MANIFESTO BY THE COORDINATORS OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION (INCT) IN DEFENSE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION AND THE FEDERAL AGENCIES THAT FUND SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH
CAPES and CNPq were created in 1951 with specific missions. CNPq is responsible for supporting science, technology, and innovation and helping to formulate policy in these areas. It contributes to advances at the frontiers of knowledge, sustainable development, and national sovereignty. CAPES, in turn, has the mission of “ensuring that enough qualified specialist personnel are available to meet the needs of public and private enterprises aimed at the country’s development.” In the following decade, FINEP was created to promote Brazil’s economic and social development through public funding for science, technology, and innovation in companies, universities, technology institutes, and other public or private institutions.
The missions of CNPq, CAPES, and FINEP are distinct and complementary. CNPq primarily supports individual researchers at all levels and secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate students, including through its successful scientific initiation programs. CAPES focuses primarily on supporting postgraduate programs at higher education institutions. FINEP supports infrastructure and major equipment projects at public and private science and technology institutions, as well as business innovation. Maintaining CNPq, CAPES, and FINEP in their respective roles is therefore essential to Brazil’s educational, scientific, and technological development.
In 2008, CNPq led the creation of a broad initiative, the National Institutes of Science and Technology, aligned with the strategic areas of the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. CAPES took part directly, in partnership with state research foundations and FINEP, which manages the FNDCT. At that time, the INCT program included 125 projects across all regions of the country. It involves 6,794 researchers and 1,937 institutions associated with research on frontier topics.
The INCTs’ scientific output has been substantial, totaling 70,389 records: books (905), book chapters (4,255), articles in indexed Brazilian journals (7,995), articles in indexed international journals (26,215), papers presented at national conferences (21,043), papers presented at international conferences (14,261), software (242), products (1,845), processes (130), and artistic works (88). National cooperation is another significant result. There were 454 partnerships with other INCTs and 167 agreements with Brazilian institutions; 263 Brazilian laboratories are also associated with the INCTs. The INCTs also signed 787 international cooperation agreements. Their research involved 1,318 foreign researchers, 139 companies, and 376 international laboratories.
For intellectual property, there were 578 patent applications, 265 grants, and 12 patents already commercialized. In the innovation process, the generation of knowledge with potential technological applications stands out: 63 proofs of concept, 54 pilot projects, 38 projects scaled up beyond the laboratory bench, and 51 activities in the final development of processes or products, among others.
The impact on training and knowledge transfer is shown by the creation of 566 courses in 79 postgraduate programs, 1,568 scientific events, 111 partnerships with state education bodies, and 4,232 outreach initiatives involving videos, newspapers, courses, lectures, booklets, and more. This is undoubtedly a highly successful initiative!
The second phase of the INCTs was formalized in 2016, with funding released in December 2016. There are currently 102 INCTs across all regions of the country. They work in highly strategic areas such as health, ecology and the environment, exact and natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, agricultural sciences, engineering and information technology, energy, and nanotechnology.
The INCT coordinators therefore call for the budget to be restored, funding restrictions to be removed, and CNPq, CAPES, and FINEP to be preserved. At the federal level, these institutions were responsible for strengthening postgraduate education and for the scientific and technological development that brought Brazil to a leading position in global science, technology, and innovation. Merging or abolishing these agencies would be a reckless, irreversible act that would seriously harm our nation’s development.
In defense of science, technology, and innovation in Brazil!
The manifesto is signed by the coordinators of the National Institutes of Science and Technology:
Adalberto Val, INCT Adapta
Afonso Luis Barth,- INCT – INPRA
Alvaro Toubes Prata, INCT-Refrigeração e Termofísica
Amauri Alcindo Alfieri, INCT – Leite
Anderson Gomes, INCT Fotônica
Antonio Carlos Campos de Carvalho – INCT-REGENERA.
Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto, INCT de Fluidos Complexos
Augusto Cesar Alves Sampaio, INCT de Engenharia de Software (INES)
Belita Koiller, INCT de Informação Quantica
Carlos Morel, INCT-IDPN
Celio Pasquini, INCTAA – Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologias Analíticas Avançadas
Charbel El-Hani, INCT IN-TREE
Carisi A Polanczyk, INCT para Avaliação de Tecnologias em Saúde
Deisy de Souza, INCT-ECCE
Diogo Souza – INCT Doenças Cerebrais, Excitotoxicidade e Neuroproteção
Edgar Carvalho, INCT-DT (Doenças Tropicais)
Elibio Leopoldo Rech Filho, INCT Biologia Sintética
Eliezer J. Barreiro, INCT INOFAR
Euripedes Constantino Miguel, INCT de Psiquiatria do Desenvolvimento (INPD)
Evaldo Mendonça Fleury Curado, INCT-SC
Fabio Kon, INCT da Internet do Futuro para Cidades Inteligentes
Fernando Galembeck, INCT Inomat
Fernando José Gomes Landgraf, INCT Terras Raras
Fernando Lázaro Freire Junior, INCT Engenharia de Superfícies
Helio Leães Hey, INCT Geração Distribuída de Energia Elétrica
Henrique Krieger, INCT sobre Epidemiologia da Amazonia
Hernandes F Carvalho, INCT-INFABiC
Jailson Bittencourt de Andrade, INCT de Energia e Ambiente
Jefferson Cardia Simões, INCT da Criosfera
Jerson Silva, INCT de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem
José Alexandre Felizola Diniz Filho, INCT Ecologia, Evolução e Conservação da Biodiversidade
João B. Calixto, INCT-INOVAMED
José Krieger, INCT-MACC
José Luiz Rezende Pereira, INCT de Energia Elétrica – INERGE
José Marengo, INCT Mudanças Climáticas Fase 2
José Maria Landim Dominguez, INCT AmbTropi
José Roberto Postali Parra, de Semioquímicos na Agricultura
Jorge Elias Kalil Filho, INCT de Investigação em Imunologia
Lauro Tatsuo Kubota, INCT de Bioanalítica
Leonardo Avritzer, INCT- da Democracia e da Democratização da Comunicação
Luiz Goulart, INCT-Teranano
Luiz Nicolaci da Costa, Coordinator, INCT do e-Universo
Luisa Massarani, INCT de Comunicação Pública da Ciência e Tecnologia
Marcel Bursztyn, INCT Observatório das Dinâmicas Socioambientais
Marco Henrique Terra, INCT – Sistemas Autônomos Cooperativos
Marcos Buckeridge, INCT do Bioetanol
Marcos Pimenta, INCT Nanomateriais de Carbono
Maria Fátima das Graças Fernandes da Silva, INCT-CBIPF
Maria Fatima Grossi de Sá, INCT – Plant Stress Biotech
Maria Valnice Boldrin, INCT-DATREM
Mariangela Hungria – INCT- (MPCPAgro)
Mario José Abdalla Saad, INCT Obesidade e diabetes
Maria Vitória Lopes Badra Bentley – INCT Nanofarma
Mário Lúcio Vilela de Resende, INCT do Café
Mauro Teixeira, INCT em Dengue
Mayana Zatz, INCT Envelhecimento e Doenças
Milton Porsani, INCT de Geofísica do Petróleo
Niro Higuchi, INCT – Madeiras da Amazônia
Otavio Franco, INCT Bioinspir
Paulo Arruda – INCT- Centro de Química Medicinal de Acesso Aberto
Paulo Teixeira de Sousa Júnior, INCT-Áreas Úmidas
Pedro Lagerblad de Oliveira, INCT Entomologia Molecular
Poli Mara Spritzer, INCT em Hormônios e Saúde da Mulher
Reinhardt Fuck, INCT Estudos Tectônicos
Renato Boschi, INCT PPED
Ricardo Gazzinelli, INCT-Vacinas
Roberto Esser dos Reis, INCT Forense
Roberto Giugliani, INCT -INAGEMP
Roberto Kant de Lima, INCT – InEAC
Roberto Lent, O INNT – Neurociência Translacional
Roberto Mendonça Farias, NCT de Eletrônica Orgânica
Rochel Montero Lago, INCT Midas
Sebastião C. Velasco e Cruz, INCT Ineu, Estudos sobre os Estados Unidos
Sebastião Valadares, INCT de Ciência Animal
Sergio de Azevedo, INCT Observatório das Metrópoles.
Takeshi Kodama, INCT-FNA, Física Nuclear e Aplicações
Vanderlan Bolzani, INCT BioNat
Vanderlei S. Bagnato – INCT em Óptica Básica e aplicada as ciências da vida
Vilma Regina Martins, INCT de Oncogenômica e Inovação Terapêutica
Wagner Farid Gattaz, INCT de Biomarcadores em Neuropsiquiatria (INBioN)
Wilson Gomes, INCT de Ciência & Tecnologia em Democracia Digital
Wilson Savino, INCT de Neuroimunomodulação