INTERVIEW

Brazil-Sweden aeronautics partnership: advantages and challenges

Anders Blom, director of INNOVAIR

The director of INNOVAIR – a Swedish program designed to promote conditions favorable to the development of aeronautics – Anders Blom, has a broad and pragmatic view on a potential cooperation in this area between Brazil and Sweden. In this interview, apart from pointing out all the mutual advantages and challenges involved in creating partnerships built on high levels of technological readiness, he also comments on some global aerospace technology trends as well as on expectations from Sweden in relation to the participation of Brazil in the Aerospace Technology Congress to be held in Sweden in 2016.

From your point of view, which are the benefits of a common Brazilian-Swedish agenda in aeronautics? What can both sides win during the construction path of this agenda?

In Sweden, all actors (large industries, SMEs, universities, institutes and governmental bodies) in the aeronautics sector have produced a joint agenda since 2010. This has led to clearer strategic goals on a national level, better spending of national funds, and improved collaboration between all actors. Following the Gripen export to Brazil our two countries have much to win by joining forces in future research and innovation programmes. This is particularly true due to the complementarity situation with Brazilian strength in civil aeronautics and Swedish strength in military systems. Current cooperation has started in a number of areas between university actors in both countries at low technology readiness levels TRL). Once we reach higher TRL the benefits of working together increase exponentially due to the high costs involved. Before we reach such levels both countries need to agree on priorities, solve involved funding issues, set up joint time schedules, divide the technical responsibilities and so on. For this purpose a joint agenda shall work to structure both the internal work share between involved parties, but it can also be used to explain the overall activities to our governments and all other external parties.

What are the benefits of a cooperative agenda for society?

Aeronautics contributes to many things to society. Civil aircraft are the only realistic alternative for long distance travelling and the growth in the next 20 years will be drastic from todays 18.000 large aircraft to some 50.000 in 2035 or so. Simultaneously with this growth the need to reduce noise, CO2 and NOx, whilst maintaining safety levels, shall be a major effort for the entire industry. Military aircraft on the other hand constitute the main part of defence and security doctrines in most countries. A cooperative agenda shall be instrumental for our two countries in defining joint activities that shall ultimately lead to better, cleaner, and safer transportation systems, and stronger defence and security systems in both countries at lower cost than if each country works alone.

What’s the role of INNOVAIR in promoting dialogue among industry, universities, institutes, associations and government agencies that are active in the aeronautics sector?

INNOVAIR acts as a coordinating forum, for all the actors mentioned, with specific responsibility for the innovation system. INNOVAIR is open to all national actors in the field. The role involves defining and motivating specific national programmes to meet the challenges of the future, evaluating open technical calls, making priorities for upcoming technical R&D, reporting results to funding agencies, the government, and the general public. We are also setting up arenas in prioritized fields like advanced manufacturing of both metals and composites, in order to reach critical mass in terms of both competence and necessary infrastructure.

What do you think that Brazil and Sweden can learn from each other during the Congress on Aerospace Technology in Sweden in 2016?

We are still in an early phase of cooperation and all meetings work to increase personal contacts and mutual understanding. Our countries have a strong and positive history of working together but there do exist differences in our systems, both with respect to organization and funding, and we need to overcome these before we can really benefit from future collaboration at higher TRL. Working together for mutual goals necessarily involves personal respect for the competence of the other person/organization, and this can only be reached by slowly building up trust from joint achievements. At this congress Sweden for the first time will organize an international session, to be held in English, where all mutual projects we have started will be presented to an audience we expect to reach several hundreds of professional participants.

What are the major trends in aerospace technology in a globalized world?

On the civil side the reduction of environmental pollution has been paramount for a long time and will remain so for quite some time. This can only be achieved with simultaneous development of both aircraft structures, new engine technology, and improved ATM systems. At the same time, there is an increasing competition due to the effects of globalization, which means that faster development times, cheaper production techniques and passenger comfort are of utmost importance. Brazil has been extremely successful through the achievements of Embraer during the last 20 years.

