New cooperation agreement between FCT and Brazil's CNPq

The FCT and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), an entity linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation and responsible for funding research in the areas of science and technology, began a new partnership last November, aimed at sharing information and developing joint projects between the CIÊNCIAVITAE (Portuguese) and Lattes (Brazilian) curriculum management platforms. The video of the session in which the cooperation agreement was signed is available for viewing.

The fundamental objective of this protocol is to strengthen cooperation between Portugal and Brazil, continuing the sharing of experience and best practices and active cooperation in the field of regulatory frameworks, infrastructure, and science and technology management services. One of the first tasks will be to assess the compatibility of the CIÊNCIAVITAE and Lattes platforms, with a view to unifying the support software and, eventually, integrating the platforms.

Since 2014, FCT has been dedicating efforts and investing in the modernization of its information systems, recognizing that simplifying the procedures inherent to the administrative management of the science, technology, and higher education ecosystem is fundamental to stimulating innovation and enabling the democratization of access to and production of knowledge. In this context, a new system for managing funding applications – MyFCT – was developed and the PTCRIS program was launched. Through the development of science and technology management standards and infrastructure, this program aims to ensure, on the one hand, the reduction of bureaucracy and simplification of administrative processes, and, on the other hand, the production, management, and access to reliable, complete, and up-to-date data as a tool to support the effectiveness and efficiency of decision-making processes. The first system entirely based on the PTCRIS standard is CIÊNCIAVITAE, the national platform for managing science and technology curricula.

These processes involved collaboration with Brazil from an early stage. The DeGóis platform, the predecessor of CIÊNCIAVITAE and on which its code was based, was the result of an agreement for the use of Lattes in Portugal, signed in 2005. In addition to this, in 2014/2015, FCT also established an agreement with the Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology (IBICT) for the sharing of experiences and best practices. It is in this context of historical cooperation between two countries in this field that FCT signs this International Cooperation Agreement, which is expected to be mutually beneficial.

Both CIÊNCIAVITAE and Lattes are fundamental to scientific and technological management in their respective countries, investing in the simplification and integration of processes. Lattes has been adopted by most funding agencies, universities, and research institutes in Brazil, allowing them to compile databases of personal résumés. Currently, Lattes includes more than 3.5 million CVs, research groups, and institutions in a single information system. CIÊNCIAVITAE, based on the concept of scientific citizenship (CIÊNCIA ID), was implemented in the form of an integrated and personalized repository of researchers' careers in science, bringing together various national and international information management systems, minimizing bureaucratic processes, and complying with the principle of "enter once, reuse multiple times," while also offering the possibility of personalizing and promoting CVs.

The integration of the curriculum management platforms of Portugal and Brazil is a possibility of mutual interest to FCT and CNPq, and could potentially lead to the development of a joint, highly collaborative system between Portuguese-speaking countries.