OREANDA-NEWS. Between 2009 and 2012, Vale and its external partners invested BRL 402 million in open innovation projects in Brazil and other countries. The concept of open innovation means the formation of research networks to develop ideas, products and processes. Download our catalogue presenting data about our projects and research lines.

Open innovation

Information is exchanged between Vale professionals and researchers at universities, institutions, companies and other R&D organizations. Hence the term open rather than closed innovation, which is more common at private research centres. “We live in a society of knowledge. The answers to our challenges do not always lie inside the company,” explains the Vale Institute of Technology’s director, Luiz Mello (watch the video beside).

The most famous example of open innovation is provided by the reports of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), produced collaboratively by more than 3,000 scientists across the world.

Partnerships

Vale is currently investing in two research network models in Brazil: Vale-FAPs and Urbis Amazonia. The first network is the result of an agreement signed between Vale and the State Research Promotion Foundations (known by Portuguese acronym FAPs) of Minas Gerais, Para and Sao Paulo. It has so far provided financial resources to 114 projects, 59 conducted through 28 interstate research partnerships. The second network, Urbis Amazonia, coordinated in partnership with the National Space Research Institute (known by Portuguese acronym Inpe), involves nine Brazilian science and technology institutions that are carrying out studies about the region.

Investing in talent

Investment in training for researchers, inside and outside the company, is another distinctive feature of our innovation promotion strategy. In all, we have invested around BRL 24 million in 821 research grants, spread across 10 Brazilian states, in all of the country’s five regions. Take a look at the following map.

The research grants we have funded are classified in four categories: graduate, postgraduate, research and companies. The first three correspond to activities conducted within universities, while the fourth refers to qualifying people to implement R&D projects within companies.

As a result, our training for professionals goes beyond the areas where Vale operates. The Science without Frontiers Program, for example, organizes international exchanges. The National Engineering Education Stimulation Program (Forma-Engenharia) has the aim of reducing drop-out rates on engineering courses and attracting high school students to join the profession. Finally, our agreement with the Tete Higher Polytechnic Institute in Mozambique seeks to improve the quality of professors and engineers in the country.