THE Finep, Innovation and Research Funder of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI) has just launched an economic subsidy notice, in the amount of R$ 50 million, to support innovation projects involving 4.0 technologies. The new resources will be destined to small, medium and large Brazilian companies interested in developing innovative products, processes and services in four thematic areas: Agro 4.0 (agriculture, precision livestock and transversal systems to agriculture and livestock), Smart Cities (urban logistics, public safety, environmental sanitation, and monitoring and natural disasters); Industry 4.0 (4.0 processes, environment virtualization, and 4.0 machines and equipment); and Health 4.0 (prediction systems, remote monitoring, telemedicine, hospital management, and epidemic prevention and control).
Proposals must include at least one enabling technology, such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Robotics, Cloud Computing, Augmented Reality or Additive Manufacturing. "This notice aims to finance, via economic subsidy, innovation projects in 4.0 technologies in the cross-cutting themes of Brazilian industry and integrates the federal government's public policies to promote advanced manufacturing and the internet of things", says the Innovation director at Finep/MCTI, Alberto Dantas.
Also according to the executive, the technologies supported in this public call are important for the recovery and for the future of the national economy. “The growing digitization and use of technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, big data and advanced robotics, have a high potential to increase productivity, drive innovations in business models and change the relative competitiveness of countries ”, Dantas pointed out.
Projects that present technological maturity levels from 3 to 7 will be supported, the so-called TRLs (Technology Readiness Levels). R$ 15 million will be invested in Agro 4.0, Industry 4.0 and Health 4.0 topics, and R$ 5 million in topics related to Smart Cities. It will be mandatory to present a financial contribution, which may vary between 5% and 100% of the amount to be subsidized, depending on the size of the company.
Brazilian companies with Gross Operating Revenue (ROB) above R$ 360 thousand may apply. The minimum grant amount per project is R$ 500 thousand and the maximum R$ 5 million. Scientific and Technological Institutions (ICTs) may participate in the project as service providers.
Proposals for the submission of innovation projects related to 4.0 technologies must be accompanied by a Business Plan covering the planning in all its phases, considering its strategy, description, planning and execution of productive investments, from the research and development stages , until the insertion in the market and commercialization of products.
These proposals must be sent to Finep/MCTI electronically by July 27, when the call for the notice ends. For this, it is necessary to fill in the Proposal Submission Form (FAP), available on the Finep website. The preliminary result is scheduled for mid-October this year, while the final result, considering the resource analysis, will start in November.
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