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Science and technology in Brazil has entered the international arena in recent decades. The central
agency
Agency may refer to:
Organizations
* Institution, governmental or others
** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients
** Employment agency, a business that ...
for science and technology in Brazil is the
Ministry of Science and Technology, which includes the
CNPq and Finep. This ministry also has a direct supervision over the
National Institute for Space Research
The National Institute for Space Research ( pt, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, INPE) is a research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, the main goals of which are fostering scientific research an ...
( pt, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais — INPE), the
National Institute of Amazonian Research
The National Institute of Amazonian Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia or INPA) is a public educational and research institution headquartered in Manaus, Brazil. It was founded in 1952, with the purpose of furthering scientific ...
( pt, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia — INPA), and the ( — INT). The ministry is also responsible for the Secretariat for Computer and Automation Policy ( pt, Secretaria de Política de Informática e Automação — SPIA), which is the successor of the SEI. The Ministry of Science and Technology, which the
Sarney government created in March 1985, was headed initially by a person associated with the nationalist ideologies of the past. Although the new minister was able to raise the budget for the science and technology sector, he remained isolated within the government and had no influence on policy making for the
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...
.
With the new ministry, the science and technology agencies increased in size but lost some of their former
independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...
and
flexibility, and they became more susceptible to patronage politics. Most of the resources of the CNPq were channeled to fellowship programs procedures for quality control and no mechanisms to make the fellows active in the country's science and technology institutions. New groups competed for resources and control of the country's agencies of science, technology, and
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after compl ...
. These groups included political parties, unionized university professors and employees, scientific societies, and special interest groups within the scientific and technological community. The SBPC (Brazilian Society for Scientific Development) shed its image as a semi-autonomous association of scientists to become an active lobbyist for more public resources and the protection of national
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...
from international competition. Brazil was ranked 57th in the
Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a British m ...
in 2021, up from 66th in 2019.
History
![Polis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Polis.jpg)
Brazilian science effectively began in the first decades of the 19th century, when the
Portuguese royal family, headed by
D. João VI, arrived in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, escaping from the
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
's army invasion of Portugal in 1807. Like almost all territories and regions of the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
, Brazil was a
Portuguese colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...
, without
universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
, and a few cultural and scientific organizations. The former American colonies of the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
, although having a largely
illiterate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...
population like Brazil, Portugal and Spain, had, however, a number of universities since the 16th century. This may have been a deliberate policy of the Portuguese colonial power, because they feared that the appearance of educated Brazilian classes would boost
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and aspirations toward
political independence, as it had happened in the United States and several
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
n former Spanish colonies. However, throughout the centuries of Portuguese rule, Brazilian students were allowed and even encouraged to enroll at higher education in
mainland Portugal
Continental Portugal ( pt, Portugal continental, ) or mainland Portugal comprises the bulk of the Portuguese Republic, namely that part on the Iberian Peninsula and so in Continental Europe, having approximately 95% of the total population and 9 ...
. In addition, mainland Portugal's population at the time was also largely illiterate and had for most of those period a single university, the
University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...
, which educated Portuguese people from all the
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
, including from the colony of Brazil.
The first firm attempts of having a Brazilian science establishment were made around 1783, with the expedition of Portuguese naturalist
Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira
Alexandre Rodrigues Ferreira (April 27, 1756 – April 23, 1815) was a Portuguese naturalist born in Brazil. He undertook an extensive journey which crossed the interior of the Amazon Basin to Mato Grosso, between 1783 and 1792. During this jou ...
, who was sent by Portugal's prime minister, the
Marquis of Pombal, to explore and identify Brazilian fauna, flora and geology. His collections, however, were lost to the French, when Napoleon invaded Portugal, and were transported to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
by
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories ...
. In 1772, even before the establishment of the
Science Academy of Lisbon
The Lisbon Academy of Sciences ( pt, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa) is Portugal's national academy dedicated to the advancement of sciences and learning, with the goal of promoting academic progress and prosperity in Portugal. It is one of Po ...
(1779), one of the first learned societies of both Brazil and the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...
was founded in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
- it was the ''Sociedade Scientifica'', but lasted only until 1794. Also, in 1797, the first botanic institute was founded in
Salvador
Salvador, meaning " salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to:
* Salvador (name)
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
*Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music
** ''Salvador'' ( ...
,
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...
. During the late 18th century, the ''Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho'' of Rio de Janeiro was created in 1792 through a decree issued by the Portuguese authorities as a higher education school for the teaching of the
sciences
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
and
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...
. Both the engineering schools of the
Rio de Janeiro Federal University and the
Military Institute of Engineering were created and developed from the oldest engineering school of Brazil which is also one of the oldest in Latin America.
D. João VI gave impetus to all these accoutrements of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an civilization to Brazil. In a short period (between 1808 and 1810), the government founded the Royal Naval Academy and the Royal Military Academy (both military schools), the
Biblioteca Nacional Biblioteca Nacional (Spanish or Portuguese: ''National Library'') may refer to:
*Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, in Chile
*Biblioteca Nacional de España, in Spain
*Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, in Peru
*Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, in Portugal
...
, the
Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden
The Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden or Jardim Botânico is located at the Jardim Botânico district in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
The Botanical Garden shows the diversity of Brazilian and foreign flora. There are around 6,500 species (so ...
, the Medico-Chirurgical School of
Bahia
Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...
, currently known as Faculdade de Medicina under harbour of
Universidade Federal da Bahia
The Federal University of Bahia ( pt, Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia and one of Brazil's most prestigious educational institu ...
and the Medico-Chirurgical School of Rio de Janeiro (Faculdade de Medicina of
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro).
Notable
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
expeditions organized by Brazilians were rare, the most significant one being that of Martim Francisco de Andrada e Silva and
José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva
José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva (; 13 June 17636 April 1838) was a Brazilian statesman, naturalist, mineralist, professor and poet, born in Santos, São Paulo, then part of the Portuguese Empire. He was one of the most important mentors ...
