CHANGING FOR THE BEST? WELL, NATURALLY

This March marked the fourth anniversary of INESC P&D Brasil’s founding General Assembly. What can we say? It was always a risky bet but we keep on paving our way – a tumultuous and risky way.

Brazil is not for beginners, one would say – and rightly so. We have not fulfilled some of the original expectations, and one of the determining factors is the economic crisis that overthrew several large projects, which had been prepared to the fullest but lacked, in the end, the final “signature” – and now, with the crisis, that signature will not be put down in paper. But we cannot be discouraged: other projects are on the way.

Meanwhile, there are also some good news. One of them is a change to the Brazilian legislation, which unties much of the university red tape. How significant is that? To begin with, public universities will finally be able to be associated with (and to create) companies and non-profit institutions. Until now, that was very difficult (for some, it was actually impossible, and for others it was unconstitutional).

It makes perfect sense to see Brazil come closer to the European model – of which INESC TEC, TNO, Fraunhofer, SINTEF, and others, are examples. In Science and Technology, this will strengthen the role of institutes such as INESC P&D Brasil, within a vision where universities can have a flexible instrument at their disposal to materialise their ambition and their policies – boosting science with new management models and speeding up the necessary technology transfer and knowledge valorisation.

No wonder that those who don’t have it are wanting to move in such direction.

It would be surprising if it were otherwise: those who have it wanting to move away - and become worse.