RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The federal government invested less in science and technology last year than in 2009. The survey was conducted by economist Fernanda De Negri, from the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA).
The funding cuts range from specific issues, such as the crash of the Lattes platform – a database containing information on all Brazilian researchers, which was offline for two weeks this month – to long-term effects, such as economic competitiveness loss.
Since early last year, the relevance of science has increased with the demand created by the pandemic, which involves studies on tests, drugs and vaccines against Covid-19, among other initiatives.
The lack of funds in Jair Bolsonaro’s administration was compounded by the withholding of part of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT). The blockage was banned by Congress, but about R$2.7 billion (US$518 million) remain frozen.
According to Fernanda de Negri’s study, investment in science and technology by the federal government peaked in 2013. From that year through 2020, spending retreated by 37% in real terms (discounting inflation).
“After more than a decade of a relatively consistent cycle of expansion, S&T investments in 2020 reached a level lower than in 2009,” she says. In 2013, spending reached R$27.3 billion.
Spending is distributed among several portfolios and public bodies: from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Economy, where institutions such as IPEA and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) are included. Not all of these bodies were affected equally. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MCTI) was a portfolio that suffered cuts.
Headed by former astronaut Marcos Pontes, it is responsible for the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the agency responsible for Lattes and for paying grants to researchers, as well as the Science Fund. CAPES, another agency that promotes research, is linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC).
“Virtually all Brazilian research conducted in companies, universities or research institutions is financed with resources from these three funds (CNPq, CAPES and FNDCT). Even research institutions linked to the MCTI, or Fiocruz and EMBRAPA, eventually need additional research resources and resort to FNDCT edicts, as well as CNPq and CAPES scholarships and training,” reads the text of the survey.