, in 1819.
During the Brazilian Empire
After independence from Portugal, declared by the King's son in 1822,
D. Pedro I
Dom Pedro I (English: Peter I; 12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he reigned briefly over Portugal, where he also becam ...
(who became the new country's first
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
), the policies concerning higher learning, science and technology in Brazil came to a relative standstill. In the first two decades of the century, science in Brazil was mostly carried out by temporary scientific expeditions by European
naturalists, such as
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
,
Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied
Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German explorer, ethnologist and naturalist. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815–1817, from which the album ''Reise na ...
,
Carl von Martius,
Johann Baptist von Spix
Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute ...
,
Alexander Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister ...
,
Augustin Saint-Hilaire
Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire (4 October 17793 September 1853) was French botanist and traveller who was born and died in Orléans, France. A keen observer, he is credited with important discoveries in botany, notably the ...
, Baron
Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff,
Friedrich Sellow,
Fritz Müller,
Hermann von Ihering,
Émil Goeldi
Émil August Goeldi (var. Göldi, Portuguese var. Emílio Augusto Goeldi) (28 August 1859 – 5 July 1917 in Bern), was a Swiss-Brazilian naturalist and zoologist. He was the father of Oswaldo Goeldi, a noted Brazilian engraver and illustra ...
and others. This science was mostly descriptive of the fantastic Brazilian
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic ('' genetic variability''), species ('' species diversity''), and ecosystem ('' ecosystem diversity'') ...
of its
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
...
and
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is '' flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. ...
, and also its
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other Astronomical object, astronomical objects, the features or rock (geology), rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology ...
,
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
and
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...
, and until the creation of the National Museum, the specimens were mostly removed to European institutions.
In the educational area, a number of higher education institutions were founded in the 19th century, but for decades to come, most Brazilian students, still studied at European universities, such as the ancient
University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The u ...
, in
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
.
Things started to change after 1841, when the eldest son of D. Pedro I, Emperor
D. Pedro II came to the throne when he was 15 years old. In the next 50 years, Brazil enjoyed a stable
constitutional monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...
. D. Pedro II was an enlightened
monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
who favored the
arts,
literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
and
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scien ...
and had extensive international contacts in these areas. The mainstay of Brazilian science and the seat of its first research laboratories was the National Museum (''
Museu Nacional'') in Rio de Janeiro, in existence until today. D. Pedro developed a strong personal interest and selected and invited many august European scientific personalities, such as von Ihering and Goeldi, to work in Brazil. He and his ministers, courtesans and senators often attended scientific conferences in the Museum. There, the first laboratory of
physiology
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemic ...
was founded in 1880, under
João Baptista de Lacerda and
Louis Couty. Unfortunately, the creation of
research universities
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
and
institute
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countries, institutes ca ...
s would only occur on the beginning of the 20th century - a long delay for the education, science and technology in Brazil.
Oldest scientific journal in Brazil, ''
Archivos do Museu Nacional'', was established in 1876.
[Alt URL]
/ref>
Organization
Brazil today has a well-developed organization of science and technology. Basic research is largely carried out in public universities
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
and research centers and institutes, and some in private institutions, particularly in non-profit non-governmental organizations
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
. More than 90% of funding for basic research comes from governmental sources. Brazil is one of the three countries in Latin America with an operational Synchrotron
A synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator, descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a fixed closed-loop path. The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its closed ...
Laboratory, a research facility for physics, chemistry, materials science and life sciences.
Applied research, technology and engineering are also largely carried out in the university sector and research centres, contrary to trends in more developed countries such as the United States of America, South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, Germany, Japan, etc.
Sources of funding
Brazilian funding for research, development and innovation comes from six main sources:
# Government (federal, state and municipal) sources. There are a number of state organizations which were created mostly in the 1950s specifically for directly promoting and funding R&D&I, such as the National Research Council (CNPq), which is now named ''Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq, pt, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, earlier ) is an organization of the Brazilian federal government under the Ministry of Scien ...
'' and the National Agency for Financing Studies and Researches (FINEP), both a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT). MCT is a relatively novel ministry, having been created in 1990. Before this, CNPq was the only research granting institution at federal level, working directly under the Presidency of Republic. At state level, almost all states have founded their own public foundations for support of R&D&I, following the pioneering (and highly successful) example of São Paulo state, which created the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) in 1962. Usually these foundations are guaranteed by changes in the state constitutions, along the 1980s and 1990s.
# Indirect funding through the budgets of public and private universities, institutes and centers. Some universities, such as UNICAMP
The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and Latin ...
, have their own internal agencies, foundations and funds set apart and managed with the purpose of supporting R&D&I by their faculties and students.
# Public companies, such as Embrapa (Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research). Their source of revenue is the government itself (via budgetary allocations by ministries and state secretaries) and investment of a part of products and services sold.
# Industrial, commercial and services private companies, usually for their own R&D&I centers, or via some fiscal benefit (tax exemption laws), such as the Informatics Law.
# National private and non-for-profit associations and foundations, via statutory mechanisms or donations by private individuals or companies. An example is the Banco do Brasil
Banco do Brasil S.A. ( en, Bank of Brazil) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King ...
Foundation.
# Funding by other nations, international organizations and multilateral institutions, such as Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropy, philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, aft ...
, Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Carib ...
, World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...
, UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
, UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...
, World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...
, World Wildlife Foundation
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
, Kellogg Foundation
The W. K. Kellogg Foundation was founded in June 1930 as the W. K. Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg. In 1934, Kellogg donated more than $66 million in Kellogg Company stock and other investments to ...
, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...
, US National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
, Volkswagen Foundation, just to name a few of the more important ones in the history of Brazilian science and technology.
