The Secretary of Innovation of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), Nelson Fujimoto, was at the Fraunhofer Society (Germany) on March 8, to get acquainted with the experience of the largest applied research center in Europe. The institution, which promotes partnerships between the university, business sector and government, has more than 80 research units around the country.

According to Fujimoto, who visited the institution at the invitation of the board, the German initiative can serve as inspiration for Brazil. "This model is important because it allows the interaction between university, business and government. It happens between the knowledge that is born at universities and the industries. It is this exchange of knowledge that produces applied research, an area where we still need to move a lot in Brazil," he said. The visit to the Fraunhofer Society took place during the International Exhibition of Information Technologies and Communications (CeBIT 2012) in Hannover, Germany. Brazil was the partner country of this edition of CeBIT, at the invitation of the German government.