The British and Brazilian governments have been actively involved in promoting collaboration in science and innovation between the two countries.

This year we concluded two years of intense activities between the UK-Brazil Partnership in Science and Innovation Programme and the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation exceeding all expectations on promoting co-operation and encouraging the relationship between the scientific communities in Brazil and the UK. In an unheralded bilateral initiative of the Brazilian government, represented by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the British Government, represented by two ministries, the FCO – Foreign and Commonwealth Office and BIS – Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, countless opportunities were created for new opportunities of collaboration on different fields of knowledge and exchange experiences at events throughout Brazil.

Among various objectives achieved during the second year of activities, we can highlight the announcement of a joint space mission to build the Amazônia-1 satellite; the announcement of the establishment of LABEX, international representation laboratory of Embrapa in the United Kingdom and the signing of a Letter of Intent between the two governments with the aim of setting up joint peer review process through research funding agencies; in addition to the support of the relationship between the innovation agencies of the two countries in commercialising patents.

History

During official visit by President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva to the United Kingdom in 2006 was established the Joint Action Plan in Science, Technology and Innovation, identifying common targets and priorities for both countries in science. This plan was consolidated in the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation, project that lasted from March 2007 to March 2008.

Due to the success of the Year of Science a new agreement was signed establishing a second phase of the programme through the UK-Brazil Partnership in Science and Innovation.

The UK-Brazil Partnership in Science and Innovation, concluded in March 2009, repeated the previous year’s success with intense activities in different areas of science, with over 40 activities, including events and missions.  The programme contributed to the participation of more than 100 British scientists in main congresses on various fields of science in Brazil reaching a total of over 28,000 people.

Read more about the Year of Science and Innovation and the Final Report for the Partnership in Science and Innovation.

The role of the FCO

The science and innovation sector of the British Consulate-General in Sao Paulo aims to promote scientific collaboration between Brazil and the UK through activities that promote the exchange of knowledge between the academic communities of both countries. The sector works to identify areas of mutual interest and benefit on science as well as providing information to the Brazilian science community on relevant news on British excellence in science.