Brazilian embassy in Washington helps Brazilian researchers in the US network with potential partners

The aim of the initiative is to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in science, technology and innovation.

By José Tadeu Arantes  |  Agência FAPESP – The Brazilian diaspora in the United States comprises approximately 450,000 people. Some 75,000 have a higher education university degree. Brazilians with professional activities relating to science, technology and innovation (ST&I) are a subset of this group that has not yet been quantified.

For several years, the Brazilian embassy in Washington has been working to identify the members of this subset and to build a network that connects them with their peers and with potential partners. Its efforts include three meetings held in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The latest event, entitled the Third Meeting of the Brazilian ST&I Diaspora: Brain Bridges Brazil-US, included panel sessions on five themes: Innovation and Development, Science and Technology, Technology in Agriculture, Technology in Health, and Technology in Space.

“Approximately 150 people attended the event: Brazilian researchers and entrepreneurs, representatives of US government agencies, and heads of Brazilian research funding institutions, among others. The aim was to bring together the Brazilian science and business community in the US and Brazilian and US authorities. We believe this aim was fully achieved,” diplomat Lauro de Castro Beltrão Filho, the Washington embassy’s ST&I Counselor, told Agência FAPESP. Nestor Forster, Brazilian ambassador to the US, took part in the meeting.

According to Beltrão Filho, the meeting was held for members of these three groups – Brazilian researchers, US authorities, and Brazilian authorities – to exchange information and discuss their experiences in the hope that direct contact will lead to new collaborative research projects relating to ST&I.

“For example, Brazilian scientists who are working at the University of Texas agreed with colleagues at Fundação Oswaldo Cruz [Fiocruz] to develop specific projects in the area of oncology in Brazil,” he said. “Another practical example: Jorge Guimarães, President of the Brazilian Agency for Industrial Research & Innovation [EMBRAPII], and Waldemar Magno Neto, President of the Brazilian Innovation Agency [FINEP, an arm of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications], engaged with a Brazilian diaspora group in the US called the Brazilian Expert Network [BEM] to examine the possibility of funding for incremental innovation projects in the pharmaceutical sector.”

An important aspect of the meeting highlighted by Beltrão Filho was the presence of heads of research funding agencies, among them FAPESP President Marco Antonio Zago. In his presentation to the panel session on Science and Technology, Zago offered an overview of the research being done in the state of São Paulo and emphasized FAPESP’s participation in this process. “Research supported by FAPESP has had a significant influence on changes in energy use in São Paulo, where the use of fossil fuels has decreased, while the contribution of sugarcane has increased to 34%,” he said. “FAPESP is also responsible for one of the largest research portfolios on the Amazon, individually or in cooperation with many partners.”

Representatives of US government agencies attending the event included members of the State Department, the Department of Agriculture, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Security Council (NSC), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Also present were Ambassador Fernando Simas Magalhães, Brazil’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), and Ambassador João Pedro Correa Costa, Brazilian Consul General in Washington, as well as diplomats from other countries.

Long-term policy

Sociologist Ana Maria Carneiro, a researcher at the University of Campinas’s Center for Public Policy Studies (NEPP-UNICAMP), was at the meeting. She stressed its importance in continuing a policy implemented some time ago by the Brazilian embassy in Washington but argued that much more remains to be done.

“We need to know more about the Brazilian diaspora, and we also need to find out how it differs from other diasporas, such as those of China and India, for example. Even considering the Brazilian diaspora on its own, we need to identify the groups and individuals it comprises. The Brazilian diaspora isn’t just in the US, it’s also significant in the UK, France, and elsewhere. We need to create a comprehensive policy to mobilize the diaspora continuously, not just for events,” Carneiro told Agência FAPESP.

According to Carneiro, this should be a long-term policy of the Brazilian state and hence not subject to the vicissitudes of electoral change in government. “An interesting example comes from Ireland, where an initiative of the state established the Irish Abroad Unit, which held forums for Irish emigrants to discuss how they can contribute to crisis management and economic recovery back home,” she said. “This was the foundation for the Global Irish Network, connecting 300 leaders of the Irish diaspora in 37 countries, who now offer the Irish government a sort of advisory service.”

In 2019, FAPESP partnered with the Brazilian embassy in London to host a workshop on the Brazilian Science, Technology and Innovation Diaspora in the UK. The meeting took place in London. Brazilian and British researchers and students delivered presentations and participated in roundtable and other discussion sessions.

An article published on January 18, 2020, by BBC News Brazil reports striking statistical evidence of a recent jump in emigration. Based on data from Brazil’s central tax authority (Receita Federal), the article says that the number of Brazilians who emigrated in 2018 (23,271) was 184% higher than in 2011 (8,170). In the first 11 months of 2019, the number reached 22,549. “We can’t tell from the data in question how many of these emigrants work in ST&I-related activities, but research needs to be done to find out,” Carneiro said.