DIEGO FREIRE / FAPESPResearchers from São Paulo and California discuss partnerships at the final FAPESP Week of 2014DIEGO FREIRE / FAPESP
On November 17-21, 2014, FAPESP held its latest edition of the international symposium known as FAPESP Week. The event took place at the Berkeley and Davis campuses of the University of California, with support from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The purpose was to give broader exposure abroad to scientific work being done in São Paulo and to enhance contacts between researchers from São Paulo and California in order to promote new collaboration arrangements. The program was comprehensive, with panels on topics such as energy efficiency, food security, genomics, democracy and social inequality, nanotechnology, the oceans, etc. One of the panels discussed the challenges and opportunities for scientific collaboration. “The role of the institutions involved in collaboration is to provide researchers with the right incentives so that they can recognize good opportunities and be given the tools they need to develop partnerships. This is how we have worked under international collaboration research arrangements at FAPESP,” according to FAPESP Scientific Director Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz. Ralph Hexter, President of the University of California at Davis, stressed the importance of the event. “We support any effort to bolster our partnerships with FAPESP in order to ensure the best results,” he says. One of the windows of opportunity for international cooperation that was discussed at the event was the development of technologies for examining ceramic particles and compounds. “My research group at Berkeley does research on the modeling of processes for manufacturing new materials. One example is the application of small particles to surfaces, a technique that is beginning to gain popularity in 3D printers,” says researcher Tarek Zohdi. Edgar Dutra Zanotto, from the Federal University of São Carlos, presented his research on vitreous ceramics. “With this material, we are able to combine many properties. We can make a bioactive material that is much harder and stronger than glass,” he says.
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