Trends in science and technology
Creation of social organizations
Brazil's public research institutes and universities follow rigid rules that tend to make them difficult to manage. States may opt to develop their own research institutes and university systems but, as all laws and regulations are adopted at federal level, they all have to follow the same rules and regulations. Thus, they all come up against the same hurdles. These include extensive bureaucratic structures, an obligation to recruit staff, academic or otherwise, from among public servants, analogous career ladders and salary systems, an irregular flow of funds, overly complex procurement procedures and powerful unions in the civil service. A structural alternative was developed in 1998, with the creation of social organizations. These private, non-profit entities manage public research facilities under contract to federal agencies. They have the autonomy to hire (or fire) staff, contract services, buy equipment, choose the topics and objectives of scientific or technological research and sign research contracts with private companies. The flexibility accorded to these social organizations and their management style have made them a success story in Brazilian science. As of 2015, there were six such organizations:
* Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA);
* Institute for the Sustainable Development of the Amazon Forest (IDSM);
* National Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM);
* Centre for Management and Strategic Studies (CGEE);
* National Teaching and Research Network (RNP); and
* Brazilian Research and Industrial Innovation Enterprise (Embrapii).
Embrapii is the most recent. It was established by the federal government in 2013 to stimulate innovation through a system of calls for proposals; only institutions and enterprises deemed eligible may respond to these calls, thus speeding up the whole process and offering applicants a greater chance of success; Embrapii was due to be assessed in late 2015.
Incentive measures and targets
In the late 1990s, as economic reforms took hold, legislation was adopted to stimulate private R&D. Arguably the most important milestone was the National Law on Innovation. Soon after its approval in 2006, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation published a ''Plan of Action for Science, Technology and Innovation'' (MoSTI, 2007) establishing four main targets to be attained by 2010:
* Raise gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) from 1.02% to 1.50% of GDP;
* Raise business expenditure on R&D from 0.51% to 0.65% of GDP;
* Increase the number of scholarships (all levels) granted by the two federal agencies, the National Research Council (CNPq) and the Foundation for Co-ordinating Capacity-building of Personnel in Higher Education (Capes), from 100 000 to 150 000; and
* Foster science and technology for social development by establishing 400 vocational and 600 new distance-learning centres, by expanding the Mathematics Olympiad to 21 million participants and by granting 10 000 scholarships at the secondary level.
By 2012, GERD stood at 1.15% of GDP and business expenditure on R&D at 0.52% of GDP. Neither of these targets had thus been reached by this time. Concerning tertiary scholarships, CNPq and Capes easily reached the target for PhDs (31,000 by 2010 and 42,000 by 2013) but fell short of reaching the target for tertiary scholarships as a whole (141,000 by 2010). The target of the National Plan for Graduate Education 2005–2010 was for 16 000 PhDs to be granted by the end of the plan period. Since the actual number of PhDs granted stood at 11 300 in 2010 and less than 14 000 in 2013, this target has not been reached either, despite the fact that almost 42 000 federal PhD scholarships were granted in 2013.
On the other hand, the targets related to fostering a popular science culture have been partly reached. For instance, in 2010, over 19 million students took part in the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools, up from 14 million in 2006. However, since then, the number of participants has tended to stagnate. Up until 2011, it was looking as if the targets for distance learning and vocational education might be reached but, as of 2015, there had been little progress.
Financial investment
Brazil's economic boom between 2004 and 2012 translated into higher government and business spending on research and development (R&D). Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) almost doubled to PPP$35.5 billion (in 2011 dollars). Most of this growth occurred between 2004 and 2010, when GERD climbed from 0.97% to 1.16% of GDP. In 2012, GERD stood at 1.15% of GDP. Since 2010, the government sector alone has been driving up R&D intensity, since the non-government contribution has actually declined from 0.57% to 0.52% of GDP (2012). Preliminary figures for 2013 indicate slight growth in government spending and a constant contribution from the business sector (relative to GDP). Business research expenditure is likely to contract from 2015 onwards until the economy shows signs of recovery. Even the most optimistic analysts do not expect this to happen before 2016. Fixed capital investment in Brazil is expected to decline further in 2015, especially in the manufacturing sector. This trend will certainly affect industrial research spending. The Petrobrás crisis is expected to have a major impact on investment in R&D, since it alone has accounted for about 10% of the country's annual fixed capital investment in recent years. The cuts to the federal budget announced in 2015 and other austerity measures should also affect government spending on R&D.
Almost all of non-government expenditure on R&D comes from private firms (private universities performing only a fraction of it). Between 2010 and 2013, this expenditure declined from 49% to 42% of domestic expenditure on research, according to preliminary government data. This trend is likely to last for some time. The business sector will, thus, have no chance of devoting 0.90% of GDP to R&D by 2014.
Brazil's GERD/GDP ratio remains well below that of both advanced economies and such dynamic emerging market economies as China and, especially, the Republic of Korea. At the same time, it is quite comparable to the more stagnant developed economies such as Italy or Spain and other major emerging markets like the Russian Federation. It is also well ahead of other Latin American countries.
Industrial research
Trends in innovation activity
Between 2001 and 2010, there was a sharp decline in the share of research personnel employed by the business sector, from 40% (2001) to 26% (2010). This is contrary to the trend observed in most developed and major emerging countries. It partly reflects the expansion of research in higher education and partly the anaemic growth of industrial R&D.
According to a 2014 survey by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical office of UNESCO and is the UN depository for cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication.