On the military side, environmental and cost issues are certainly also important. However, there are many more technologies involved than for civil aircraft and the usage of these aircraft is so severe that many involved systems operate close to limits of what is feasible. Modern fighters have long range, supercruise (supersonic speed without afterburners), AESA radars and other sensor systems for electronic warfare, in-flight fueling capabilities, advanced missile systems, communication systems for net-centric warfare, varying degrees of signature reduction technologies (to avoid radar and IR detection). To develop one of these technical systems is hard, but the main challenge is in overall optimization of the entire aircraft system for the various roles it shall be used during operations. By using 3D-digital drawings and maintaining a complete digital system from design, production, service usage, and maintenance, it has been possible to reduce cost in the development of Gripen NG to be used by the Brazilian and Swedish Air Forces.

What do people involved in the preparation of the event expect from the Brazilian participation?

We hope that participants from most of the active organizations in our ongoing programmes will be able to participate. These persons are expected to give lectures summarizing joint achievements, but they are also welcome to give broad overviews of ongoing Brazilian activities within their various areas of expertise. Apart from these normal conference activities we hope that they will be able to interact with the many Swedish participants, and hopefully also stay on for visits to our universities and industries.

Several years ago, the military industry used to lead the researches on new technologies and materials in aviation. After the internet and the open sources of information, does it still happen this way? Or the civil aviation plays this role nowadays?

This is a very good question that needs to be understood by high ranking individuals at all participating organizations up to governmental level. Clearly, most countries have cut defence spending after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. This fact in itself, combined with rapid technological growth in other areas means that the military industry can no longer be industry leader in all technical systems involved. Hence, spin in of technology is equally important as spin out from the aeronautics sector to other fields. From a financial point of view this means that dual use technology with coordinated funding from various sources need to be well structured in order to generate results that can be distributed to several sectors. At low TRL this is quite feasible in many generic technology areas, but with increasing TRL there is a need for specific solutions that may vary significantly between each application. Also, in military aircraft certain technologies, like electronic warfare and signature reduction, will always be classified, and collaboration with the general R&D community is therefore difficult. Since Brazil and Sweden have strengths that complement each other, I feel certain that both countries shall benefit both technically and financially by working together.

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“We wish to produce the fifth-generation fighter jets with you”, says the CTO of SAAB, during a workshop held in November

Representatives from universities, research institutes, companies and also the Swedish and Brazilian Governments met at the 3rd Brazilian Swedish Workshop in Aeronautics & Defence which took place on November 12 at the Technological Park in the city of São José dos Campos, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Organised by the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre (CISB) and the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), the main aim of this workshop was that of discussing the responsibilities and also the results of the Bilateral Co-ordination Committee for Aeronautics, introducing new programmes with a focus on innovation, and also presentation of the status of the projects that are currently under way as part of the co-operation between Brazil and Sweden in the areas of aeronautics and defence.

The Swedish Ambassador to Brazil, Per-Arne Hjelmborn, opened the event and declared that he was very optimistic about the collaboration between Brazil and Sweden. “Both countries are entering a new age of co-operation which extends well beyond the defence segment. Co-creation is now the command. We want the Gripen product to be like a locomotive, with a spillover effect into other areas”, he summarised.

The CTO at Saab, Pontus de Laval, was the first speaker of the day. He spoke about the track record of consolidation of the company, and also stressed that the partnership with Brazil started a long time ago, including the supply of air defence radars to the Brazilian Army and Navy; of the Erieye radar to the Amazon Surveillance System (Sivam); and equipment for Army training.

“The FX2 project is very important for the company. This is a project for the joint development of aircraft, together with Brazilian industry; there shall be parts of the aircraft which shall be produced in Brazil. With the request for a two-seater version, we are almost developing an entirely new aircraft”, says Mr de Laval.

He said that Saab hopes to develop the fifth generation of Gripen fighter jets together with Brazil. “As we see it, Brazil is an ideal partner for the future: it has an industrial base which is even stronger than ours, represented by Embraer and Akaer, and also has good academic knowledge of aeronautics”, adds Mr de Laval.

