“The future is unfolding in China,” says Viana in Folha
Reproduction of Marcelo Viana’s column in Folha de S. Paulo.
Last September, I visited China on business to explore opportunities for collaboration between IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics ) and leading Chinese research and educational institutions. The visit convinced me, beyond a doubt, of how important it is for Brazilian science and technology institutions to deepen their interactions with their Chinese counterparts.
Our collaboration with Western countries, such as France and the United States, remains very important. But a country of Brazil’s stature cannot ignore the fact that the center of gravity of global science is shifting toward the East. As I wrote in *Folha* at the time, it is in China that the future is unfolding today.
Subsequently, IMPA planned a series of initiatives aimed at building long-term relationships with various Chinese universities. The first of these is already underway through the Brazil-China Program for Leaders in Scientific and Technological Innovation, established between CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and Beihang University.
Beihang was part of my visit in September, when we signed two partnership agreements. It is one of the top ten universities in the world for engineering and the global leader in aeronautics and aerospace. The program with CAPES offers a one-month internship at its international campus in Hangzhou to 120 Brazilian graduate students.
Among them are 15 doctoral students from IMPA, led by project scientist Francisco Ganacim. The internship program, offered by the Schools of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence, includes a variety of academic and cultural activities, such as lectures for the presentation of research papers and visits to companies, research facilities, and museums.
“You can tell that a lot of money has been invested and that they are deeply committed to public education. In addition, we were made to feel very welcome. They are going out of their way to show that they value our presence here,” said Ganacim.
Ph.D. candidate Mayumi Shiguihara notes that her time on the other side of the world has been an opportunity to broaden her horizons and experience a culture full of contrasts: “I feel a bit like when you move from finite-dimensional to infinite-dimensional vector spaces—it’s been a great exercise.”
Also in August, 12 students from our undergraduate program, Impa Tech, will embark on five-month stays at Peking University and Beihang University (this time at the main campus in Beijing), with funding provided entirely by private sources. During the same period, undergraduate students from those universities will be hosted at Impa Tech. And, at the end of the year, 26 high school students from across Brazil—gold medalists in the 2025 OBME (Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad)—will visit China for two weeks at the invitation of IMPA and Zhejiang Province.