ANNUAL REPORT FAPESP www.fapesp.br/en ANNUAL REPORT REPORT ANNUAL FAPESP 2019 FAPESP 2019 SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION Rua Pio XI, 1500 – Alto da Lapa CEP 05468-901 – São Paulo, SP SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico ANNUAL REPORT FAPESP 2019 SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION FAPESP 2019 YEAR 2019 YEAR 2020 SÃO PAULO STATE GOVERNOR SÃO PAULO STATE GOVERNOR João Doria João Doria SECRETARY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SCIENCE SECRETARY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY Patricia Ellen da Silva Patricia Ellen da Silva SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION SÃO PAULO RESEARCH FOUNDATION PRESIDENT PRESIDENT Marco Antonio Zago Marco Antonio Zago VICE PRESIDENT VICE PRESIDENT Eduardo Moacyr Krieger (until August 29th) Ronaldo Aloise Pilli Ronaldo Aloise Pilli (since October 11thx) BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD OF TRUSTEES Carmino Antonio de Souza Carmino Antonio de Souza Helena Nader (since February 5th) Eduardo Moacyr Krieger (until August 29th) Ignácio Maria Poveda Velasco Ignácio Maria Poveda Velasco João Fernando Gomes de Oliveira João Fernando Gomes de Oliveira Liedi Legi Bariani Bernucci José de Souza Martins (until August 29th) Marco Antonio Zago Liedi Legi Bariani Bernucci Mayana Zatz Marco Antonio Zago Mozart Neves Ramos Marilza Vieira Cunha Rudge (until December, 11th) Pedro Luiz Barreiros Passos Mayana Zatz (since August 31th) Pedro Wongtschowski Mozart Neves Ramos (since August 31th) Ronaldo Aloise Pilli Pedro Luiz Barreiros Passos Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani Pedro Wongtschowski Ronaldo Aloise Pilli EXECUTIVE BOARD Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EXECUTIVE BOARD Carlos Américo Pacheco EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR Carlos Américo Pacheco Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (until April 26th) Luiz Eugênio Mello (since April 27th) SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Fernando Menezes de Almeida ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Fernando Menezes de Almeida 2 ANNUAL REPORT FAPESP 2019 INTRODUCTION he São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is pleased to present to society and its partners this Annual Report summarizing its results in 2019 and reiterating its commitment to promoting the scientific and technological development of São Paulo State. TAlthough 2019 was a year of instability for research funding in Brazil, FAPESP met the demands of São Paulo State’s scientific community and expanded its strategic programs, thanks to the central role attributed to science and technology by the state government and its commitment to guaranteeing that FAPESP – and the state-run universities – receive the funding determined by the state constitution and the law assuring the autonomy of São Paulo’s public universities. In 2019, FAPESP disbursed 558.050 million purchasing power parity dollars ($PPP) to support 24,806 research projects by awarding scholarships/fellowships and grants in all knowledge areas. These two types of funding cover the entire knowledge chain and are oriented by action lines approved by the Board of Trustees relating to the training of human resources for scientific and technological development, research for knowledge advancement, research for innovation, research on strategic themes, support for infrastructure, and knowledge diffusion. In the training of human resources for research, FAPESP awarded 3,921 scholarships/fellowships, of which 2,995 were newly granted in Brazil and 926 abroad, ranging from scientific initiation to postdoctoral research. It is important to note FAPESP’s role in training highly qualified professionals in science, technology and innovation (ST&I), one of the pillars of development in the state, which currently has some 77,000 researchers, mostly employed by industrial and other firms. Support for research to advance knowledge translates into ambitious long-term projects, such as Thematic Projects and Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs), as well as short-term projects such as those funded by regular grants. Some discoveries and noteworthy scientific and technological innovation activities at the knowledge frontier performed by these centers and resulting from these projects were highlighted in the domestic and foreign media. In addition to knowledge areas in natural sciences, engineering, mathematics and health sciences, FAPESP supports significant projects in the humanities and applied social sciences. To foster innovation, FAPESP stimulates collaborative research between universities and business organizations through initiatives such as Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) and Applied Research Centers (ARCs), and its Research Partnership for Technological Innovation Program (PITE), as well as directly supporting startups and innovative small firms through its Innovative Research in Small Business Program (PIPE). 