Brazilian tech centre Fiocruz is strengthening partnerships and prospecting future cooperation in health technology and innovation in China, especially in the areas of vaccines, biologicals and advanced therapies.
The Foundation’s vice president for Health Production and Innovation, Marco Krieger, and the director of the Immunobiological Technology Institute (Bio-Manguinhos), Maurício Zuma, were in the Asian country last week to visit health technology centers and to take part in meetings with partners and a symposium on opportunities in health between Brazil and China.
Krieger and Zuma visited the Shanghai Innovation Center and the Wuxi Innovation Center, where they also met with researchers. In addition to these visits, they participated in a symposium on health innovation focusing on the challenges and opportunities in health innovation in Brazil and China.
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During the trip, it was also possible to interact with companies that produce vaccines and advanced therapies, as Krieger explained.
“We had a rewarding experience getting to know the two innovation centers; where, by aligning the demands brought by the health systems with the companies’ innovation capacity, with the capacity to foster innovation in China, we were able to see the development of the projects of more than 150 companies with very disruptive innovations. We mainly focused on some potential cooperation in vaccines, biologicals and advanced therapies,” commented the vice president.
The trip to China was at the invitation of the Shanghai International Life Science Innovation Campus (iCampus), built in partnership with the City of Shanghai and operated by Astrazeneca as the iCampus lead company.
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) has historically maintained a strong international presence through cooperation and exchange with health and science and technology institutions in various countries. This work is coordinated by the Center for International Relations in Health (CRIS).
International technical assistance has provided important support to the development of Fiocruz over the years, first through a North-South relationship, relying on prospecting by specific researchers, and later with greater institutionalization and participation by organizations from partner countries and multilateral agencies.
The Foundation also maintains close relations with the international areas of the Brazilian government, especially the Ministry of Health, through its International Health Advisory Division (AISA), and the Ministry of Foreign Relations, through its various technical divisions and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC).
