The Brazilian innovation agency FINEP, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, signed an agreement with Innovate UK, similar organ of the British government at the end of November in London.
The aim of the cooperation is to foster the exchange of experiences and the implementation of joint initiatives to support cooperative projects between Brazilian and British companies.
The signing took place at the Embassy of Brazil in the British capital, with the attendance of FINEP Innovation Director, Fernando Ribeiro, and Innovate UK deputy director of Strategies, Simon Bennett.
FINEP is a government-owned company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro and its mission is to promote Brazilian economic and social development through governmental funding of science, technology and innovation in companies, universities, technological institutes and other public or private institutions.
Before the signing ceremony, Ribeiro was received by the Ambassador of Brazil in the UK, Roberto Jaguaribe, with whom he discussed the developments of the document, highlighting the opportunities for the promotion of investment in innovation.
The day after, in Brussels, Belgium the director Fernando Ribeiro attended the annual forum organised by Taftie, the European Network of Innovation Agencies, and signed another memorandum.
As an international partner Taftie, FINEP can integrate working groups in order to discuss issues relating to the financing of science, technology and innovation and it may benefit from training activities. At the forum, whose theme was the measurement of innovation, FINEP was officially presented to the other members of the network.
Through Fernando Ribeiro, the Brazilian agency FINEP invited Innovate UK and Taftie to join the Advisory Board of UniFinep, which was accepted by both institutions. The idea is that in this way, the corporate university can benefit from consolidated experiences to train their employees, including with regard to exchanges studies.
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