Bureaucracy and scarce resources a setback for science and technology

Shortfalls and interruptions in funding, coupled with excessive bureaucracy in research development, are regarded by the specialists heard by Agência Brasil as the biggest obstacles to science, technology, and innovation.

Professor Helena Nader, chairwoman at the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), Helena Nader mentions that the last 20 years saw considerable improvements in the area. “[The history of] Brazil's education and science started late, but in a few years' time we managed to make a leap forward. We found economic stability, which allowed us to have a look at the country's other bottlenecks. The Brazilian public university expanded, along with the understanding that [funding] science is not spending, but investing,” the professor argued.

The interest of Brazilians in the field has also grown stronger over the years—41 to 65 percent from 2005 to 2010, according to a survey entitled Public Reception of Science and Technology in Brazil, carried out by the Center for Management and Strategic Studies.

In the view of Sérgio Gargione, president of the National Council of State Foundations for Supporting Research (Confap), the country's next head of state will have to consider the increase in the budget for research. “The budget is usually a reasonable one, but there's always something held back, or additional costs; judging by the number, next year's budget is derisory, so we need it to be increased and have the resources used in behalf of the interests of researchers,” Gargione declared.

The Annual Budget Bill, submitted for approval at Congress, provides for an investment amounting to $3.093 billion for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in 2015—up $156 million from the 2014 budget.

The chairman of the Brazilian Academy of Science, Jacob Palis, says investments in the sector should climb to two percent of the Brazilian GDP. “This percentage currently stands at around 1.2 percent. There have been plans to increase it, but [Brazil] is faced with so many needs that sometimes investments lose their track.  Countries like China have been reaching 2 percent, with solid projects. And Brazilian science is mature enough to bring forward good proposals, and efficient enough to carry out projects, so that our products gain aggregate value and the country exports more than just primary goods,” Palis stated.

There have been positive movements in this direction, according to the president of the Brazilian Association of Institutions for Technological Research and Innovation, Cláudio Violato. He names programs that for years have encouraged research and the development of the business environment as well as the creation of sector-specific funds for the allocation of resources in 16 fields, among which biotechnology, transport engineering, IT, and automation.

Violato maintains that the problem lies in how resources are earmarked by the Union, which is a method that interferes with the progress of the studies. In his opinion, the future of Brazil depends on its capacity to innovate and make business, and the government is a key promotion and funding instrument. “When [the government] stops the funding, it hampers and delays the progress of the research. Everything that has been done is then lost, so sometimes we spend money without achieving any results”, he said.

Apart from the misallotment, another setback mentioned by experts is the overly bureaucratic legislation governing licenses, tender offers and concessions. “This law is utterly incompatible with research and development,” Violato said.

According to Gargione, the paperwork is eventually reflected on the time it takes for research to be concluded. “Science is not the kind of work with a predetermined outcome. Research may take two, five, ten years, and there's a misconception about controlling purchases and equipment costs, whereas the main investment is the researcher him/herself,” said the president of Confab.

The Brazilian Academy of Science has presented a document to the presidential candidates in which the organization suggests, among other measures, increasing investments and bolstering international cooperation, improving the conditions for young students from the Science Without Borders Program to thrive and benefit their own country, creating new institutes that would join science and business, and expanding the power given to the National Science and Technology Council (CTT) as a means of offering assistance to the government.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira

Relacionadas

Brazil math scholars call for more science funding