The rector of Unicamp, professor Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, met, this Thursday (15), with the undersecretary of Urban Development of the State of São Paulo, José Police Neto, to discuss the joint elaboration of public policy projects in several areas.
According to Police Neto, the idea is that the state body and the University can develop projects for direct application in the municipality or region, to be financed by the Public Policy Research Program (PPPP) of Fapesp (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado from Sao Paulo). Launched this year, PPPP aims to select research projects in all areas of knowledge that aim to subsidize, improve, evaluate or solve public management challenges.
According to Fapesp, the PPPP aims to stimulate the production of research with applicable results, to be implemented in co-creation environments and with the involvement of civil society. “Our effort today, with Unicamp, is to be able to produce the greatest number of research that impact people's lives in the cities of the RMC [Região Metropolitana de Campinas], at first, but that can be replicated in other regions of the State or even Brazil”, said the undersecretary.
The rector stated that the University has a great interest in participating in actions that generate direct positive impacts on society and that bring solutions to concrete problems facing the population. He cited several possibilities for public policies to be developed together. He remembered, for example, the Meteorological Radar project, which was acquired by the Campinas Metropolitan Agency (Agemcamp) and which will be operated by Unicamp.
According to Meirelles, there are several projects that can be implemented once the radar comes into operation, in addition to weather forecasting and climate catastrophe prevention services. The rector also recalled that it is possible to establish programs to monitor and manage risk areas and combat the effects of climate change, in addition to research linked to agriculture, among others.
Meirelles said that Unicamp's participation could also take place in projects in the health area. Health technicians at the University already have a diagnosis of the region's health system and this work could be the starting point for the development of other projects, he said. One of them would be the creation of a regionalized system for regulating hospital beds.
The rector also recalled that the Council of Rectors of São Paulo State Universities (Cruesp) – Unicamp, USP (University of São Paulo) and Unesp (Paulista State University) – and the government of the State of São Paulo signed, in April, a protocol of intentions for implementation and management of accessibility policies for people with disabilities.
Meirelles said that there are also initiatives involving the three universities in the area of education, initiatives according to which higher education students could be used in the state education network. “I have, since the beginning of my mandate, this intention of strengthening collaboration actions as much as possible. And I see many possibilities”, stated the dean.
The Undersecretary for Development said he left the meeting with Meirelles optimistic. “We leave here with at least five possible projects. Some in the health area, such as bed regulation and care for people on the autism spectrum. Others in the area of combating climate change, designing the city to face climate change and monitoring risk areas,” he said.
“We leave here with the certainty that the population of RMC, by having an efficient metropolitan agency, an active metropolitan development council and a university that is among the best in the world, will be able to receive much more for the same money. Or even with less money, because we must spend more efficiently”, concluded the undersecretary.
In addition to Police Neto, the executive director of Agemcamp, Elizário Barbosa, and the executive secretary of the RMC Development Council, Vera Rodrigues, participated in the meeting.
