Brazilian science diaspora in Germany joins forces with APOENA

The foundation of the new network "APOENA" was announced during the 2nd meeting of the “Brazilian Diaspora Science and Innovation" on 17 March 2022 at the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin. The aim of APOENA is to connect Brazilian scientists, who live in Germany from different disciplines and institutions, to enable exchange with each other and thus to promote cooperation between Brazil and Germany in science, technology and innovation. The idea of joining forces with a network was born at the first diaspora meeting hosted by the Embassy in February 2021, which could only take place online due to the pandemic.

For some time, the Embassy of Brazil in Berlin has been intensifying German-Brazilian scientific cooperation through networking and by strengthening the Brazilian scientific diaspora in Germany. The background is that well-educated Brazilians who work temporarily or permanently at German institutions are important actors for the scientific and technological development in Brazil, especially because they usually have a strong intrinsic interest in cooperating with Brazil and count on valuable experiences and networks in Germany. In this reading, the diaspora is no longer seen by Brazil as the unwelcome outcome of brain drain processes, but rather as an important resource, i.e. highly qualified persons that needs to be identified, contacted and integrated into institutional cooperation in science and technology between both countries in order to broaden and deepen this partnership and to continuously contribute to the development of Brazil.

This year's meeting was opened by the Ambassador of Brazil in Germany, Roberto Jaguaribe, and attracted almost 200 participants, both on-site and online, including Brazilian academics and representatives of German and Brazilian institutions in the field of science, technology, innovation and international cooperation, including the Brazil Centre of the WWU.

The new Apoena webpage can be visited on this link: https://go.wwu.de/rdln8

For further Information, click here: https://go.wwu.de/ov10i