The Minister of Science and Technology, Aloizio Mercadante, met, this Wednesday, March 2, with the ambassador of Germany, Wilfried Grolig, with whom he discussed the deepening of the bilateral cooperation in Science and Technology.

The counselor of scientific subjects and academic exchange, Dirk Schüller, and minister Carmen Ribeiro Moura also participated of the meeting.

The cooperation in S&T (Science and Technology) between Brazil and Germany is supported by the General Agreement on Cooperation in the Sectors of Research and Technological Development, signed in June of 1969. The two countries meet periodically to treat the cooperation in S&T.

In 1997, the Agreement was updated, establishing as priority themes the areas of environmental and technological research, research of materials, technologies of information and communication, sea research, biotechnology, geological sciences and space research.

In 2000, the areas of genome and of nanotechnology were incorporated among the priorities of the cooperation.

Today, the resources sent by the Ministry of Science and Technology and its agencies of incitement - National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and Funding of Studies and Projects (Finep) - to the cooperation programs with Germany come close to R$ 20 millions.

Of this value, R$ 13 millions are for the Observatory of the High Tower of Amazon (OTAA).

The cooperation is carried out through several mechanisms: support to thematic programs, like the Program in Technology of Manufacture (Bragecrim), the Program ‘Sciences of the Sea’; the Project of Strategies and Technologies for Mitigation of Water Shortage in the Brazilian Northeast Region (Bramar); support to the mobility of researchers through joint edicts between the CNPq and German agencies of incitement; concession of doctorate scholarships in Germany in the context of convention with the CNPq.

In order to consolidate and enlarge the cooperation between Brazil and Germany in Science, Technology and Innovation, making possible the periodic application of resources in new binational research and development projects and promoting strategic partnerships of long term in several thematic areas, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) proposed, during the 27th bilateral Mixed Commission of Science, Technology and Innovation (Comista), carried out in Munich in 2010, the creation of a “Fund Brazil-Germany for Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation”.

In the event, goals were set for the next two years, like the aerospace cooperation in the area of sub-orbital rockets and the proposal of realization of a pilot project in nanotechnology, involving institutions of research and enterprises.

Year ‘Brazil-Germany’

In 2010/2011 is commemorated the Year of the Cooperation ‘Brazil-Germany’ of Science, Technology and Innovation. This commemoration is inserted in the framework of the Protocol of Intentions on the Year ‘Brazil-Germany’ of Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation 2010/2011, secured by the Minister of Science and Technology and the Deputy Minister of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF), in the visit of the Brazilian Minister to Germany, in December of 2009.

The Year of the Cooperation ‘Brazil-Germany’ registered countless meetings in Brazil and in Germany, generating possibilities of further cooperation. With close predicted for April of this year, the programming of events of the Year of the Cooperation ‘Brazil-Germany’ in Science, Technology and Innovation, will probably occur alongside the next edition of the Fair of Hannover, in Germany.