são paulo research foundation

50 Years of supportinG science in são paulo, BraZil

the são paulo research foundation (fapesp) is a major funding

agency for scientific research in Brazil. its mission is to foster scientific

research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships,

fellowships and grants to investigators who are linked with higher

education or research institutions in the state of são paulo, Brazil.

in the past 50 years, fapesp has granted approximately 112,000

scholarships and fellowships (from undergraduate to postdoctoral

studies), provided financial aid to more than 96,000 research

projects (regular or thematic), and contributed remarkably

towards improving the research infrastructure in the state of são

paulo.

the foundation also fosters research in areas that are considered

strategic for the country and crucial for the advancement of

science worldwide. thus, fapesp supports ambitious research

programs in important fields such as biodiversity, bioenergy and

global climate change.

fapesp resources are guaranteed by the state constitution, which

provides 1% of the state´s tax revenue to the funding agency. in

accordance with the law, the foundation cannot devote more

than 5% of its budget to administrative costs. therefore, fapesp

enjoys complete administrative and financial autonomy.

in addition to projects financed exclusively through its own means,

the foundation maintains cooperative agreements with national

and international research funding bodies, foreign institutions of

higher education and research, and private companies.

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investiment in scientific research

fapesp’s research expenditures totalized Brl 939 million (usd

560 million) in 2011, which represents a growth of more than 20%

compared with 2010. and the cumulative growth was greater

than 90% over the last ten years.

annually, the foundation’s expenditures are distributed with

more than 50% earmarked for academic research (primarily basic

research), approximately 30% for scholarships and fellowships,

and nearly 10% targeted to research focusing on applications (in

small companies, by means of partnerships between universities

and companies, and in public policies).

the evolution of fapesp eXpenditures*2005 – 2011

* in million of usd ppp (purchasing power parity)

355 374 385425

436

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560600

500

400

300

200

100

0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

how support is provided

scholarships and fellowships for research in Brazil are offered in

the following modalities: scientific initiation, masters, doctorate,

honors doctorate and post-doctorate. for study abroad, fapesp

provides research stages in all modalities, of short or medium

terms, as part of the scholarships or fellowships enjoyed by the

beneficiaries in Brazil; and fellowships, to doctors.

support for academic research is provided mainly by the regular

research awards, which are given to individual researchers,

and the thematic projects awards, which are given to research

groups, for projects that justify long-term funding and particularly

favorable support conditions.

evolution of the annual numBer or valid scholarships and fellowships, 2005 – 2011

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

7,8228,279

9,27710,017

10,705 10,824 11,188

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

additionally, fapesp maintains several special programs, including

the Young investigators awards, which support the creation of

new research groups, led by highly promising young scientists in

any field of study. there are also programs devoted to improving

the research infrastructure within institutions.

the support for research targeted towards applications

emphasizes issues considered strategic for Brazil and crucial for

the advancement of science worldwide, such as biodiversity,

bioenergy and global climate change. this support also includes

brain studies and researches for technological innovation (in

small companies, by means of partnerships between universities

and companies, and in public policies).

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evolution of the numBer of new research proJects awarded BY fapesp, 2005 – 2010

14,000

12,000

10,000

8,000

6,000

4,000

2,000

0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

8,162

10,05710,587

11,336 11,470 11,55512,451

advanced research in strateGic areas

fapesp’s Biodiversity, Bioenergy and Global climate change

research programs are examples of the constant stimulus provided

by the foundation to groundbreaking studies investigating

topics of utmost importance in the scientific literature and in the

international press. with clear interfaces, multidisciplinary projects

that are contemplated by these programs investigate subjects

that include surveying, characterizing, conserving and promoting

the sustainable use of ecosystems; developing the production

of renewable biofuels; and supporting the formulation of public

policies regarding the risk assessment, the mitigation of effects

and the adaptation to global climate change.

