The 60-year-old FAPESP conference proposed reflections on the future of research and funding

December 15, 2022

Jose Tadeo Arantes | FAPESP Agency – 17th FAPESP Congress for 60 Years and Book Launch Science in national developmentorganized by the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo (Aciesp), celebrated yesterday (12/14) the conclusion of the six-decade cycle of commemorative events since the establishment of the Foundation

“The celebrations began in May 2021 with the inauguration Sustainable developmentwhere each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals is indexed, and all other projects and activities supported by the Foundation, ”recalls the President of FAPESP, Marco Antonio Zago, quoting, afterwards, 24 Webinars And the conferences🇧🇷 Sao Paulo schools And other activities available in FAPESP portal 60 years old🇧🇷

The 17th Conference and Writers Organized by Aciesp proposes a reflection on the future of science, innovation and the promotion of research. Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, who has held the positions of President and Scientific Director of FAPESP for 20 years, spoke about the research challenges in Brazil (Read the news🇧🇷

Hernan ChimovicProfessor Emeritus at the Institute of Chemistry of the University of São Paulo (USP) and former president of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), who was also a scientific advisor to FAPESP, presented a study on the results of the institution’s development activities.

According to Šimović, guaranteeing financial resources, complete managerial independence and careful evaluation will be the “three pillars that determine the intellectual, social and economic impacts of FAPESP investments”.

From this perspective, Chaimović dealt with the challenges facing FAPESP in the coming decades. “Maintaining financial independence within the framework of the state constitution; maintaining independence in identifying and judging projects; increasing the demand for excellence in research and the social and economic ramifications of the results,” these will be the main challenges. “One way to address these challenges is to increase the impact of the funded projects – intellectual, social and economic impacts,” he added.

Chaimowitz develops the topic in a more systematic and comprehensive manner in the article “State of Science”, where he describes three types of research impact, highlighting three characteristics in each: intellectual impact, social impact, and economic impact. .

Intellectual influence includes ideas that produce new ideas; ideas that make humanity wiser; And ideas that allow the formation of idea generators. Social influence includes ideas that influence public policy; ideas that reduce inequality; and ideas that will improve the health of the community. The economic impact includes ideas that create businesses and jobs; Ideas that increase the competitiveness of companies. Ideas that create industrial sectors.

Chaimovich analyzed the implications of the FAPESP investment based on the number of scientific publications indexed on the Web of Science platform. Until the early 1970s or so, this number was relatively small. But during this period, FAPESP played an essential role, sending young people to study abroad for Ph.D. Many of these young people have returned. What happened, he said, from the 1970s onwards, was that scientific production began to spread in the state of São Paulo.”

Chaimovic noted that over the decades, 50% of the national scientific production began to originate in the state of São Paulo. “From 2000 onwards, São Paulo production continued to rise, but the percentage of works from the state of São Paulo in the national amount started to decrease and that is very good. It stems from the influence of FAPESP on training people who have been at the heart of graduate programs all over Brazil.

Comparing the upward curve of scientific production with the percentage fluctuations in Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in relation to global GDP, Chaimovic said that “the Brazilian world, and the world of São Paulo in particular, is very resilient,” and he managed to maintain its productivity Despite the instability of the economy.

However, he noted, “The impact of publications from Brazil, São Paulo, and those funded by FAPESP is much lower than the average effect of publications in the world. The impact of publications from São Paulo is relatively larger than that of Brazilian publications in general, but we are still far from exceeding the world average.”

This does not mean, Chaimovich reasoned, that the science of excellence, frontier science, and frontier-opening science has not been produced by research funded by FAPESP. “Many world-renowned magazines have appeared on the covers of FAPESP-funded works. However, the average is not higher than the world average.

The most consistent growth in impact observed in recent years is due, according to Šimović, to FAPESP’s efforts for a “decent internationalization” of research in São Paulo. “Why do I say ‘decent’? Since internationalization cannot be done by a travel agency, it must be done by a research agency. To promote internationalization as FAPESP does, it is necessary to think with foreigners, formulate projects with foreigners, and conduct impact research with foreigners” , like he said.

Chaimowitz commented that in some countries 90% of scientific production has international collaboration, but that does not mean that domestic science is good. It just means that it is posted abroad because there is a partner abroad. He highlighted that very good works funded by FAPESP are among the 10% most cited in world literature.

Science in national development

The book organized by Aciesp, released yesterday, was presented by the President of the Foundation, Vanderlaan Bolzani, and Scientific Director of FAPESP, Luiz Eugenio Melo, with each of its seven chapters and a detailed introduction by Adriano Andricopulo, Executive Director of Aciesp.

Presentations for the 17th FAPESP Conference for 60 Years and Presentation of the book “Science in National Development” can be viewed in full at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yh3Qhaewx0&t=1540s🇧🇷

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