Unicamp and the City of Campinas signed, this Wednesday morning (11), a memorandum of understanding that aims to be the gateway to partnerships and exchanges in different areas of municipal public administration. The idea, according to the rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, is to promote academic activities and extension actions, so that the University expands interaction with City Hall and, in this way, gets even closer to the city.
At the signing ceremony, Unicamp presented seven areas in which it already has consolidated programs and which could be the starting point for partnerships with the municipal government. These include energy transition, artificial intelligence, biodiversity and sustainability, climate emergency, nutrition and food, electric mobility and transport policies. (See the projects presented below).
The memorandum of understanding provides for the prospecting, discussion and proposal of collaborative projects for teaching, research, extension, scientific and technological development and stimulation of innovation. It also intends to identify students, teachers and technical-administrative employees to join project teams, in addition to offering extension courses in their various forms and seeking sources of financing for projects of common interest.
“In fact, we are working hard so that the University can open up to the community, to the city of Campinas and to the entire region”, said the rector, during the agreement signing ceremony.
Meirelles recalled that Unicamp has a qualified teaching staff and students in the final stages of their course, who can offer valuable contributions to the municipal administration. “We want what is produced at the University in terms of research and training to have a positive impact on society and make a difference in people’s lives”, said the rector.
Meirelles mentioned HIDS (International Hub for Sustainable Development) — the smart district that is being developed at Unicamp and which receives institutional support from the municipal government — as an example of how productive a partnership between institutions can be. “Agreements like this can boost the development of the city, the region and, consequently, can be reproduced throughout the country”, she assesses.
“Unicamp is known in Campinas for its health sector, for its Hospital das Clínicas (HC), and it’s a good thing that’s the case. But the University is not just that. We can interact intensely with other areas of municipal administration”, said the dean of Extension and Culture, professor Fernando Coelho.
“This greater interaction seems useful and interesting to us, because the university gets closer to the community, and people understand what its role is. Furthermore, we are experiencing a process in which our students increasingly need to interact with the community through extension”, he explains.
“I believe this is the moment in which several forces came together to give rise to this interaction, on which we want to work intensely. I want to believe that everyone at the University will make every effort possible to make this happen in a very vigorous way”, concluded the dean.
For the mayor of Campinas, Dario Saadi, Unicamp is a reference in the country and can be important in the construction and implementation of public policies. “The partnership with Unicamp is fundamental for us. We appreciate the University’s willingness to collaborate and the rector’s always proactive willingness to expand interaction with the city”, said the mayor.
Landscape under Inventory
The agreement signing ceremony was also marked by the official launch of the e-book and printed versions of the book "Paisagem sob Inventário", which celebrates the activities of the tenth anniversary of MAV (Unicamp's Visual Arts Museum), in an event that featured the partnership between the Municipal Department of Culture and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Campinas.
"Landscape under Inventory" is a project derived from the work carried out in 2022 with an exhibition and other activities brought together under this same title, aimed at celebrating the Museum's ten years. MAV is a body linked to the Dean of Extension and Culture at Unicamp.
Check out the areas presented by Unicamp, which can generate partnerships with the City Hall
1 - Monitoring the climate of Campinas based on historical series and the RMC Meteorology Center (Metropolitan Region of Campinas) —Presented by meteorologist Ana Ávila (Cepagri).
2 - Possible solutions in artificial intelligence for municipal management — Professor Henrique Nogueira de Sá Earp.
3 - Office to support projects for energy transition in public administration, city hall of Campinas — Prof. Luiz Carlos Pereira da Silva.
4 - University and public power interaction project: improving management and public policies — Professor Milena Pavan Serafim.
5 - Urban rail transport project — Professor Auteliano Antunes.
6 - Multidimensional poverty measurement project — Professor Luiz Renato Vedovato.
7 - Technology project to support the transition to mobility in public transport — Professor Madson Cortes.
(Source: Proec)