In the opinion of Emília Vilani, head of the research division at ITA, institutions such as Linköping University, Chalmers University of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Luleå University of Technology have specialisations which complement those of ITA. “Our aim is to define projects for co-operation that add these complementary competences in a synergic manner, thereby contributing to the development of institutions in both these countries”, she summed up.

Prospects for the future – Pontus de Laval also mentioned the workshops in aeronautics and defence promoted by CISB and ITA and the establishment of the Bilateral Co-ordination Committee for Aeronautics, as being giant strides along the joint trail forward that both countries have been laying. The tasks carried out so far, and also the future plans of the Committee, were issues addressed by the Committee chairman, Mats Olofsson, in the following lecture.

According to Mats Olofsson, a roadmap of the work lying ahead was constructed, and there was also the indication of the establishment of a High Level Group (HLG) in Aeronautics, the first formal meeting of which took place on 19 October, when the Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff, went to Sweden. “The establishment of the HLG is a sign of the shared goal of development and intensification of the bilateral co-operation in aeronautics, not only in military projects but also in civil projects and those of dual use (military and civil)”, he said.

The next tasks of the Committee, according to the chairman, are: having people from all member organisations appointed to be part of the Committee; development of a work plan for the following year; making sure that the members of the HLG are formally appointed and engaged, in both countries; start to work independently, in small groups, in the areas where there is greatest urgency, to produce the expected results for the HLG; and production of tangible results in all fields of aeronautical co-operation.

The workshop also had lectures given by Fellipe Sabat, Project Portfolio Co-ordinator of CISB, on the progress of joint projects between member organisations (please see article in this issue); Petter Krus, a professor at Linköping University, who spoke about one of the projects (FADEMO - Future Combat Aircraft Design Study and Demonstration); Cylon Gonçalves da Silva, from FAPESP; Joselito Rodrigues Henriques, from Senai; Gunnar Holmberg, co-ordinator of the WASP (Wallemberg Autonomous Systems Programme, from SAAB); Lars Sjostrom, the Saab representative at INNOVAIR (a strategic Swedish programme for innovation in aeronautics); and Nicolette Lakemond, an expert in management of innovation at Linköping University (please see article in this issue).

“INNOVAIR co-ordinates a forum for all partners to the aeronautical segment in Sweden”, explains Mr. Sjostrom. “At the same time, there are two programmes for research and development: the National Aeronautical Research Programme (NFFP) and the SWE Demo. The NFFP, which started back in 1994, is now in its sixth phase. We hope that new financing for an international co-operation with Brazil are available as from 2017, when the NFFP6 comes to an end”, he also said.

According to the Managing Director of the CISB, Alessandra Holmo, this workshop is an important moment for a meeting of the players involved in co-operation, presentation of results on the different initiatives under way, sharing of the challenges that are currently being faced, and proof of Governmental support. Due to its sheer importance, it has now been announced that the 4th Workshop shall take place in Stockholm, in Sweden, between 12 and 16 October 2016.

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Experts in road security and autonomous vehicles discuss the issue at a CISB workshop

The workshop took place in São Paulo, and revealed the potential and also the difficulties of the adoption of autonomous vehicles, as well as showing the aggressive culture of Brazilian drivers as a problem that the country needs to tackle.

Brazilian and international specialists, company representatives, and also representatives from universities had a meeting on 9 November at the Tryp Hotel Berrini, in São Paulo, for the workshop: Opportunities for Collaboration in Research on Traffic Safety and Autonomous Vehicles. This event took place during the 5th Annual Meeting of the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre (CISB).

According to the Managing Director of CISB, Alessandra Holmo, “Brazil has more than 40 thousand traffic deaths, and the implementation of the autonomous vehicle technology could be an opportunity to reverse this tragic scenario”.

During the whole morning, five speakers gave their views on road safety and also on Brazilian demands in this area. One of the solutions proposed to make car use safer, and that has been engendered throughout the world, is the production of autonomous vehicles: those that operate on their own, without any need for a driver. For about two years now, Volvo has been working on the Drive Me project, which seeks to reduce accidents caused by human failures at the wheel (which are the cause of over 90% of all traffic accidents).

