: which are the best solutions found and the easiest to share?

Join actions: where would joining forces help to better address a challenge?

15.30 – 16.00 Short (3 min) reports of working group moderators and discussion

16.00 – 16.15 Coffee break

Closing session

Moderator: Sigi Gruber, Directorate General Research and Innovation, European Commission Rapporteur: Sofie Nørager, Directorate General Research and Innovation, European Commission

16.15 – 16.30 Moderators of session 1 and 2 present the conclusions and recommendations for joint activities and topics to be addressed by the SFIC Brazil initiative.

16.30 – 16.50 Discussion on the recommendations

16.50 – 17.00 Concluding remarks by the SFIC Vice-Chair Ana Neves, Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal

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