The UIS was established in 1999. ...
of innovative manufacturing firms in 65 countries, 85% of Brazilian firms are still at the stage of acquiring machinery, equipment and software to enable them to innovate. Among the other BRICS countries (Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa), the percentage varies between 64% and 71%. Some 17% of Brazilian firms conduct research and development in house, according to the survey, compared to 19% of Russian firms, 35% of Indian firms, 54% of South African firms and 63% of Chinese firms. Brazil is also the BRICS country which outsources research the least (7% of innovative firms), compared to one in ten in India and one in five in the other BRICS. Brazil also trails other Latin American countries. A much higher percentage of firms report in-house research and development in Costa Rica (76%), Argentina (72%), Mexico (43%), El Salvador (42%), Ecuador (35%) and Colombia (22%). Only 6% of Brazilian manufacturing firms collaborate with universities to develop innovative products and processes, a lower ratio than in Mexico (7%), Colombia (11%), Argentina and Cuba (15%) and, above all, Costa Rica (35%).
The tendency for research to flow from the public to the private sector is confirmed by Ruben Sinisterra, a researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais who has been developing drugs to alleviate hypertension. Brazilian universities now have the capacity to develop nanoscale materials for drug delivery, he says, but ‘our domestic pharmaceutical companies don’t have internal capabilities in research and development, so we have to work with them to push new products and processes out to market’.
Innovation activity ebbed in Brazil between 2008 and 2013, according to a survey of firms by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The 2013 survey covered all public and private firms in the extractive and transformative sectors, as well as firms in the services sector involving technology. The drop in innovation was most noticeable in telecommunications, both as regards the production of goods (-18.2%) and services (-16.9%). It is the larger companies which seem to have reduced their innovative activities by the biggest margin between 2008 and 2011. Among companies with 500 or more employees, the share of those involved in developing new products declined from 54.9% to 43.0% over this period. A comparison of IBGE's innovation surveys over the periods 2004–2008 and 2009–2011 reveals that the 2008 crisis has had a negative impact on the innovative activities of most Brazilian firms. ‘Since 2011, the economic situation in Brazil has further deteriorated, especially in the industrial sector. Thus, it can be expected that the next innovation survey n 2018will show even lower levels of innovative activity in Brazil.
One reason for the drop in public and private investment in research is the economic slowdown. After peaking at 7.5% annual growth in 2010, the economy slowed before dipping into recession in 2015 (-3.7% growth). The government has been forced to adopt austerity measures and is now less able to collect revenue through the sectorial funds, since company profits are down in many quarters. Industrial output declined by 2.8% between November and December 2014 and by 3.2% over the entire year. The most recent data indicate that 2014–2015 may turn out to be the worst years in decades for industry, especially for the transformation subsector of the manufacturing industry’.
The economic slowdown was triggered by weaker international commodities markets, coupled with the perverse effects of economic policies designed to fuel consumption. For instance, Petrobrás artificially depressed petrol prices to control inflation between 2011 and 2014, under the influence of the government, its major stockholder. This in turn depressed ethanol prices, making ethanol uneconomic to produce. The ethanol industry was forced to close plants and cut back on its investment in research. Petrobrás’ low pricing policy ended up eating into its own revenue, forcing it to cut back its own investment in oil and gas exploration.
The roots of the problem go deeper, though, than the current recession. Brazil's long-standing import substitution policy has protected locally produced goods from foreign competition, discouraging local businesses from investing heavily in research and development, as they are only competing with similar non-innovative companies operating within the same protectionist system. The consequence of this policy has been a gradual decline in Brazil's share of global trade in recent decades, especially when it comes to exports of industrial goods. The trend has even accelerated in the past few years. Between 2004 and 2013, the share of exports dropped from 14.6% to 10.8% of GDP, despite the commodities boom, a trend that cannot be explained solely by the unfavourable exchange rate’, asserts the report.
Basic commodities make up a growing proportion of Brazilian exports. Commodities peaked at 50.8% of all exports in the first half of 2014, up from 29.3% in 2005. Just one-third of goods (34.5%) were manufactured in 2014, a sharp drop from 55.1% in 2005. Within manufactured exports, only 6.8% could be considered high-tech, compared to 41.0% with a low-tech content (up from 36.8% in 2012).
Another factor in the drop in investment is that modern industrial development in Brazil is constrained by a lack of modern infrastructure, especially in logistics and electric power generation, along with cumbersome regulations relating to business registration, taxation or bankruptcy, all resulting in a high cost of doing business. Dubbed the Brazil Cost (''Custo Brasil''), this phenomenon is affecting the ability of Brazilian businesses to compete internationally and pursue innovation.
Information technology
Companies such as Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
, Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
and IBM have established large R&D centres in Brazil, beginning with the IBM Research
Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...
Center in the 1970s. One incentive has been the Informatics Law, which exempts from certain taxes up to 5% of the gross revenue of high technology manufacturing companies in the fields of telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...
, computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...
s, digital electronics
Digital electronics is a field of electronics involving the study of digital signals and the engineering of devices that use or produce them. This is in contrast to analog electronics and analog signals.
Digital electronic circuits are usu ...
, etc. The Informatics Law has attracted annually more than $1.5 billion of investment in Brazilian R&D. Multinational companies have also discovered that some products and technologies designed and developed by Brazilians have a nice competitivity and are appreciated by other countries, such as automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded ...
s, aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
, software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
At the lowest programming level, executable code consist ...
, fiber optics
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...
, electric appliances, and so on.
During the 1980s, Brazil pursued a policy of protectionism
Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulation ...
in computing. Companies and administrations were required to use Brazilian software and hardware, with imports subject to governmental authorization. This encouraged the growth of Brazilian companies but, in spite of their development of products like MSX clones and SOX Unix
SOX is a discontinued UNIX clone. It was developed from scratch in Brazil, in the late 1980s, by ''Computadores e Sistemas Brasileiros S/A'' (now Cobra Tecnologia), under the leadership of Ivan da Costa Marques. Certified as UNIX-compatible ...
, the Brazilian consumers of computing were suffering from lesser offerings compared to foreign competitors. The government little by little authorized more and more imports until the barriers were removed.
