In 2014, following the successful negotiations of the Brazil Centre, a cooperation agreement was signed between the University of Münster and FAPESP - The São Paulo Research Foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa de São Paulo) . Since then, FAPESP and the University of Münster have regularly published joint calls for proposals within the framework of the FAPESP programme "SPRINT" (SPRINT - São Paulo Researchers in International Collaboration).
The programme offers researchers from the University of Münster the opportunity to develop research projects in cooperation with researchers from universities and institutions in São Paulo within the framework of reciprocal visits and workshops and then apply to FAPESP and a corresponding funding organisations in Germany such as the DFG for funding. Through this seed funding, only mobility costs are covered in order to promote the generation of new research projects between Münster and São Paulo.
FAPESP awards fellowships for different stages of scientific careers, funds research projects in all fields of knowledge and also supports larger priority programmes in priority topics such as biodiversity, bioenergy, global climate change and neuroscience. Worldwide, FAPESP maintains partnerships with funding organisations, e.g. also DFG and DAAD, universities, research institutes as well as with companies.
FAPESP is the strongest research funding agency on state level in Brazil. Its annual budget amounts to 1% of the sales tax revenue in the state of São Paulo, which is not only relatively stable but also considerable (approx. 357 million USD between Jan. and Oct. 2022). The state of São Paulo has 45 million inhabitants, and 34% of Brazil's gross domestic product is generated here. In this state, 30% of PhD researchers from Brazil and 45% of articles published in international scientific journals are written by researchers from São Paulo.