Biota-fapesp proGram (Biota)

Brazil has one of the largest collections of natural resources in the

world. the country encompasses six large biomes — amazonia,

caatinga (scrubland), atlantic forest, cerrado (savannah), pantanal

(wetlands) and pampa (grassland) — originally distributed across

8.5 million square kilometers of the continent and more than 8

thousand kilometers of the coast. Between 15 to 20 percent of the

planet’s biodiversity is within Brazilian territory.

despite its intense urbanization and high density of occupation and

use of the land, the state of são paulo, located in the southeastern

region of Brazil, possesses extremely rich biological diversity. it is

estimated that the number of plant species in são paulo territory

corresponds to two thirds of that registered throughout the entire

european continent.

foto Biota

created in 1999, the Biota-fapesp program has the principal

objectives of cataloguing and characterizing the biodiversity of

the state of são paulo, defining the mechanisms for its conser-

vation, evaluating its economic potential and stimulating its

sustainable use.

for over 10 years, the Biota-fapesp program has been a conserva-

tion initiative with a solid scientific foundation. research includes

molecular genetics for species classification; evolution studies

to understand the origin of processes that generate, conserve or

reduce biodiversity; and investigation of the human dimensions of

conservation and sustainable usage. scientists participating in this

program have published approximately 700 scientific articles and

catalogued more than 1,800 new species. the program has drafted

two maps that identify conservation areas based on 151,000 records

of more than 9,000 species. Based on this research, 14 government

decisions regarding the conservation of threatened biomes have

been included in the legislation of the state of são paulo.

www.fapesp.br/en/biota

fapesp research proGram on GloBal climate chanGe (rpGcc)

the need for studies examining climate change is especially

important in Brazil, given the continental dimension of the

country; the significant dependence of its economic base on

renewable natural resources; and the significant alteration

of the vegetal cover that has already occurred in the atlantic

forest and the cerrado, and is in rapid process in the amazonia.

furthermore, it should be considered the increasing emissions of

greenhouse gases and aerosols, resulting from the combustion

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foto Biota

of fossil fuels and industrial and agricultural processes. a bold

study that includes all of these variables and associates them with

natural factors is essential for the formulation of public policies

concerning the risk assessment, the mitigation of effects, and the

adaptation to changes.

the fapesp research program on Global climate change (rpGcc)

is an ambitious initiative in this direction. the program supports

multidisciplinary research projects for up to six years. one major

goal is to organize a Brazilian model of the global climatic system

by 2013, with a focus on key regional issues, such as the amazon,

the cerrado and the south atlantic regions.

to develop this project, fapesp and the science and technology

ministry acquired a high performance supercomputer that has the

capacity to create and analyze global climatic models. this acquisition

places the country among the world’s most important centers for

climatic studies. the equipment – named tupã in reference to the god

of thunder in native Brazilian mythology – has a peak performance

of 244 teraflops (trillions of floating point operations per second).

the new system incorporates recent advances in the studies of

numerical modeling, climate change modeling, data assimilation,

chemicals and aerosols, atmosphere, oceans, and vegetation.

the program will conduct analysis on the interactions between

the multiple elements of the terrestrial system to understand

the influence of anthropogenic actions, such as greenhouse gas

emissions, changes in vegetation and the effects of urbanization,

on the climate. studies examining nitrogen and carbon cycles

in nature and their impact on agriculture and livestock are also

among the research topics.

http://www.fapesp.br/en/rpgcc

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fapesp BioenerGY research proGram (Bioen)

Brazil is outstanding as the world´s most intensive user of

bioethanol as a clean alternative to gasoline for powering

transport. the Brazilian experience has shown that sugarcane is an

extremely viable crop for the production of renewable bioenergy.

actually, the total area in which sugarcane is planted in Brazil is

approximately 7 million hectares, which is only 2%-3% of the total

area devoted to agriculture. and, despite that low percentage,

total bioethanol production is projected at nearly 24 billion liters

for the harvest of 2012/13.

the fapesp Bioenergy research program (Bioen) has three main

goals: to increase sugarcane productivity with molecular biology,

to assess and mitigate the environmental and socioeconomic

impacts of bioenergy production and to generate knowledge

to assure Brazil’s position among the world leaders in bioenergy

research and industry. thus, Bioen seeks to articulate the research

conducted at universities and research centers with studies

conducted in industrial laboratories.

surveys occur in the following five main areas:

• Biomassforbioenergy(focusingonsugarcane)

