The governments of Sweden and Brazil have agreed to further strengthen their cooperation with regard to civil and military aerospace research. The collaboration, announced during the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff's, visit to Sweden, means that Sweden's and Brazil's Defence departments and Ministries of Enterprise and Innovation will assemble a joint steering group for aerospace research.
An introductory meeting was held on Monday October 19 between government representatives from both countries to delineate the details of the partnership.
"This venture will allow us to strengthen the valuable relationship already shared between Sweden and Brazil forged by the Gripen deal," says Saab's Deputy CEO, Senior Executive Vice President, Lennart Sindahl. "In the long-term, we hope to be able to form larger projects together and bring the technology closer to the products. Together we can pool our resources and knowledge in order to attain increased global competitiveness."
Both Brazil and Sweden have been engaged in aerospace research for a long time, and complement each other well within the field of aviation. Brazilian industry delivers large civilian aircraft and has military aviation operations as well. Aside from its civilian aviation operations, Sweden is one of a small number of nations that has the capability to develop and manufacture modern fighter aircraft. Sweden's strong collaboration between academia, industry and government agencies is unique and, as a result, many countries are interested in understanding the inner workings of the Swedish aerospace industry and the research done there.
In a press release published on Monday October 19, Oscar Stenström from the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation explained:
"There is a great deal of interest in Swedish aviation solutions, for example, within design, production technology and sensor systems. This innovation partnership can lead to transfers within many other sectors and can create job opportunities in Sweden as well as Brazil."
Long standing academic exchange between the two countries
Saab already have an academic exchange project together with Swedish and Brazilian universities. The exchanges primarily take place within the Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre (CISB), which serves as an arena for innovation, research and development.
Source: Saab AB