“Security has been at the core of the company philosophy ever since it was first founded. Our ambition, which guides the Drive Me project, is that by the year 2020 nobody should be hurt in a new Volvo”, said Tord Hermansson, who is the Director for Research and External Contracts at Volvo Cars. Hermansson also stressed that the behaviour of drivers in different countries is based on cultural aspects, which need to be taken into account in the research studies. “There is a need to focus the efforts on the driver, both by monitoring the driver’s attention as also accessing the driver’s capacities”, he summarised.

 The behaviour of Brazilian drivers was an issue which often came up in the following lectures, especially those given by Brazilian speakers, including that by engineer Ana Paula Larocca, of the São Carlos Campus of the University of São Paulo, who talked about a case study which she and her team conducted on the infamous Régis Bittencourt road (BR-116), which is considered the most dangerous road in the country and which has lorries making up 65% of the total traffic handled by this road. “There are stretches where the average speed enforced by the signposting is 60 km/h, and we still see drivers going at 100, 110 km/h”, she exemplified.

In the opinion of Helena Bettella Cybis, from the Transport System Laboratory (Lastram) from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), there are three factors which should be considered when discussing the adoption of autonomous vehicles: the behaviour of the driver and the general traffic environment, the Brazilian motorway network (22% of Brazilian roads are in very poor condition) and technological resources.

“Brazilian roads are very heterogeneous. Some of them do not even have the solid yellow lines that ensure the security of vehicle driving. Even in São Paulo, a state which probably has the best infrastructure situation in the country, we also see roads in very poor condition”, she said.

In the opinion of Mr. Hermansson, of Volvo, the product developed should not depend on the conditions of the road. “We are developing a car that should be able to be driven autonomously, regardless of the conditions of the roads. From the standpoint of the producer of the vehicle, we must not depend on the conditions of the roads, but naturally, the more we manage to streamline the conditions in which the vehicle shall operate, the better results we shall have. The best example to show this issue could be the car parks. If we develop a car that parks on its own, we could have smaller car parks. Of course, for us, manufacturers, this should not be a conditioning factor, but ends up operating as an opportunity to develop technologies”, he explains.

One stumbling block mentioned by Mr Hermansson for adoption of autonomous-driving technology is the legislation issue. In Brazil, and in most countries around the world, there are still no rules for cars that drive themselves. “The problem with the legislation is not only in Brazil, but also in many other countries. This is an obstacle which is part of the scope of our project. We have a team taking care of this, to know what kinds of laws we would need, and what types of changes would have to be made to the current legislation, as they have been tested, and shown to be safe enough to be on the market. We work with academic circles and also with the Government, with the authorities. This, within the scope of Sweden”, he reveals.

Brazilian Technology – Denis Fernando Wolf, of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the University of São Paulo, São Carlos Campus, has taken to the workshop the experience of development of a 100% Brazilian autonomous vehicles. This is the product known as CARINA (Intelligent Robotic Cars for Autonomous Navigation), which was tested in a city environment for the first time in 2013, and has already led to publication of articles in Brazil’s leading newspapers.

 In his opinion, the detection of obstacles (people, cars and lights) and also the signposting of the road itself are the main challenges for the development of an autonomous vehicle. “A good example of this are the traffic lights. It is very difficult to detect traffic lights if you do not know in advance where they are, because the sensors are misled by other lights, and there are many false positive results”, he explains.

Mr Wolf also says that the issues that have guided the project in the beginning were: how to navigate safely in complex and dynamic scenarios? How to use communication to improve security and efficiency of traffic? How to construct maps? “We need maps that are very accurate.” In his opinion, other areas of interest to research are the communication between vehicles and systems for decision-making in vehicles. Mr Wolf has also showcased the project which he carried out with Scania.

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“There is a limit to open innovation”, says a professor at Linköping University

A lecturer at the 3rd Brazilian-Swedish Workshop on Aeronautics and Defence, Nicolette Lakemond says that it is preferable to work with fewer partners when the projects involve something very new for the company and for society.

