University Of São Paulo Institute To Become Data Science Research And Innovation Hub
USP’s Institute of Mathematical and Computing Sciences (ICMC) in São Carlos is among the ten research centers in the country selected by the Brazilian Company for Research and Industrial Innovation (Embrapii) and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) to receive investments to be applied in innovation projects and industry strengthening.
The announcement, made on December 19, 2022, accredits four São Paulo research institutions, two of which belong to USP. The ICMC, which becomes part of Embrapii’s innovation ecosystem in the areas of Data Science, Computing and Applied Mathematics, will receive R$ 5 million. In the State of São Paulo, the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) of USP, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), through the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, and Embrapa Instrumentation, headquartered in São Carlos, were also contemplated with resources for investments in their areas of expertise. The other six accredited institutions are located in different regions of Brazil.
According to the director of ICMC, André Carlos Ponce de Leon Ferreira de Carvalho, the communication of the approval of the proposal was received with great satisfaction. “Our intention with this accreditation is to encourage the transfer of knowledge generated at ICMC to the industry, combining our research and extension activities to strengthen industry innovation in the country. The selection process included the submission of a proposal and an interview. During the rigorous selection process, we were able to prove our structure and our human capital to host the Embrapii Unit, which will work in an integrated manner with the activities already carried out with excellence at ICMC”, said the director. Still according to him, the approval of the ICMC proposal is the result of a collective effort.
national reference
ICMC is one of the main Brazilian institutes for research and training in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Research carried out at the ICMC won several national and international awards, recalls the director. “In the last ten years, four of the ten theses awarded by Capes in the large area of Computer Science were defended at ICMC, the four in Data Science or Artificial Intelligence. ICMC participates in the Governance Committee of the Brazilian Artificial Intelligence Strategy and offers a Bachelor’s Degree in Data Science, an MBA in Data Science, an MBA in Big Data and Artificial Intelligence and a Professional Master’s in Data Science, which will work integrated to the Embrapii unit.”
Likewise, the Center for Applied Research in Smart Cities – Iara (ICMC-Fapesp-MCTI-CGI.br), one of the spaces of the C4AI Artificial Intelligence Center (ICMC-Poli-Fapesp-IBM) will work in an integrated manner with the Embrapii unit. ) and the Center for Mathematical Sciences Applied to Industry (CeMEAI), which has Data Science as one of its three main areas: “CeMEAI, headquartered at ICMC, brings to the unit the rich experience acquired in the last 12 years in partnerships with industries, through courses, projects and workshops”, explains André.
Embrapii is the result of a partnership established in 2011 between the Brazilian government and the National Confederation of Industry to strengthen innovation and competitiveness in Brazilian industry. For its operation, a new model of partnership between technological research institutions in the country and national industries was proposed. To structure its operation, a Cooperation Agreement was signed with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Financier of Studies and Projects (Finep). The first Embrapii units were created in 2013, and since then, Embrapii has not stopped growing.
The resources contributed and managed by Embrapii, which are non-refundable, finance projects between companies and Embrapii units, to meet the demands of Research, Development and Innovation of industries. Because they are centers of recognized technical capacity, they have several successful cases in supporting the development of technological solutions in an innovative way.
Interested companies must present the technological challenge to the unit with the technical competence to solve the project’s needs. The ten entities now selected will join the current 87 members of the network. In nine years of existence, 1,800 projects have already been supported.