Box 16 - The FAPESP model. Milton Campanario and Neusa Serra, 1993,

Box 16 - The FAPESP model

"FAPESP" model is characterized by three main aspects. First is the source of its resources. Initially, FAPESP was granted 0.5% of São Paulo's state revenues. The 1969 state Constitution increased this legal percentage to 1%, less 25% of the trade tax ("imposto de circulação de mercadorias") which is transferred by the state to the municipalities; and it determined that the resources to be calculated each month, and transferred in the following month. To this basic source one should add the revenues of FAPESP's capital investments, which allows the agency to spend more that what it gets from the government in a given period.

The second aspect is related to its relative independence from political fluctuations. FAPESP is governed by a council of 12 members with fixed six year mandates, which is responsible for its administrative, scientific and patrimonial policies. Six members are designated by the state governor, and the other six are also chosen by the governor from lists submitted by the state's public universities and research institutes. The president and vice-president of the council are also appointed by the governor. In practice, all names are suggested to the governor by the scientific community.

The third aspect is that most of the resources go to individual researchers working in the state of S\'e3o Paulo, and only rarely to institutions. Proposals are submitted to FAPESP and evaluated by peers. Their identities are not known to the applicant, and their recommendations are almost always followed by FAPESP. The reviewers are requested to follow up the projects, and can recommend the interruption of support.

Most FAPESP resources go to fellowships and individual grants, but in 1993 there were 56 institutional projects with total budget of US 4.5 million, plus 119 fellowships linked to these projects. Besides, there were 94 "special projects" between 1963 and 1989. In 1990 they were replaced by team or thematic projects, 87 of which were approved by the end of 1991.

Milton Campanário and Neusa Serra, 1993.