Innovation is the act of transforming a good idea into something valuable, something that can add value. This is how the Associate Professor of Linköping University, Nicolette Lakewood, defined innovation as part of her presentation at the 3rd Brazilian-Swedish Workshop on Aeronautics and Defence, which took place on 12 November at the Technology Park of São José dos Campos (SP). She referred to the concept defined by economist Joseph Schumpeter, as part of his theory of economic development, which included the idea of “creative destruction” or “creator destruction” (in a market economy, new products give rise to new processes and also exterminate old business models).

As Dr. Lakemond sees it, innovation is related not just to new products and technologies, but also to new production models, the exploitation of new markets, new sources of supplies, and new forms of organisation. The researcher, who has been conducting investigation work about open innovation, collaborative innovation, and integration of knowledge, called attention to the issue of the limits on open innovation.

“There is a lot of work about open innovation, several of which refer to the advantages of this practice. However, there are also some research studies, including ours, that are focused on answering the following question: “the more open the process of innovation, the better it is?”. One of our studies has shown that it is more beneficial to work with only a few selected partners, especially when the projects developed involve something which is very new for the company and also for society in general. In these cases, our research shows that it is preferable to work with less partners in greater depth, rather than working with several partners at the same time”, she says.

It is evident that sometimes the companies have more than one innovation project occurring at the same time and then, obviously, there shall be many partners on different projects; however, the research shows that in general, for each project specifically, working with many partners could not be productive. “One of the reasons we have identified for this fact is that, when we work with open innovation, there is a need to cross borders: organisational, geographical, of knowledge… and crossing these borders could be difficult, because there is a need to learn to know each other, have a common base”, says Dr Lakemond.

The difficulty can also be related to the risk of losing ownership of knowledge, something that people usually wish to protect. “So, in a process of open innovation, there are some risks related to the development processes. An organisation cannot always control what a partner does and therefore, in this regard, they shall probably not be able to have complete control over the results of that process”, she reasons.

Learning and sustainability – Dr. Lakemond also says that, in her research studies, she has worked with important multinationals and, in general, they have a more systematic approach to innovation. “Small companies normally do not have all processes systematised, while in large companies, as there are many people working together to obtain the final product, this ends up becoming a need. Large companies have different challenges from small ones”, she says. Dr. Lakemond has performed qualitative studies, going out to the companies, interviewing people and also conducting in-depth studies of what has been happening within the organisations. “However, I have also carried out research studies based on surveys in many companies, with collaborating partners in Finland, Italy and Sweden. I have also been involved in a study that was carried out in ten countries, including the United States, Canada and several European countries. This is a large-scale project, in which we try to provide a perspective view of the start of the art of innovation.”

According to Ms Lakemond, it is hard to say whether there is a correct number of partners with whom one should work. “In our research, we pay more attention to the number of different types of partners. Here I am talking about suppliers, clients, universities, government institutions, intermediaries and other industries. In our studies, the companies say that, on average, they work with over five different types of partners.”

The professor believes that it is always possible to learn something from other countries and new perspectives, and that there is also a lot to be learnt in Brazil, about how innovation is created and how it is managed. “Based on these  collaborations of a larger size, such as the collaboration which SAAB has been maintaining with Brazilian institutions, maybe it is not so much a case of looking at the differences, but rather the case of understanding the standard of each one and how we can learn from each other”, she teaches us.

According to Dr.Lakemond, for many companies economic sustainability is still the most important thing, and the size of social and environmental sustainability is more difficult to gauge. “They may be less clear, or less in focus. In a country like Sweden, where there is not much poverty, many consumers are aware of the issues concerning sustainability, both environmental and social, and many corporations have policies of responsibility, not using child labour, and monitoring the supply chains. Hence, there are control systems for this. However, I think that, in many cases, the main boosting force is still the economic dimension and the market”, she says.

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SAAB executive presents a new programme for research and skills training in the automation area

Launched in May, WASP should have a duration of 11 years and intends to produce a group of 100 PhDs;
the programme shall invite foreign researchers.

