Ministry of Science and Technology (Brazil)

The Ministry of Science and Technology (Ministério da Ciencia e Tecnología) was established on March 15, 1985, by President José Sarney to help give Brazil a scientific and technological edge. The Ministry is a part of the Brazilian federal government, with a minister serving in the cabinet (as of 2010, the minister was Sergio [Page 429]Machado Rezende), and it is responsibile for formulating and implementing the federal government's science and technology policies.

The Ministry controls a number of agencies, including the Brazilian Center for Physics Research, the Brazilian National Laboratory of Synchroton Light, the Brazilian Space Agency, the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development, the National Institute for Space Reseach (INPE), the National Nuclear Energy Commission, and the Renato Archer Research Center. Under the 2009 federal budget, $2.7 billion was allocated to the Ministry.

Interest in establishing a ministry to encourage scientific advancement began in the 1980s, and has expanded to include research on nanotechnology. At the recommendation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Brazilian president introduced the Innovation Law, removing many of the barriers that were hindering the development of public-private partnerships. Two months later, in March 2005, the Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor, Ehud Olmert (later prime minister), signed a trade agreement that, among other things, proposed a nanotechnology partnership between Brazil and Israel. However, later the same year, Brazil decided to partner with Argentina, as it had done in the past. This led to the Brazilian president, Luiz Iná-cio Lula da Silva, and the Argentine president, Néstor Kirchner, signing a memorandum of agreement on November 30, 2005, to establish the Argentinean-Brazilian Nanotechnology Centre at Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, close to the Argentine-Brazilian border, and not far from the famous Iguazú waterfalls.

Through help provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, four federally sponsored research networks were set up in Brazil. The first network was devoted to research in nanostructured materials, and was coordinated by Professor Israel Jacob Rabin Baumvol of the Physics Institute at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Its role was to cover research into nano-objects, semiconductors, magnetic nanostructures, polymers, and ceramics.

The second research network focused on interfaces and molecular nanotechnology, and it was coordinated by Professor Oscar Manoel Loureiro Malta of the Center for Exact and Nature Sciences at the Federal University of Pernambuco (in the north of Brazil). Its role was to deal with “sensors and dosimeters, molecular dynamic simulation, hybrid glass-ceramics, nanocomposites and related fields.” Professor E.F. da Silva Jr., also from the Federal University of Pernam-buco, Department of Physics, coordinated research into semiconductor nanogadgets and nanostructured materials. Professor Nelson Eduardo Duran Caballero from the Institute of Chemistry at the State University of Campinas headed the fourth research team, dealing with nanobiotechnology. This covered biocompatible magnetic fluids and photobiology.