On November 11 and 12, the 3rd National Congress of the National Board of Foundations for Support to Higher Education Institutions and Scientific and Technological Research (Confies) took place. This year was the first time that the meeting took place online, with about 1200 participants from different institutions in Brazil. More than 70 professionals from all departments participated in Fiotec.

The event had more than 30 guests talking about various topics of interest to the scientific and technological community. The first day was marked by the holding of the forums. In the communication area, the highlight was the debate on the importance of scientific dissemination, especially in a pandemic moment that we are experiencing, where the interest in the topic increases. A critical issue is that, even though many people show their interest in science, few know who the researchers and research institutions are, a critical node that raises the importance of education and research institutions and the foundations themselves to emphasize the dissemination of initiatives. 

LGPD and technological challenges

At the IT forum, the focus was on exchanging experiences on the technological challenges that the new reality imposed on foundations. The General Data Protection Law (LGPD, Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais) was also part of the presentations by those responsible for the forum. Marco Simas, coordinator of the Software Factory at the Faurgs Support Foundation spoke about the paradigm break that was established in the period. The indicators of the foundation's IT area showed that there was no drop in productivity, on the contrary, in most cases it increased. He also described the Foundation's action plan to adapt to the LGPD, which includes the creation of a commission, training, and audits. The matter was also addressed by Marco Nunes, Finatec’s IT manager, who stressed the importance of mapping data so that it can be protected in the most efficient way and the Foundation can adapt to the LGPD.

In his presentation, Fiotec's IT manager, Evandro Maroni, made an analysis of the timeline from the pre-pandemic to the post-pandemic period, in terms of IT strategies and solutions for the foundation. He summarized the points of attention and actions to be carried out in each phase of the period and highlighted the actions that were carried out during the great challenge of the selection process for workers at the Fiocruz Hospital, which increased the number of accesses to the Fiotec website from 1,000 per month to more than 10,000 per hour. Evandro also spoke about the importance of electronic signatures and protocols so that documents can be accessed, filled out and sent virtually in security and showed the actions that will be taken, such as the clocking by cell phone and the adhesion to a virtual telephone center, so that calls are not made to the employees’ private numbers.

Evandro treated the LGPD mentioning the Space for Individuals (EPF, Espaço da Pessoa Física) and the need to put it in a safer place because it is a great concentrator of personal data. He also affirmed that the adaptation to the Law will create more restrictions and will contribute to the improvement of information security, a theme that has been widely disseminated in the company, including through a booklet.

The LGPD was also the subject of the meeting of the College of Attorneys, which discussed its applicability and the interlocution with the Transparency Law. The College also discussed other points. In the accountants' forum, the main point was the indicators for monitoring and managing the foundations.

Digital Transformation and Legal Framework

In the afternoon, the conversation was about the post-pandemic world, with Silvio Meira, professor emeritus at the Computer Center of Universidade Federal de Pernambuco. His main point was innovation and digital transformation, evolution of market behavior, which the world will need in this new scenario that we live in, which demands new forms of organization.

But the main discussion in the afternoon was the full implementation of the Legal Framework for Science, Technology, and Innovation, sanctioned in January 2016, but which so far has failed to meet the objectives for which it was created, to reduce bureaucracy in research and create a dynamic environment to leverage innovation in the country. The event brought together the main science, technology, and education institutions in the country, which signed a Manifest to unlock this legislation and take another big step towards the scientific and technological development in Brazil. Access here.

Annual General Meeting of the Board

At the end of the first day, the meeting took place where, unanimously, Fernando Peregrino was re-elected president of Confies for the 2021-2022 biennium. Director of the Coppetec Foundation, supporting Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Peregrino has been in charge of the institution since 2018. Hayne Felipe, director of Fiotec, was elected again as member of the audit committee.

Second day of event

The morning of November 12 began with the discussion on “How to raise private funds for science and innovation? Are there any incentives for that?”. Juliano Urani, a tax lawyer and invited to open the discussions, mentioned obstacles such as the lack of tax incentives and an unfavorable tax regime as complicating the financing of research in the country. “If the regulation of heritage funds continues as it is, the future of these funds is failure”, he added.

Then, Erika Spalding spoke a little more about the Brazilian legislation for funding funds. As a subject matter expert, the lawyer clarified the differences between heritage funds and donation funds, and listed alternative ways of funding for science and technology in the country. Among them would be patents, the participation of institutions in start up companies, the use of installments of donation funds, and the enactment of Lei do Bem, which focuses on tax incentives for the sector.

Jefferson Veiga, from Banco Itaú, contributed to the debate by presenting how financial institutions can help raise funds for heritage funds. The speech by Cristiano Garcia, from Culturinvest Conecta, ended the debate. He contextualized the changes historically suffered by institutions dedicated to education and health, which have become agents of innovation, and presented possible and available mechanisms for support foundations to raise funds and donations. "Support foundations need to see themselves as ICTs [Instituições de Ciência e Tecnologia - Science and Technology Institutions]".

The following debate, on Science and the National Congress, brought together Senator Izalci Lucas, Roberto Salles, who works in the working group that advises the Presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, and Celso Pansera, CEO of ICT.Br. The discussion revolved around the immediate need for federal legislation to encourage science and technology. The guests also talked about the funding cuts suffered by Capes and CNPq, about the delay in processing projects aimed at the area in Congress, in addition to the need to popularize science, something that became evident during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Research bureaucracy

In the afternoon of the second day, the table "Bureaucracy in Science and Technology" took place, where data collected through a survey conducted by Confies itself, entitled "Bureaucracy under the eyes of the researcher", were analyzed. According to the survey, for 54% of researchers consulted, bureaucracy has increased in recent years. In addition, the majority of respondents claim to lose at least 20% of their working time with bureaucratic services alone.

A second evaluation entitled “Bureaucracy under the eyes of the Support Foundation”, made with 44 support foundations, states that 61% of them consider that the bureaucracy has increased among funding agencies and control bodies even with the Legal Framework of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

In the late afternoon of the second day, the table "Performance Indicators for Foundations" discussed the proposal to improve the work of foundations through the creation of an indicator system. The system will also contribute to the main purpose of the institutions, to achieve the requirements of the control bodies.

2nd Award for Good Management Practices for Support Foundations

The closing of the event gave rise to the delivery of the 2nd Award for Good Management Practices for Support Foundations, which in 2020 awarded the best projects against Covid-19, under the theme “Pandemic Concerning Coronavirus”. This is the second year of the award, which aims to reward good management practices in support foundations of public universities and federal research and teaching institutes.

17 foundations participated in the contest and five went to the final stages, evaluated by a technical commission. Fiotec's initiative "Study on remote working in response to the Covid-19 pandemic" won 3rd place. This is the third consecutive year that Fiotec was awarded in the event, twice at the TV Confies Video Award and, counting with this year, twice in the award for good practices.