In 2002, Brazil staged the world's first 100% electronic election with over 90% of results in within 2 hours. The system is particularly suited to a country with relatively high illiteracy rates, since it flashes up a photograph of the candidate before a vote is confirmed. Citizens could download a desktop module that relayed the votes to their homes in realtime faster than the news networks could get them out.
In 2005, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...
launched a "people's computer" to foster digital inclusion, with government finance available and a fixed minimum configuration. Having rejected the Microsoft operating system (Windows XP Starter Edition
Windows XP, which is the next version of Windows NT after Windows 2000 and the successor to the consumer-oriented Windows Me, has been released in several editions since its original release in 2001.
Windows XP is available in many languages. In ...
), it is being shipped with a Brazilian-configured Linux system offering basic functions such as word processing and internet browsing. Plans to make cheap internet access available have not yet come to fruition. In 2008, the Brazilian Government under Lula da Silva, founded the CEITEC
The Centro Nacional de Tecnologia Electrônica Avançada S.A (CEITEC - National Center for Advanced Electronic Technology) is a Brazilian technology center specialized in project development and fabrication in microelectronics, i.e. integrated ...
, the first and only semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical conductivity value falling between that of a conductor, such as copper, and an insulator, such as glass. Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave in the opposite way ...
company in Latin America.
Government research priorities
The lion's share of government expenditure on R&D goes to universities, as in most countries. This level of spending increased slightly from 58% to 61% of total government funding of R&D between 2008 and 2012. Among specific sectors, agriculture comes next, in a reflection of the sector's relevance for Brazil, the second-largest food-producing country in the world after the USA. Brazilian agricultural productivity has risen constantly since the 1970s, due to the greater use of innovative technology and processes. Industrial R&D comes third, followed by health and infrastructure, other sectors having shares of 1% or lower of government expenditure. With some exceptions, the distribution of government spending on R&D in 2012 is similar to that in 2000. After a sharp increase in industrial technology from 1.4% to 6.8% between 2000 and 2008, its share of government expenditure declined to 5.9% in 2012. The share of space science and technology (civilian) has been pursuing a downward spiral from a high of 2.3% in 2000. Defence research spending had been curtailed from 1.6% to 0.6% between 2000 and 2008 but has since rebounded to 1.0%. Research into energy has also declined from 2.1% (2000) to just 0.3% (2012). Overall, though, the allocation of government R&D spending seems to be relatively stable.
In May 2013, the Brazilian administrative body Redetec contracted the Argentine company INVAP to build a multipurpose nuclear reactor in Brazil for research and the production of radioisotopes employed in nuclear medicine, agriculture and environmental management. INVAP has already built a similar reactor for Australia. The multipurpose reactor is expected to be operational by 2018. It will be based at the Marine Technology Centre in São Paulo, with the Brazilian company Intertechne building some of the infrastructure.
Brazil's ambitions for biodiesel caught the headlines in the late 2000s when global energy and food prices spiked but energy-related industries have always had a high profile in Brazil. The state-controlled oil giant Petrobrás registers more patents than any other individual company in Brazil. Moreover, electricity-producing companies are directed by law to invest a given percentage of their revenue in R&D. Although energy is a key economic sector, the government cut back its spending on energy research from 2.1% to 1.1% of the total between 2000 and 2008 and again to 0.3% in 2012. Renewable energy sources have been the primary victim of these cuts, as public investment has increasingly turned towards deep-sea oil and gas exploration off Brazil's southeast coast. One area that has been directly affected by this is trend is the ethanol industry, which has had to close plants and cut back its own investment in R&D. Part of the ethanol industry's woes have resulted from Petrobrás’ pricing policies. Under the influence of the government, its major stockholder, Petrobrás artificially depressed petrol prices between 2011 and 2014 to control inflation. This in turn depressed ethanol prices, making ethanol uneconomic to produce. This policy ended up eating into Petrobrás’ own revenue, forcing it to cut back its investment in oil and gas exploration. As Petrobrás alone is responsible for about 10% of all fixed capital investment in Brazil, this trend, along with the corruption scandal shaking the company since 2014, will certainly have ramifications for Brazil's overall investment in R&D.
Brazil generates nearly three-quarters (73%) of its electricity from hydropower. This contribution was as high as four-fifths in 2010 but the share of hydropower has been eroded by a combination of declining rainfall and ageing hydroelectric plants, many of which date back to the 1960s and 1970s. Intensive use of thermoelectric power plants operating on fossil fuels has compensated for much of the loss, since the share of new sources of renewable energy, such as solar and wind, in the energy mix remains small. Moreover, although Brazil has made great strides in the use of bioethanol in transportation, there has been little focus on research and innovation in energy generation, be it in terms of developing new sources of energy or improving energy efficiency. In light of the foregoing, there is little reason to expect public investment in energy R&D to rebound to the levels seen at the turn of the century that would rebuild Brazil's international competitiveness in this field.
Space science and technology have been a government priority for decades. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Brazil invested almost US$1 billion in developing space infrastructure around the National Institute of Space Research (INPE), leading to the launch of the first scientific satellite built entirely in Brazil in 1993 (SCD-1). Between 1999 and 2014, Brazil and China built a series of five remote sensing satellites for environmental monitoring within the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites (CBERS) programme. Brazil has now achieved the critical mass of skills and infrastructure required to dominate several space technologies. It is determined to master the complete chain of space technologies, from material sciences, engineering design, remote sensing, aperture-synthetic radars, telecommunications and image processing to propulsion technologies. The joint Argentinian–Brazilian SABIA-MAR mission will be studying ocean ecosystems, carbon cycling, marine habitats mapping, coasts and coastal hazards, inland waters and fisheries. Also under development is the new SARE series designed to expand the active remote observation of Earth through the use of microwave and optical radars.
