IUMRS-ICAM-2009 Explores Advanced Materials from Research to Innovations
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IUMRS-ICAM-2009 Explores Advanced Materials from Research to Innovations “In Brazil, everywhere I go there is a soccer field and everyone is playing soccer,” a friend once commented to Sergio Rezende, Minister of Science and Technology in Brazil, in an effort to explain why Brazilians excel in the sport. In contrast, Rezende remarked that because there has not been a culture surrounding science in his country, few people are attracted to it. However, the Brazilian government is changing that by trying to make science as pervasive as soccer, Rezende said in his opening plenary address at the International Conference on Advanced Materials 2009 (ICAM 2009) organized by SBPMat, the Brazilian Materials Research Society, in Rio de Janeiro on September 20–25, 2009. The ICAM conferences, conducted within the umbrella of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS), are held every other year, and this is the 11th in the series and the first held in Brazil. The scientific and technical program, organized by Guillermo Solórzano of PUC-Rio (Chair of ICAM 2009) and Elisa Baggio Saitovitch of CBPF-Rio (Program Chair), presented a range of topics at the frontiers of materials research, technology, and engineering. With 1560 attendees (45% students) from 60 countries, significant opportunities were available for materials researchers around the world to meet and form collaborations. Rezende, a materials scientist himself who co-organized the first meeting in Brazil on materials 40 years ago, elucidated on Brazil’s Action Plan 2007–2010, the government’s effort to stimulate science, technology, and innovation. He stated that the groundwork had been laid for this effort due to the country’s currently favorable macroeconomic conditions, citing low inflation, low external vulnerability, a sound fiscal policy, a strong banking sector, and a large domestic market. Additionally, he said, the industrial sector has become more aware of the need for interaction between research institutions and industry, and the scientific community has matured. Among the areas emphasized in the action plan for research and development are biotechnology, nanotechnology, health, and energy. While federal funding totaling USD$26 billion for this action plan came from a variety of sources, half of this amount was received directly from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Rezende showed that since the plan’s release in 2007, the number of federal scholarships
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has risen significantly, the number of federal universities has increased dramatically from 43 in 2002 to 230 in 2009 with a more uniform distribution throughout Brazil, and the number of scientific publications has increased by a factor of 16 as compared to a world production increase of only 3.5. These statistics demonstrate the rapidly increasing presence of the Brazilian scientific community. Energy Issues Covered in Forum and Technical Sessions “Guys, where did you hide the fuel cells?” posed Enrico Traversa, looking at new energy policies in the United States and around t
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