On June 21st, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC/Fiocruz) hosted the meeting "Promotion of Opportunities for Mobility and Scientific Cooperation in Health between European Countries and Fiocruz", which brought together representatives from Fiotec, Fiocruz and EURAXESS LAC in an important debate on the challenges and perspectives in the Foundation's internationalization process.
Alongside Maria de Lurdes Aguiar, Vice-President of Research and Biological Collections at Fiocruz, and Ilka Vilardo, Coordinator of the Center for International Relations in Health (Cris), Lidiane Lima, Thaissa Souza and Renan Capossi represented Fiotec during the opening panel of the event.
In her speech, Lidiane, coordinator of International Projects at Fiotec, highlighted the support provided by the institution in the process of internationalization of Fiocruz, both in expanding its relationship with funders outside Brazil and in initiatives to raise funds and cooperate in international research. Thaissa and Renan then explained Fiotec's performance during the initiation, performance, and closure phases of the projects it manages in a shared manner with Fiocruz. Analysts cited projects developed in partnership with European institutions, such as Contagio, led by the University of Heidelberg, currently in the initiation phase. "We generally maintain very close contact with the leading institute, using all available tools to create a fast and efficient communication channel between the parties," Thaissa pointed out. Renan mentioned projects that are currently in the performance phase, in addition to recalling Fiotec's role in the closing of Zikaction, in partnership with Fondazione Penta, from Italy, and Zikalliance, with the participation of the Inserm Institute from France. "We usually deal with audit requests at the end of projects, and that's what happened in these two cases. These were huge challenges for Fiotec, but we managed to deliver them between 2022 and 2023, in a very satisfactory way, closing these projects in the way that was expected", he added.
During the European Panel, which brought together stakeholders from various research and science promotion organizations around the world, Dhallys Mota, the European Union’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy Officer in Brazil, celebrated his first participation in an event at Fiocruz and highlighted the importance of Fiotec in the management of international projects of the European Commission. “People often have no idea of the importance of Fiotec in the contractual and financial management of projects. This is what leads to the signing of new agreements in the future. Once these projects are well implemented, the European Commission will have the confidence to inject more resources into research of this type,” explained Dhallys, citing initiatives successfully managed by Fiotec, such as Zikaplan: Zika Preparedness Latin American Network and Zikalliance: a global alliance dor Zika virus control anda prevention.
