The well-attended seminar began this Tuesday morning with a good deal of ceremony, including national anthems and introductory addresses. Speakers representing the Swedish side were ambassador Per-Arne Hjelmborn and Helen Dannetun, Vice-Chancellor of Linköping University. The Brazilian side fielded Hernan Chaimovich, chairman of the research council CNPq, Jailson Bittancourt de Andrade, from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, as well as Carlos Afonso Nobre, chairman of CAPES, a Brazilian government agency in charge of promoting high standards for post-graduate courses in Brazil.
This was followed by a session outlining various research collaborations between Brazil and Sweden, with an introduction by Enrico Deiaco, of the Swedish Ministry of Growth Analysis. Among these is the SEK 40 billion deal between Sweden and Brazil on the acquisition of 36 Gripen aircraft, which will serve to strengthen the ties between the countries over the next 30 years with regards to research and innovation.
The researchers will now attend two days’ worth of seminars split across five themes:
- Imagining & Visualization in Life Science
- Novel Functional Materials & Nanotechnology
- Inclusive Education – Gender & Ethnicity
- Sustainable Development: Energy, Environment & Biodiversity
- Machine Intelligence & Autonomy
For the university managements and research financiers, three so-called Top Level University Sessions will be held:
- Internationalisation & Collaboration in Higher Education
- Funding for Promoting World Class Research Collaboration
- Brazil – Sweden: Importance of University & Industry Collaboration