During the 3rd Brazilian-Swedish Workshop in Aeronautics & Defence, held on 12 November at the Technological Park in the city of São José dos Campos, State of São Paulo, Gunnar Holmberg, an executive from Swedish company Saab, presented the Wallenberg Autonomous Systems Programme (WASP) – a programme for research and qualification for engineers and information technology professionals which started in May this year in Sweden, and which brings together Universities and industrial firms.

This programme is focused on basic research, education, qualification and also recruitment, in the area of development of software and autonomous systems. Hosted at Linköping University, WASP is being carried out in partnership with another three higher learning institutions: Chalmers University of Technology, Royal Institute of Technology and Lund University. The total investment made in this project is 1.8 billion Swedish kronor (about 450 million Brazilian Reais), of which SEK 1.3 billion are being supplied by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and the remaining SEK 500 million by Universities and private companies that participate in the programme.

“The WASP shall also involve research teams in other institutions of higher learning, and we shall also accept researchers from other countries by invitation”, said Mr. Holmberg, who co-ordinates the programme in the name of Saab. In his opinion, as from 2016 this programme shall be implemented and able to receive foreign researchers. “Brazilians are naturally very interesting, to expand the exchange between research and innovation institutions within the general relationship between Brazil and Sweden. For this reason, events like the CISB workshops are very important so that we may succeed in the identification of the right researchers. However, we are only at the beginning and we need to work to make this change happen.”

The initial projects include research in the area of automatic transport systems, autonomous clouds, development of technologies and methodologies of interaction and communication with future intelligent systems, development of autonomous systems aimed at data, location and sizing of autonomous systems, their interaction and communication with autonomous agents.

“WASP is programmed to have duration of 11 years, and one of the most important results is that of establishment of a new level of researchers and engineers in the automation area”, says the executive, remembering that the ultimate aim is to qualify an additional 100 PhD during this period of time. Also according to Mr Holberg, the role of industry in this programme is very relevant.

“The industry, apart from provision of researchers at PhD level who are active on the market, shall also contribute with ‘real world’ situations, so that these researchers may pore over relevant issues, which means real situations for the demonstration and testing of the software developed at the Universities”, he explained, remembering that Saab has five researchers at PhD level participating in the WASP.

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CISB project portfolio focused in Aeronautics has already 32 projects in progress

Among the expectations for the future we have: an increase in engagement of the industry, the expansion of co-operation with Brazilian Universities and also the possibility of increase in the effects of the spillover of this initiative.

During the 3rd Swedish-Brazilian Workshop in Aeronautics & Defence, which took place on 12 November at the Technology Park of the city of São José dos Campos, the Project Portfolio Co-ordinator at CISB, Fellipe Sabat, presented a panorama of the progress of the projects which have resulted from the collaboration started with the first workshop in partnership with different players of the research network which was started around the general aims of the co-operation between Brazil and Sweden.

He started his presentation by presenting the programme organized jointly by CNPq, CISB and Saab, offering doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships for the selected Brazilian researches, which is now in the fourth call for projects. “We started out with 28 project applications in the first call in 2012, while in the fourth call which has been recently opened we have had 162 applications. Right now, we have 34 visiting researchers from Brazil, developing collaborative projects for research and development in some of the most renowned Swedish universities”, he says. According to Mr. Sabat, there are 16 Brazilian universities participating in this programme by sending visiting researchers, and this universe includes representatives of all five Brazilian regions.

He has also addressed the two recent calls to nurture international collaboration. The first of these (Support for International Collaboration) had five applications and four proposals accepted (from researchers from the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA), from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) and the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES)). The second round of calls, which bestows a grant for one month in Sweden for the development of new collaborative projects (Senior Internship Abroad), received six applications, three of which were accepted.

Next, Mr. Sabat spoke about the CISB project portfolio focused in aeronautics. “The role of the CISB in the portfolio of projects aimed at aeronautics is the creation of a neutral environment to nurture collaboration; the development of a bilateral network for research and technology; the consolidation of the information on the numbers of projects in progress; the mapping and the indication of opportunities for financing; the accompaniment of the execution of the projects and the dissemination of the portfolio of projects for the interested parties”, he explained. “The ultimate goal is that of establishing a joint Brazil-Sweden agenda in this area.”