Research output
Scientific publications increased by 308% between 2005 and 2014, primarily as a result of Thomson Reuters' decision to track a much larger number of Brazilian journals in its database between 2006 and 2008. Despite this artificial boost, the pace of growth has slowed since 2011. Moreover, in terms of publications per capita, the country trails both the more dynamic emerging market economies and advanced economies, even if it is ahead of most of its neighbours. When it comes to impact, Brazil has lost a lot of ground in the past decade. One possible cause may be the speed with which enrolment in higher education has expanded since the mid-1990s, especially as concerns students passing through the federal system of universities, some of which have resorted to hiring inexperienced faculty, including candidates without doctorates.
Patent applications to the Brazilian Patent Office (INPI) increased from 20,639 in 2000 to 33,395 in 2012, progressing by 62%. Patent applications by residents grew at a rate of 21% over the same period.
International comparisons using the number of patents granted by the US Patent and Trademarks Office (USPTO) provide an indirect measure of the extent to which an economy may be seeking international competitiveness on the basis of technology-driven innovation. Brazil was granted 108 patents by the USPTO between 2004 and 2008 and 189 between 2009 and 2013. Although Brazil has registered strong growth in this field, compared to other emerging economies, it seems to be relatively less focused on international patenting than on publications. Between 2000 and 2013, it counted 10 patents per ten million inhabitants from USPTO, less than Argentina (14), China, India (12) or South Africa (25) and only slightly more than Mexico (9).
Regional disparities
Brazil is a country with highly diverse levels of development across its 27 states. The southern and southeastern regions show a much higher level of industrialization and scientific development than the northern ones, some of which encroach on the Amazonian forest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
and river basin. The centre-west is Brazil's agricultural and cattle-raising powerhouse and has been developing rapidly recently. The starkest example of this contrast is the southeastern State of São Paulo. Home to 22% (44 million) of the country's 202 million inhabitants, it generates about 32% of GDP and a similar share of the nation's industrial output. It also has a very strong state system of public research universities that is lacking in most other states and hosts the well-established São Paulo Research Foundation. The State of São Paulo is responsible for 46% of GERD (public and private expenditure) and 66% of business R&D. It hosts 10 of the country's 18 research universities.
All indicators paint the same picture. Some 41% of Brazilian PhDs were granted by universities in the State of São Paulo in 2012 and 44% of all papers with Brazilian authors have at least one author from an institution based in São Paulo. São Paulo's scientific productivity (390 papers per million inhabitants over 2009–2013) is twice the national average (184), a differential which has been widening in recent years. The relative impact of publications by scientists from the State of São Paulo has also been systematically higher than for Brazil as a whole over the past decade. Two key factors explain São Paulo's success in scientific output: firstly, a well-funded system of state universities, including the University of São Paulo
The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...
, University of Campinas
The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and ...
(Unicamp) and the State University of São Paulo, all of which have been included in international university rankings;10 secondly, the role played by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). Both the university system and FAPESP are allocated a fixed share of the state's sales tax revenue as their annual budgets and have full autonomy as to the use they make of this revenue.
Between 2006 and 2014, the share of Brazilian researchers hosted by southeastern institutions dropped steadily from 50% to 44%. Over the same period, the share of northeastern states rose from 16% to 20%. It is still too early to see the effect of these changes on scientific output, or in the number of PhD degrees being awarded but these indicators should logically also progress.
Despite these positive trends, regional inequalities persist in terms of research expenditure, the number of research institutions and scientific productivity. Extending the scope of research projects to other states and beyond Brazil would certainly help scientists from these regions catch up to their southern neighbours.
Timeline
* 1792: Founding of the Royal Academy of Fortification, Artillery and Design, current Military Institute of Engineering (IME) and Polytechnic School of UFRJ ( UFRJ).
* 1876: Founding of the First School of Mines in Brazil, today Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).
* 1900: Founding of the Federal Institute Serotherapy, current Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Portuguese ''Fundação Oswaldo Cruz'', also known as FIOCRUZ) is a scientific institution for research and development in biological sciences located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; it is considered one of the world's ma ...
(FioCruz).
* 1916: Founding of the Brazilian Society of Sciences, today Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( pt, italic=yes, Academia Brasileira de Ciências or ''ABC'') is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded on May 3, 1916.
Publications
It publishes a lar ...
(ABC).
* 1917: Beginning of the publication of the ''Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências''.
* 1920: Founding of the University of Brazil, current Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...
(UFRJ).
* 1922: Founding of the Top School of Agriculture and Veterinary, current Federal University of Viçosa (UFV).
* 1923: Founding of the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (SBCh).
* 1923: Founding of the Radio Society of Rio de Janeiro, the first radio broadcasting
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
station still working under the nam
Rádio MEC
in Rio de Janeiro.
* 1924: Founding of the Brazilian Association of Education.
* 1925: Institution of the Einstein Prize, in reason of his visit to Brazil.
* 1930: Founding of the National Institute of Weights and Standards, today National Institute of Metrology, Standardization and Industrial Quality (Inmetro).
* 1934: Founding of the University of São Paulo
The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the bes ...
(USP).
* 1948: Founding of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC).
* 1949: Founding of the Brazilian Center for Physics Research.
* 1950: Founding of the Aeronautical Institute of Technology (ITA).
* 1951: Founding of the National Research Council (CNPq).
* 1951: Founding of the Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).
* 1952: Founding of the National Institute of Amazonian Research
The National Institute of Amazonian Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia or INPA) is a public educational and research institution headquartered in Manaus, Brazil. It was founded in 1952, with the purpose of furthering scientific ...
(INPA).
* 1953: Founding of the Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology (CTA).
* 1956: Founding of the National Nuclear Energy Commission
The National Nuclear Energy Commission ( pt, Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear; CNEN) is the Brazilian government agency responsible for orientation, planning, supervision, and control of the Brazil's nuclear program. The agency was created o ...
(CNEN).
* 1961: Founding of the National Institute for Space Research
The National Institute for Space Research ( pt, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, INPE) is a research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations, the main goals of which are fostering scientific research an ...
