Centre for Europe-Brazil Business and Innovation Cooperation

Project Information

CEBRABIC

Grant agreement ID: 733531

DOI

10.3030/733531

Project closed

EC signature date 22 December 2016

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 December 2020

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 2 997 457,50

EU contribution

€ 2 997 457,50

Coordinated by

FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG EV
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - CEBRABIC (Centre for Europe-Brazil Business and Innovation Cooperation)

Reporting period: 2020-01-01 to 2020-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ENRICH in Brazil (formerly known as CEBRABIC) is the Brazilian pilot centre of the European Network of Research and Innovation Centres and Hubs. With partners from Brazil and eight European countries, the consortium’s goal is strengthening cooperation in research, innovation, and business between Brazil and Europe by exchanging innovative practices, experience, and knowledge between all parts involved. ENRICH in Brazil was inaugurated as own legal entity in December 2019. Founded as a Non-Profit Association, the Mission of ENRICH is to encourage and facilitate the cooperation in research, technology and entrepreneurship between Europe and Brazil by supporting and empowering all innovation actors (public & private) along the innovation (value) chain. To become the main hub and contact point for European and Brazilian Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) actors aiming at bilateral cooperation, is the valid mission of the Centre.
To put these into practice, ENRICH in Brazil was focussed within the ongoing activities onto three pillars:
Its services comprise a portfolio focused on a customer’s journey. This journey as the so-called “ENRICH Experience” covers the process of European or Brazilian STI actors aiming at bilateral cooperation. Starting from getting information, to find funding, partners and infrastructure and to finally get going in terms of increasing visibility on the foreign market. As transversal service category, legal advice will be covered by ENRICH through all stages of the journey.
Its two-sided structure, with the Brazilian legal entity headquartered in São Paulo and the European focal point located in Brussels, facilitates exchanges with the community of both regions and brings qualified researchers and institutions into the initiative.
Its community, constituted of actors from different sectors such as companies, universities, research and innovation organizations, funding agencies, and non-for-profit organizations.
The advantages for both European and Brazilian are numerous. Its broad spectrum allows the initiative to benefit from the knowledge present in research, innovation, and business from Brazil and Europe. Also, access to services and information about the target markets, business opportunities, funding possibilities, customized consulting, among others, enable the ENRICH Network to improve their market access and visibility – keys to succeed in a competitive world.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

While the project’s first year focused in its structuring, ENRICH's efforts in its second year were predominantly focused on executing services designed during the first year. The second year was a piloting phase for ENRICH in Brazil. That is, during this phase it had tested both European and Brazilian markets under real-life market conditions on whether they were susceptible to the ENRICH services. Based on the insights and experience gained during the piloting phase, ENRICH was able to fine-tune and readjust certain services.
In the third year, based on the market insight gained during the piloting phase, ENRICH Network Community model was revised and accordingly adjusted. This also happened due to the finally agreed legal settings of the Centre as Non-Profit Association in Brazil. Besides the model was simplified, information on each community member was made clearer and more comprehensible to the interested audience. The revised information included a more transparent and precise benefit that can be gained by joining the ENRICH Association.
On December 10th, 2019, ENRICH in Brazil had successfully founded itself as a legal entity in Brazil. It was an important event, as it allows the Centre to act on its own behalf. Besides this, in August 2019, the Centre hired its first employee, a Business Development Manager based at the ENRICH office in Brasília. Moreover, the Centre had successfully acquired its first Associates besides the founding members. These initial five Associates are of the most reputable, international well-known, and largest organizations in Brazil (Braskem, Natura, Fiocruz, the Consulate of Luxembourg to Brazil and the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre). The four founding members are from the current CEBRABIC consortium and include RCISD, ANPEI, SPI and the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft e. V.
In the challenging year of 2020, the ENRICH Centre was able to expand its network by acquiring paying members. In total over 18 members have been engaged to the Centre’s community. Moreover, an Administrative Support Person as well as an Intern completed the personal structure of the Centre.
The physical location of the Centre at the premises of CNI in Brasilia, Brazil since 2017, has changed in 2020 and the Centre moved to Sao Paulo. The city of Sao Paulo offers a great opportunity for ENRICH in terms of networking, building connection to different stakeholders, and getting visibility from all the events that are held in a such megalopolis.
Moreover, the ENRICH initiative as a whole became more global as the “ENRICH Global” has been founded in France in September 2020. ENRICH in Brazil got involved as Founding member.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The ENRICH initiative believes that a higher social welfare can be achieved through innovative measures in several fronts, from industrial and academic research to public policies and business management. With a consolidated innovation hub in Brazil at the end of the project and benefitting the knowledge created and absorbed during these years, ENRICH will be able to contribute not only to Brazilian research, science, and technology progress, but also to the fulfillment of the enormous potential of the country. This potential will bring positive spill-overs to other regions as well, especially Europe, through the partnerships created and consolidated inside the initiative, as in a positive sum game. Likewise, European countries will be able to benefit from the excellence provided by Brazilian partners of all concerned sectors. Subsequently, this will enable the exchange of expertise and experience between Brazil and other ENRICH centres, making the initiative even more global. In a world where the creation of knowledge increasingly happens on a global scale, and in an accelerating pace, ENRICH seems prepared to overcome these challenges and contribute to the prosperity of all people directly or indirectly related to the project.
ENRICH provided major contribution to encourage & facilitate the cooperation in research, technology and entrepreneurship between Europe and Brazil in several aspects:
▪ European and Brazilian STI actors acquired practical knowledge and detailed hands-on information about bilateral cooperation opportunities and supporting mechanisms along the internationalization journey.
▪ European STI and business actors now have access to a much broader and diverse networking opportunities, cost-saving possibilities in form of qualified and accredited soft-landing-hubs.
▪ European and Brazilian STI actors have now a main hub and contact point that fosters and promotes STI cooperation between the two regions and navigates raises awareness about topics of more importance to the European and Brazilian research and innovation cooperation.

As a conclusion, ENRICH creates opportunities for research, innovation and business as well as enhances existing initiatives by stimulating demand and cooperation among private and public organizations.

ENRICH Focal Point Inauguration in Brussels, 18 April 2018

ENRICH in Brazil - First General Assembly, 10 December 2019

ENRICH in Brazil - Logo with PT subtitles

ENRICH in Brazil Inauguration in Brasilia, 29 November 2017