Out of the 32 projects mentioned, 17 already have a date to start. The areas that concentrate the highest number of projects are those of intensive softwaresystems (eight projects) and materials and manufacture (seven). Regarding the financing of these projects, 15 already have a defined source of initial funding in Brazil and Sweden. The main Brazilian sources of funding are Embrapii, Senai and also the joint call for projects between CNPq, CISB and Saab. On the Swedish side, the main funding bodies are the NFFP 6 programme and also the Vinnova financing agency.

“Next year there shall be a lot of discussion about the seventh stage of the Swedish National Aeronautical Programme (NFFP-7). In this stage of the programme, there is the establishment of cooperation with Brazilian institutions”, says Mr. Sabat. In his opinion, among the expectations with regard to the future, regarding the portfolio, are the following:  encouragement of engagement with Brazilian universities and also with industries; increases in the possibility of spillovers into other areas; assurance that the projects shall get under way; and also the dissemination of information, and influence upon the development of an joint agenda, between the players in the triple helix in Brazil.

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New model of CISB 5th Annual Meeting strengthens partnerships

In this edition, the event was organised in six different Brazilian cities,
allowing more activities to be held and also expanding networking.

The 5th Annual Meeting of the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre (CISB), held between 9 and 13 November, has opened the new model for presentation of its initiatives and results, as well as creating opportunities for establishing closer relationships and also intensifying partnerships. For the first time, this Meeting was decentralised, having activities in the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo, São José dos Campos, Belo Horizonte and Curitiba. The Meeting had the presence of over 300 people, of whom 40 were from Sweden, and all being either members or partners of CISB.

“I am very satisfied with the results obtained this year, as the decision to decentralise the activities gave us the possibility of presenting all the initiatives currently under way, thereby intensifying the existing partnerships and reflecting the activities of CISB throughout Brazilian territory, which consolidates us as an open innovation platform between Brazil and Sweden”, highlights Alessandra Holmo, the Managing Director of the CISB.

Another advantage of the new model was that of favouring networking. “Activities focused on specific areas are more likely to achieve this aim”, she says. Some care, such as the prior sending of the Curriculum Vitaes of the Swedish participants who made technical visits to the companies Embraer and Akaer Engenharia, workshops, as also the expansion of the time allowed for coffee breaks, the lunch period and cocktails, have made it even easier to encourage meetings and dialogues between the participants, thereby adding to the potential and strength of new partnerships.

Brazil-Sweden Innovation Week

The Annual Meeting of the CISB was also part of the Brazil-Sweden Innovation Week, held between 3 and 13 November and organised by the Swedish Embassy in Brazil, in partnership with Business Sweden, SwedCham and CISB, with seminars held in the cities of Brasília, Belo Horizonte, São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Curitiba.

“We are so happy with the results achieved during the Innovation Week. For the first time ever since we started, four years ago, we have had an event that lasted two weeks”, highlights the Swedish Ambassador to Brazil, Per-Arne Hjelmborn. “This year, we have worked with four core issues: mining, aeronautics, digitalization and smart cities, and we have also promoted theoretical seminars about open innovation and co-creation and value given to innovation”, he says. He reckons that some 500 people have participated in the Week’s activities in the different cities.

The Embassy stresses that the collaboration with local partners such as CISB was very important for the success of the event. In the Embassy’s view, with the Week, Sweden plans to reinforce their strategic partnership with Brazil, using the Gripen project as a platform and showing Swedish innovation in other sectors as well as the aeronautics field. The main goal here is to make Sweden a very close partner of Brazil when it comes to innovation.

In this regard, the Embassy feels that the contribution of CISB is crucial. With seminars, workshops and meetings, CISB reinforces this goal, by bringing together all the interested parties, so says the Embassy that is already planning the next edition of Innovation Week. The issues have not yet been decided, but surely there shall be a continuation of the discussions about aeronautics and mining. The interaction of other issues, such as silviculture and health, is also being considered.

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