(INPE).
* 1962: Founding of the São Paulo State Foundation for Research Support (Fapesp).
* 1962: Founding of the State University of Campinas
The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and Latin ...
(Unicamp).
* 1967: Founding of the National Agency for Financing Research and Projects (FINEP).
* 1976: Founding of the São Paulo State University
São Paulo State University (UNESP, pt, Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho") is a public university run by the state government of São Paulo, Brazil.
UNESP has a combined student body of over 45,000 spread among its 23 c ...
(Unesp).
* 1980: Founding of the National Laboratory of Scientific Computing (LNCC).
* 1985: Founding of the National Laboratory of Synchrotron Radiation (LNRS), current National Laboratory of Synchrotron Light
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
(LNLS).
* 1985: Founding of the National Laboratory of Astrophysics
* 1993: Institution of the National Order of Scientific Merit.
* 1994: Founding of the Brazilian Space Agency
The Brazilian Space Agency ( pt, Agência Espacial Brasileira; AEB) is the civilian authority in Brazil responsible for the country's space program. It operates a spaceport at Alcântara, and a rocket launch site at Barreira do Inferno. It is ...
(AEB).
* 2006: Founding of the Federal University of ABC (UFABC).
* 2007: Founding of the National Laboratory of Science and Technology of Bioethanol (CTBE).
* 2010: Founding of the Federal University of Latin American Integration (UNILA).
Lists
Major universities
Public universities and institutes
* UFAL - Universidade Federal de Alagoas
Located in the city of Maceió, the Federal University of Alagoas ( pt, Universidade Federal de Alagoas, UFAL or Ufal) is the major university in coastal state Alagoas and one of the main research centers in Brazilian north eastern region (one ...
(Federal University of Alagoas)
* IME - Instituto Militar de Engenharia (Military Institute of Engineering)
* ITA - Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (Aeronautics Technological Institute)
* UECE - Universidade Estadual do Ceará (State University of Ceará)
* UERJ - Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State University)
* UNIRIO - Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro)
* UFABC - Universidade Federal do ABC
Federal University of ABC ( pt, Universidade Federal do ABC, UFABC) is a Brazilian federal public institution of higher learning based in Santo André and São Bernardo do Campo, municipalities belonging to the ABC region, both in the state of ...
(Federal University of ABC)
* UFBA - Universidade Federal da Bahia
The Federal University of Bahia ( pt, Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia and one of Brazil's most prestigious educational institu ...
(Federal University of Bahia)
* UFS - Universidade Federal de Sergipe
The Federal University of Sergipe ( pt, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, UFS) is a Brazilian public institution based in Sergipe, with campuses in São Cristóvão, Aracaju, Itabaiana, Laranjeiras, and Lagarto. Founded in 1967 by the junction o ...
(Federal University of Sergipe)
* UFC - Universidade Federal do Ceará
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(Federal University of Ceará)
* UFCG - Universidade Federal de Campina Grande
The Federal University of Campina Grande ( pt, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, UFCG) is a public university whose main campus is located in the city of Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. Together with the Federal University of Paraíba, i ...
(Federal University of Campina Grande)
* UFES - Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo (Federal University of Espírito Santo)
* UFOP - Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto
The Federal University of Ouro Preto ( pt, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, UFOP) was established on August 21, 1969 in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. It resulted from the merger of two century-old higher education institutions: the School of Pharm ...
(Federal University of Ouro Preto)
* UFF - Universidade Federal Fluminense
The Fluminense Federal University (Portuguese: ''Universidade Federal Fluminense'', UFF, named after the state's demonym) is a public higher education institution located mainly in Niterói and in other cities of Rio de Janeiro state. It was fir ...
(Federal University Fluminense)
* UFG - Universidade Federal de Goiás (Federal University of Goiás)
* UEG - Universidade Estadual de Goiás (State University of Goiás)
* UFJF - Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (Federal University of Juiz de Fora)
* UFMG - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
The Federal University of Minas Gerais ( pt, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG) is a federalIn the Brazilian Higher Education context, ''Federal'' does not mean ''collegiate'' (even though most Federal Universities in Brazil enjoy a sim ...
(Federal University of Minas Gerais)
* UFPA - Universidade Federal do Pará (Federal University of Pará)
* UFPE - Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
Federal University of Pernambuco ( pt, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE) is a public university in Recife, Brazil, established in 1946. UFPE has 70 undergraduate courses and 175 postgraduate courses. , UFPE had 35,000 students and 2,0 ...
(Federal University of Pernambuco)
* UFPI- Universidade Federal do Piauí (Federal University of Piauí)
* UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(Federal University of Paraná)
* UFRGS - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul)
* UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)
* UFRN - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte The Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte ( pt, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, UFRN) is a public Brazilian university funded by the Brazilian federal government, located in the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Formally ...
(Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte)
* UFSCAR - Universidade Federal de São Carlos
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(Federal University of São Carlos)
* UFSC - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
The Federal University of Santa Catarina ( pt, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC) is a public university in Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil.
Considered one of the leading universities in Brazil ...
(Federal University of Santa Catarina)
* UFSM - Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Federal University of Santa Maria)
* UFV - Universidade Federal de Viçosa
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(Federal University of Viçosa)
* UnB - Universidade de Brasília (University of Brasília)
* UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(São Paulo State University)
* UNICAMP - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (State University of Campinas)
* UNIFEI - Universidade Federal de Itajubá (Federal University of Itajubá)
* UNIFESP - Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Federal University of São Paulo)
* UNITAU - Universidade de Taubaté (University of Taubaté)
* USP - Universidade de São Paulo
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(University of São Paulo)
* UFT - Universidade Federal do Tocantins
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
(Federal University of Tocantins)
* UTFPR - Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (Federal University of Technology – Paraná)
Private universities
* PUC-PR - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná)
* PUC-SP - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo)
* PUCCamp - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas (Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas)
* PUC-RJ - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ( pt, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio) is a Jesuit, Catholic, pontifical university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the joint responsibility of the Catholic A ...
