Eduardo Cesar
Celso Lafer, Minister Raupp, Eduardo Krieger and Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, at FAPESP’s headquartersEduardo CesarDuring his visit to FAPESP’s headquarters on February 27 of this year, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Marco Antonio Raupp, confirmed that the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) would be integrated into the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). “AEB was created long after Inpe, merely to show the world that Brazil’s program was a civilian one. However, it was not given command of the technological agencies. This significantly hampered the functioning of the system,” declared the minister. Along the same lines, the minister intends to increase the influence of the other agencies and departments under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) in all the federal research institutes. According to the minister, the purpose of his visit to FAPESP, was “to enhance and to approve” the projects undertaken jointly with the Foundation. The minister stressed that some of the projects “that mobilize public policy in terms of science and technology” are in São Paulo. “We already have well established partnerships with FAPESP in the federal institutes, such as the super-computer at Inpe, for climate research. But we also want FAPESP to take part in new projects,” stated Raupp. FAPESP’s chairman, Celso Lafer, stressed that the science, technology and innovation area is of national interest. “It’s a chapter of state policy, not a matter of the administration. We look at this from the perspective of São Paulo, which is our base, but also as a nationwide issue with which we should cooperate and help further,” he said.
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