On 7th October 2021, the annual meeting of the German-Brazilian research initiatives BRAGECRIM (Brazilian-German Collaborative Research Initiative on Manufacturing Technology) and CRI-SCMfg (Collaborative Research Initiative on Smart Connected Manufacturing) took place. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the meeting was held virtually as already in the previous year.

The almost 70 participants included representatives of the German and Brazilian funding agencies DFG and CAPES, Brazilian and German scientist as well as BRAGECRIM alumni.

The virtual meeting started with a welcoming speech of the coordinators of the initiatives – Prof. Enzo Frazzon from Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) and Prof. Michael Freitag from the University of Bremen. Prof. Frazzon was pleased with the good participation and Prof. Freitag pointed out the importance of the annual meetings for the exchange among the initiatives, but also and specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic where travels are severely restricted.

Further speeches were delivered by the director of CAPES, Lívia Palumbo and the director of the Latin-American office of the DFG, Dr. Christiana Peters. In her opening message Ms. Palumbo emphasised the impact of this cooperation with respect to the German-Brazilian science cooperation. Dr. Peters clearly pointed out that the network impressively demonstrates the importance of coordinated cooperations.

Subsequent to the welcoming speech, the Brazilian and German scientists were shortly presenting their current project results. Their topics ranged from materials science and manufacturing processes to production and maintenance planning and particularly addressed the possibilities of digitalisation in these fields.

Despite the Covid-19 restrictions, the four new CRI-SCMfg projects, which started within the last two years, achieved impressive results, issued several publications and established new contacts to business partners.

At the beginning of the third part of the meeting, a Brazilian and a German alumnus shared their personal experiences with BRAGECRIM, pointing out its positive effect on their personal career in science and industry. Finally the statements of Lucas Bacas and Clarissa Soares (CAPES) as well as Dr. Sebastian Heidrich and Dr. Dietrich Halm (DFG) addressed the advancement of the cooperation. Highlight of the meeting was the announcement of the second call for proposal for new projects within the CRI-SCMfg.

Some information on the initiatives: BRAGECRIM and CRI-SCMfg unify more than 30 Brazilian and German universities, research institutes and industrial partners to one research network among the strategic topics production engineering and digitalisation. Main goal of the cooperation is to sustainably strengthen the industrial sector in both countries by fundamental and applied research as well as by knowledge exchange of scientists.

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