)
* UCB - Universidade Católica de Brasília
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and " Olympiad".
The Universiade is referr ...
- (Catholic University of Brasília)
* PUC-GO - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás - (Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás)
* PUC-MG - Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais (Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais)
* PUC-RS - Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul
The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul ( pt, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, PUCRS) is a private non-profit Catholic university. With campuses in the Brazilian cities of Porto Alegre and Viamão, it is th ...
(Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul)
* IESB - Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília (Brasília's Institute of Higher Education)
* ULBRA - Universidade Luterana do Brasil (Lutheran University of Brazil)
* Mack - Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (Mackenzie Presbyterian University)
* UNIFOR - Universidade de Fortaleza (University of Fortaleza)
* Centro Universitário da FEI (Industrial Engineering College) www.fei.edu.br
* FAAP - Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo, São Paulo
* FAMEC - Faculdade Metropolitana de Curitiba, (Sistema FIEP - www.famec.fiepr.org.br)
* Universidade Feevale - FEEVALE University, Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul
Research institutes
* Brazilian General Command for Aerospace Technology (CTA)
The Brazilian Department of Science and Aerospace Technology ( pt, Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia Aeroespacial; DCTA) is the national military research center for aviation and space flight. It is subordinated to the Brazilian Air Force (FAB ...
- São José dos Campos
* Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações
CPQD is a Research and Development Center in Telecommunications and one of the largest Latin American R&D centers in Telecommunications and IT. Located in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, CPQD has operated as a contractor for institutions and enter ...
(CPqD) - Campinas
* Centro de Pesquisas Renato Archer - Campinas
* Comandante Ferraz Brazilian Antarctic Base
The Comandante Ferraz Antarctic Station ( pt, Estação Antártica Comandante Ferraz) is a permanent Antarctic research station named after the Brazilian Navy Commander Luís Antônio de Carvalho Ferraz (1940-1982), who visited Antarctica many t ...
- Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
* Edumed Institute for Education in Medicine and Health - Campinas
* Eldorado Institute - Campinas
* Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária
The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa - pt, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária) is a state-owned research corporation affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture. Since its inception on April 26, 1973, it ha ...
- Brasília
* Instituto Adolfo Lutz - São Paulo
* Instituto Agronômico de Campinas - Campinas
* Instituto Atlântico - Fortaleza
* Instituto Butantan - São Paulo
* Instituto de Biotecnologia Aplicada à Agropecuária (BIOAGRO) - Viçosa
* Instituto de Pesquisas da Amazônia - Manaus
* Instituto de Pesquisas em Energia Nuclear - São Paulo
Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo (IPT)
- São Paulo
* Instituto Evandro Chagas - Belém
* Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada
The Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA; en, National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics) is widely considered to be the foremost research and educational institution of Brazil in the area of mathematics. It is loc ...
- Rio de Janeiro
* Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) - São José dos Campos
* Instituto Oswaldo Cruz - Rio de Janeiro
* Laboratório Nacional de Computação Científica (LNCC) - Petrópolis
* Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron - Campinas
* Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
The Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG) is a Brazilian research institution and museum located in the city of Belém, state of Pará, Brazil. It was founded in 1866 by Domingos Soares Ferreira Penna as the Pará Museum of Natural History and Eth ...
- Belém
* Resende Nuclear Fuel Factory The Nuclear Fuel Factory (FCN) is located near Resende, state of Rio de Janeiro, comprising three units, and has a production capacity of 280 tons of uranium per year. At present, FCN was modernized and produces at the Components and Assembly Unit ...
- Rezende
* São José dos Campos Technology Park - São José dos Campos
Scientific societies
* Brazilian Academy of Sciences
The Brazilian Academy of Sciences ( pt, italic=yes, Academia Brasileira de Ciências or ''ABC'') is the national academy of Brazil. It is headquartered in the city of Rio de Janeiro and was founded on May 3, 1916.
Publications
It publishes a lar ...
* Brazilian Society of Health Informatics
* Academia Nacional de Medicina
The Academia Nacional de Medicina (ANM) is the Brazilian national academy of medicine.
The academy was founded during the Brazilian imperial period on 30 June 1829, under the name of ''Sociedade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro''. On 8 May ...
* Brazilian Computer Society The Brazilian Computer Society ( pt, Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, SBC) was established in 1978, as a scientific and educational organization dedicated to the advancement of computer science in Brazil and the associated technologies and appl ...
* Federação das Sociedades de Biologia Experimental
* Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência
Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Portuguese for ''Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science'') is a Brazilian scientific society created in 1948 by several prominent scientists, with the aim of promoting science, culture and ...
* Brazilian Telecommunications Society
* Brazilian Power Electronics Society - SOBRAEP
Key Brazilian scientists
See also
* Ciência sem Fronteiras
* CNPq
* Lattes Platform
The Lattes Platform is an information system (integrated database, web-based query interface, etc.) maintained by the Brazilian federal government to manage information on science, technology, and innovation related to individual researches and in ...
* Ministry of Education (Brazil)
The Ministry of Education (Portuguese: ''Ministério da Educação''), also known as MEC, an initialism derived from its former name Ministry of Education and Culture (Portuguese: ''Ministério da Educação e Cultura''), is a cabinet-level feder ...
* Universities and higher education in Brazil Brazil adopts a mixed system of public and privately funded universities. Public universities can be federally funded or financed by State governments (such as USP, Unicamp and Unesp in the State of São Paulo). Private schools can be for-profit o ...
Sources
References
External links
The Museu Nacional and its European employees
Jens Andermann
Jens Andermann
The Brazilian Centre of Physical Research
Brazil Technology
{{Brazil topics