5 FAPESP 2019 FAPESP also encourages research on strategic themes through specific programs on Bioenergy (BIOEN), Biodiversity (BIOTA) and Climate Change, among others. It continues to be one of the foremost funders of research in and on the Amazon. It also funds research infrastructure modernization in universities and laboratories. It consistently stimulates the sharing of research facilities and equipment, and the sharing of the results of research conducted at universities and research institutions with the general public, contributing to scientific knowledge diffusion and helping to make science and technology more important to ordinary citizens in their day-to-day lives. All supported projects are subjected to a rigorous merit assessment that involves the Scientific Directorate and more than 9,000 ad hoc reviewers, who issued 23,000 expert opinions in the period. To enhance the peer-review system and make it more agile, in 2019 FAPESP began a pilot project that uses artificial intelligence to select ad hoc reviewers. The new system identifies keywords in research proposals, such as terms referring to knowledge areas or reviewers’ previous assessments, for example, and suggests a ranked list of possible reviewers of each proposal for selection by Area Panels. The plan is to integrate this model with FAPESP’s Management Support System (SAGe) in 2020. Besides the resulting administrative simplification, this approach will extend the spectrum of reviewers by including younger researchers in the assessment process. In 2019 FAPESP continued to evaluate the scientific, social and economic impact of its programs with a view to adjusting its funding policy. The evaluations completed to date cover international cooperation agreements, scientific initiation, master’s and PhD scholarships/fellowships, the PIPE Program, the BIOTA-FAPESP Program, the Multi-User Equipment Program, the Young Investigator Program, the PITE Program, and the Public Policy Research Program. The evaluations now involve detailed questionnaires for funded researchers and institutions to answer as well as control groups comprising proponents not awarded grants or scholarships/fellowships. The highlights of 2019 include the establishment of three new ERCs in partnership with Equinor, Koppert do Brasil and Grupo São Martinho, hosted by the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), the University of São Paulo’s Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP) and São Paulo State University (UNESP) at Jaboticabal respectively. Investment in these three ERCs is set to reach $PPP 59.3 million in the next five years, to fund research on oil reservoir and production management, biological control in agriculture, and control of sugarcane pests and diseases. Funds will be disbursed by FAPESP and the partner companies, with the host institutions also contributing economic and financial resources. Seven ERCs were already up and running in 2019. They were established under the aegis of agreements with five companies: GlaxoSmithKlein, Natura, Peugeot-Citroën, EMBRAPA, and Shell. In the period covered by the agreements they will receive funding on the order of $PPP 32.3 million to support research in equally strategic areas. This shared funding model, which leverages resources for research and to boost São Paulo’s technological development, is also used by the PITE Program. In 2019, five companies – Agilent, 6 INTRODUCTION Fundação Grupo Boticário, IBM Brazil, Microsoft and SABESP – transferred a total of $PPP 665,700 to FAPESP to support projects via co-funding agreements. In 2019, FAPESP continued working to improve the quality of research conducted in São Paulo by encouraging international cooperation. It partners with 188 foreign organizations for this purpose. In 2019, it issued 34 joint calls for proposals with 28 of them, as well as holding two editions of FAPESP Week, in London (UK) and Lyon and Paris (France). Close cooperation between FAPESP and international organizations was fundamental for São Paulo to host the 8th Annual Meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC) in 2019. Organized jointly by FAPESP, Argentina’s National Scientific and Technological Research Council (CONICET) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), the first GRC annual meeting to take place in Brazil assembled funding agency heads from 50 countries on every continent. The discussions focused on a strategic issue for funders: the growing expectation among governments and public fund managers that greater emphasis should be placed on the economic and societal impact of scientific research when deciding whether to select projects for support. The economic and societal impact of FAPESP’s initiatives is evidenced