• Processofproductionofbiofuels

• Biorefineriesandalcoholchemistry

• Applicationsofethanolinautomotiveengines

• Environmentalandsocio-economicimpactsandlanduse

www.fapesp.br/en/bioen

national and international

partnerships and aGreements

fapesp is aware that exchanges and joint projects are essential

to the improvement of Brazilian research. therefore, it has

established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education

and research organizations, and companies both in the country

and abroad. the following is a list of fapesp’s partners:

research fundinG aGencies

Argentina

• Conicet,ConsejoNacionaldeInvestigacionesCientíficasyTécnicas

Brazil

• CNPq,ConselhoNacionaldeDesenvolvimentoCientíficoeTecnológico

• Condephaat,ConselhodeDefesadoPatrimônioHistórico,Arqueológico,

ArtísticoeTurísticodoEstado

• Facepe,FundaçãodeAmparoàCiênciaeTecnologiadePernambuco

• Fapeam,FundaçãodeAmparoàPesquisadoEstadodeAmazonas

• Fapema,FundaçãodeAmparoàPesquisaeaoDesenvolvimento

CientíficoeTecnológicodoMaranhão

• Fapemig,FundaçãodeAmparoàPesquisadoEstadodeMinasGerais

• Faperj,FundaçãodeAmparoàPesquisadoEstadodoRiodeJaneiro

• Finep,FinanciadoradeEstudoseProjetos

• FundaçãoMariaCecíliaSoutoVidigal

• FundaçãoPadreAnchieta

• Vitae,ApoioàCultura,EducaçãoePromoçãoSocial

Canada

• AUF,AgenceUniversitairedelaFrancophonie

• ISTPCanada,InternationalScienceandTechnologyPartnerships

• NSERC,NaturalSciencesandEngineeringResearchCouncilofCanada

Denmark

• DCSR,DanishCouncilforStrategicResearch

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France

• ANR,AgenceNationaledelaRecherche

• CNRS,CentreNationaldelaRechercheScientifique

• RégionProvence-Alpes-Côted’Azur

Germany

• DAAD,DeutscherAkademischerAustauschdienst

• DFG,DeutscheForschungsgemeinscharf

• STMWFK,BayerischeStaatsministeriumfürWissenschaft,Forschung

undKunst

United Kingdom

• BritishCouncil

• RCUK,ResearchCouncilsUnitedKingdom

United States

• FulbrightFoundation–Dr.RuthCardosoProgram

(fapesp/capes/fullbright/uc)

• NSF,NationalScienceFoundation

• UT-Battelle(OakRidgeNationalLaboratory)

hiGher education and research institutes

Canada

• Caldo,ConsortiumofAlberta,Laval,DalhousieandOttawa

• McMasterUniversity

• UniversityofOntarioInstituteofTechnology

• SimonFraser,Concordia,YorkandRyersonUniversities

• TorontoandWesternOntarioUniversities

• UniversityofVictoria

Europa

• CERN,WorldwideLHCComputingGrid

France

• Cirad,CentredeCoopérationInternationaleenRechercheAgronomique

pourleDéveloppement

• ENS,EcoleNormaleSupérieure,EscolaNormalSuperior

• Inra,InstitutNationaldelaRechercheAgronomique

• Inria,InstitutNationaldeRechercheenInformatiqueetenAutomatique

• Inserm,InstitutNationaldelaSantéetdelaRechercheMédicale

Israel

• TheHebrewUniversityofJerusalem

• TelAvivUniversity

Mexico

• InstitutodeInnovacióndeNuevoLeón,InstitutodeInovação

deNovoLeón

Netherlands

• BE-Basic,Bio-basedEcologicallyBalancedSustainableIndustrialChemistry

• ErasmusUniversiteitRotterdam

Spain

• UniversidaddeSalamanca

Switzerland

• LudwigInstitut

United Kingtom

• King’sCollegeLondon

• UniversityofNottingham

• UniversityofSurrey

• UniversityofSouthampton

United States

• MIT,MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology

• NorthCarolinaStateUniversity

• UniversityofCalifornia–Dr.RuthCardosoProgram

(fapesp/capes/fulbright/uc)

