The National Forum of the National Council of Support Foundations to Higher Education and Scientific and Technological Research Institutions (Confies) took place on July 27th and 28th, headquartered at Coppetec Foundation, in Rio de Janeiro. With the theme “How to face the crisis?,” the event was simultaneously transmitted online and gathered around 770 enrolled people from numerous support foundations from Brazil.
The Forum opening was held by members Fernando Peregrino, president of Confies, Hayne Felipe, Fiotec’s executive director, and Romildo Dias Toledo, director of Coppe/UFRJ. According to Hayne, the Country will only be able to overcome its illnesses through education, science and technology, highlighting the fundamental role played by the support foundations in this challenge.
Fernando Peregrino spoke about the current situation of the foundations, from the perspective of the budget crisis faced by these institutions. Among the achievements observed during this period, Peregrino emphasized the Legal Milestone of the Support Foundations, the self-regulation of the CGU, the shielding of the FNDCT, among others.
The president of Confies presented figures of the budgets from the three previous years, within the pandemic context. According to him, the increase is due to the fact that the support foundations “irrigate” research across the whole national territory. The Imports Ranking of CNPq for the previous year was also shown, in which Fiotec holds the 2nd place in the Country.
When speaking about the origins of support foundations, Carlos Ari, professor of Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), revisited historical facts about the legislations that permeate the foundations, and presented a general overview of the current times. The professor spoke about the lack of understanding about what the entities are once they tend to be mistaken by state-owned companies. Carlos emphasized that “the foundations are fundamental and have everything to do with democracy.”
Lawyer Erika Spalding opened the board about the Advisory Center for Endowment Funds (NAFP), explaining the context and the progress of such funds. Completing the board, Cristiano Garcia, founding member of Culturainvest, explained about the Endowment Funds Act (Law no. 13,800/2019) and the role played by the foundations in their management and execution.
Ana Luiza Maia, president of Fundmed of Rio Grande do Sul, led the board “Stock exchanges and their assets,” together with lawyer Rafael Pandolfo and the Legal Advisor of Funpar and FIAM, André Feofiloff. Closing the first day, Rafael Marinelli and Rebeca Pernambuco discussed about the opinions of the Office of the General Council for the Federal Government (AGU). Luiz Pinguelli Rosa, professor and former director of Coppe, who passed away March this year, was honored in the event.
TV Confies 4.0 is released on the second day of the Forum
The second day was opened with the words from the rector of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Denise Pires de Carvalho, followed by the board that discussed the API of the Legal Milestone in the Country.
During the event, TV Confies 4.0 was released, with the participation of the coordinator of communication and marketing at Funcern, Teotônio Roque, and Funcern communication advisor, Bruno Gomes. They explained that remodeling the TV comes with the perspective of understanding how public opinion occurs, providing society with a healthier narrative.
New content and digital marketing strategies were needed for the release, as well as the creation of a new visual identity. The contents of disclosure are aimed at scientific divulgation, focused on the main social networks, in which a network of communicators is built. With a multiple language, the promise is to break the walls between public institutions and the general audience.
Fiotec was present at the board about the management of excess products from research, with lawyer Marianna Camargo and the executive director of the institution, Hayne Felipe. Within the context of facing crises, the director told how this practice is a part of the history of the Foundation, it being a manner to stimulate revenues from such excesses.
According to Marianna, Fiotec had to assemble this model from scratch, setting the portfolios for inputs and services of all units of Fiocruz and mapping the possible service contractors. Among the commercialized products are medicines, vaccines, animal facilities for production, kits and reagents for Covid-19 diagnosis, and quality control services.
Fiocruz was responsible for creating the manual that operationalized these actions in view of the law, which happens as follows: Fiocruz enters into a fundraising agreement with Fiotec, which, in turn, enters into an agreement with third parties. The funds raised must be exclusively applied on Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) Projects, with the reimbursement of costs with production and execution being prohibited.
Fernando Peregrino closed the event by making a general balance of the next challenges to be faced by the Support Foundations and Confies, in a warm-up for the Congress, which will take place by the end of the year, and highlighted, once again, the importance of collective discussions so that, together, the foundations seek for solutions and show their strength and importance for science and technology.
