On June 7th 2019, SWISSCAM organized a very important event with the support of the Swiss Embassy, EMBRAPII, Innosuisse and Swissnex in order to promote partnerships between Swiss companies, universities and Brazilian startups, the Workshop “EMBRAPII-Switzerland to foster innovation”.
Success stories were presented about projects of EMBRAPII (Brazilian Agency for Industrial Research and Innovation) in cooperation with the companies Clariant and Endress + Hauser. Other important innovation projects were presented by Syngenta, Ferring and Givaudan. Swissnex also announced the new program for researchers and startups to present their projects for support and funding.
Switzerland is considered the most innovative nation in the world, as highlighted by the Swiss Ambassador to Brazil, Andrea Semadeni. Unlike in Brazil, the private sector in Switzerland is the main driver of R&D. In 2017, the Swiss government invested 28 billion dollars, while Swiss companies spent 64 billion dollars on research.
Carlos Eduardo Pereira, Operations Director of EMPBRAPII, pointed out that in Brazil only 1.3% of GDP is dedicated to innovation projects, but there is a potential to improve due to the many talented professionals in the country. EMBRAPII seeks to establish partnerships between universities and companies to stimulate investment in new projects. Currently, there are 40 EMBRAPII units spread across Brazil, 10 of them in the State of São Paulo.
Companies sometimes face internal challenges whose solution may come from ideas from universities and startups. Do this matchmaking is also EMBRAPII’s role. Flávia Carvalho, Research Associate Formulation at Ferring, said the company believes in this concept of “Open Innovation” bringing a look from outside the company, therefore it develops projects with startups.
SWISSCAM President Philip Schneider was also present and thanked member companies for attending such an important networking event. He also congratulated the Swiss Embassy, Innosuisse and Swissnex for the initiative.
Photos: Lorna Lee