• TheMuseumofFineArts,Houston

• UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

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internacional institutions

• Iupac,InternationalUnionofPureandAppliedChemistry

• Ciam,ColaboraciónInteramericanaenMateriales

companies

Brazil

• Biolab

• BPBiocombustíveis

• Braskem

• Ci&TeDigitalAssets

• DediniindústriasdeBase

• Embraer

• ETHBioenergia

• GlaxoSmithKline-Brasil

• JPIndústriaFarmacêutica

• Natura

• OuroFinoSaúdeAnimal

• Oxiteno

• Padtec

• Petrobras

• ReceptaBiopharmaePR&DBiotech

• Sabesp

• SuzanoPapeleCelulose

• Vale(withFapemigeFapespa)

• Whirlpool

United Kingtom

• ImprimaturCapital

United States

• AgilentTechnologies

• Boeing

• MicrosoftResearch

www.fapesp.br/en/agreements

advanced proJects Broaden opportunities to BrinG foreiGners to são paulo

well-educated scientific researchers who reside abroad are

eligible to compete for research positions in projects developed in

the são paulo excellence centers. fapesp has ongoing programs

and support mechanisms that have attracted dozens of foreign

scientists in recent years.

with ambitious objectives, the thematic projects offer the greatest

number of opportunities in all expertise areas for foreign scholars

to participate in postdoctoral research, by applying for fapesp’s

scholarships of up to us$ 34,000 annually for up to four years.

the thematic projects are comprised of experienced scientists

(renowned leaders in their research areas) who collaborate for

up to six years. in 2011, fapesp spent us$ 45 million to support

thematic projects. fapesp’s web site contains a list of the 1,452

thematic projects that have been completed or are still ongoing,

all of which are supported by the foundation: www.bv.fapesp.br/

en/1/thematic-projects.

information regarding open opportunities can be accessed at

www.fapesp.br/oportunidades.

the excellence centers that were created in 2000 are available

to host researchers from other countries who are interested in

assembling teams for complex multidisciplinary studies, which

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would involve knowledge transfer from research to industry

and the public sector. the 11 ridcs (research, innovation and

dissemination center) that were established in são paulo can

host international postdoctoral scholars interested in conducting

research examining the human genome, cancer, cellular therapy,

optics and photonics, among other major topics. the studies thus

far have resulted in significant advances in the understanding of

endemic tropical disease, hiv, agricultural plagues and tumors.

since the creation of the ridcs, they have received us$ 107

million to support implementation, with the goal of creating

autonomous centers within a set period of time.

www.fapesp.br/en/ridc

the Young investigators award offers fellowship opportunities

of up to us$ 38,000 for projects examining topics relevant to

international academic research. recent graduates who have

produced relevant scientific findings and who have feasible, solid

and innovative proposals can collaborate with research teams

that are being formed at existing são paulo centers or can form

new groups in institutions that do not have a research tradition

in the subject in the state. in 2011, fapesp’s expenditures for this

program were us$ 21 million. information about the program is

available at: www.fapesp.br/en/yia.

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são paulo and BraZilian science

with a population of more than 40 million inhabitants, the state of

são paulo is responsible for 31% of Brazil´s Gdp and for more than

a half of the scientific production of the country. the state hosts six

large public universities – the university of são paulo (usp), the state

university of campinas (unicamp), the são paulo state university

(unesp), the federal university of são paulo (unifesp), the federal

university of são carlos (ufscar) and the federal university of aBc

(ufaBc) – as well as numerous private universities.

ranked among the 70 most respected universities in the world (the

times higher education, 2012), usp is also the one that graduate

more doctors in the globe (academic ranking of world universities,

2012), with 2,191 doctors graduating in 2011. unicamp and unesp

also maintain a high performance standard.

the state also hosts 19 research institutes, including the

technological institute of aeronautics (ita), the national institute

for space research (inpe) and the Brazilian synchrotron light

Laboratory (LNLS), as well as most of Brazil’s industrial R&D. The

state itself publishes more scientific papers than any country in

latin america, with the exception of Brazil.

www.fapesp.br/en

http://www.fapesp.br/en

Secretaria de DesenvolvimentoEconômico, Ciência e Tecnologia