A research project proposal called “Public Policies, Industry, Duality and National Defense: Evidence for a Development Agenda for the Brazilian Defense Industrial Base,” led by FGV, has been awarded financial support by the Brazilian Education Ministry’s graduate education support agency, CAPES, as part of the fifth edition of its Program to Support Teaching and Scientific and Technological Research in National Defense (Pro-Defense 5).

The project, which involves Brazilian institutions such as the Army Command and General Staff School, the Air Force University, the Higher Defense School, Fluminense Federal University and Mato Grosso Federal University, as well as Colombian educational institutions such as the University of Valle and Colombian National University, obtained the highest possible score in the merit analysis criteria, placing it among the 15 initiatives recommended for financial support from CAPES. In all, this edition of the Pro-Defense Program attracted 79 research project proposals from across Brazil.

Professor Paulo Negreiros Figueiredo of the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV EBAPE), the proposal’s main coordinator, says, “This project aims to explore the intersection between public policies, industry, dual-use technologies and national defense, to help promote a development agenda for the Brazilian defense industrial base, encompassing its multifaceted social, strategic, economic and technological dimensions. This is a high-priority objective of the National Defense Strategy and, more recently, of the New Brazilian Industry Program.”

Professor Guilherme R. Garcia Marques, the project’s deputy coordinator, says, “The multidisciplinary approach envisaged in the proposal, integrating elements of administration, economics and geopolitics, will be fundamental if we are to make progress in understanding the complex challenges faced by our defense industrial base.”

The Pro-Defense Program is run through a partnership between the Defense Ministry and CAPES, with the goal of stimulating joint research and graduate education projects in national defense, in order to develop, consolidate and disseminate Brazilian thinking in this strategic area.