In 2004 Brasilia and the European Community signed the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and the Federative Republic of Brazil. The aim of the Agreement was to encourage, develop and facilitate cooperative activities in areas of common interest by carrying out and supporting scientific and technological research and development activities.
As a corollary of this Agreement the EC and the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation organised the EU-Brazil mission on nanosafety. In line with the Agreement mentioned before, the aim of the EU-Brazil Mission on nanosafety was to intensify and coordinate the cooperation between Brazil and the European Union on the field of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) aspects of nanomaterials. This also includes the development of instruments for “safe by design” aimed at a more upfront incorporation of EHS aspects in the design, production and application of these materials. Both topics can be considered as non-competitive issues. Collaboration in addressing these topics will be beneficial for Brazil as well as for the European Union.
More specific the aim of the mission was:
- to elaborate the agreement made in May 2014 in Paris between EU, Brazil and the NANoREG coordinator on the involvement of Brazilian parties in the NANoREG project; more specific:
- to define and elaborate potential Brazilian contributions to the NANoREG project,
- to establish what Brazilian laboratories will take the main responsibility over the Brazilian participation in NANoREG,
- to establishing contacts with the representatives of potential collaborating parties,
- to elaborating the formal aspects of the collaboration, and
- to explore and select possible collaborations between Brazilian parties and other Nano-Safety Cluster (NSC) projects.
The organisation of the mission was excellent in both scientific and organisational terms (download report). The scheduled laboratory visits and workshop helped the EU delegation to formulate a very positive opinion regarding the determination of government and industry to achieve fast progress.
To know more or get involved with the EU NSC – Brazil dialogue please contact Iseult Lynch at I.Lynch@bham.ac.uk or Diego Martinez at diego.martinez@lnnano.cnpem.br