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Instituto Iracema

EMBRAPII

Non-reimbursable funding to share the risk of innovation

EMBRAPII funds part of pre-competitive industrial R&D projects, with no repayment required. Instituto Iracema acts as an executing partner on projects with EMBRAPII Units in Ceará.

What it is

A network of accredited ICTs serving industry

Embrapii — the Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation is a Social Organization created in 2013 by the Ministries of Science, Technology and Innovation and of Education. It currently holds a management contract with those two ministries plus the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services, and institutional partnerships with BNDES and Sebrae.

It connects the scientific knowledge of its Network of Units — accredited public and private ICTs — to industry's innovation demands, providing non-reimbursable funding and sharing the risk of the pre-competitive stage. Each Unit may only contract projects within the area of competence it declared in an Action Plan approved by EMBRAPII.

The thirds model

In the traditional model, project cost is split into three contributions.

up to 1/3

EMBRAPII

Non-reimbursable financial resources, provided towards contracting the project.

2/3

Unit and company

Negotiated between the two parties. The Unit may contribute economic resources — laboratories, researcher hours — or financial ones.

cash only

The company's counterpart

The contracting company must provide its counterpart in financial resources only. It is the one part that does not admit an in-kind contribution.

The percentages are ceilings, not fixed amounts: each project is negotiated case by case, following the rules in EMBRAPII's Operating Manual.

Two modalities

Modality 1 — the traditional model

A pre-competitive R&D project between one company and one EMBRAPII Unit, with support of up to one third of the value.

Modality 2 — Partnership for Solutions

A project contracted jointly by at least two companies, at least one of which has gross operating revenue of up to R$ 90 million in the previous fiscal year. In that case EMBRAPII's support may reach 50% of the project value.

In either modality, contracting is continuous flow: there is no call for proposals and no need to wait for one.

The Institute's role

You bring the challenge. We turn it into an EMBRAPII project.

You do not need to go looking for an EMBRAPII Unit, or know in advance which one fits your case. The whole negotiation can be handled with the Institute: your company arrives with a technical challenge, we turn it into a project in the form EMBRAPII approves, and we route it to the partner Unit best suited to the subject.

That is where most of the work lies. Framing the demand within the right area of competence, making the case for where the innovation is, sizing the technology readiness level, building the work plan and the counterpart — that is what separates a project approved quickly from one sent back for revision. The Institute has been doing this with industry since 2012.

Formally, the party that contracts the project and receives EMBRAPII's funding is the accredited Unit, and the Institute acts as executing partner. In practice, you have a single point of contact, from the first outline to delivery.

The choice of Unit is technical, not geographical: the areas of competence of the two partner Units — embedded systems, digital mobility, power conversion and industrial automation — are the very ones in which the Institute develops projects for industry.

The partner EMBRAPII Units

Two Units based in Ceará, each with its own accredited area of competence. These are where we route the project, depending on the subject.

Unidade Embrapii IFCE

Part of the Polo de Inovação IFCE, a structure of the Federal Institute of Ceará created by IFCE CONSUP Resolution No. 50/2021. The Unit was approved through Public Call No. 02/2014.

Area of competence

Embedded Systems and Digital Mobility

It also develops projects in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

Unidade Embrapii IFCE website ↗

Unidade EMBRAPII LESC/UFC

Based at LESC — the Computer Systems Engineering Laboratory of the Federal University of Ceará.

Area of competence

Complex embedded systems at various levels

With an emphasis on power conversion, fault diagnosis and industrial automation.

Unidade EMBRAPII LESC/UFC website ↗

Eligibility criteria of the Unidade Embrapii IFCE

Each Unit sets its own. These are the Unidade Embrapii IFCE's and apply to it — they are not a general EMBRAPII rule.

  • Projects in embedded systems and digital mobility
  • Projects of an innovative nature
  • Projects at maturity levels 3 to 6 on the TRL/STRL scale
  • Partner company with a CNAE code in the 05 to 33 range, 62.01-5 or 62.03-1
  • Financial counterpart from the partner company

Small businesses

EMBRAPII + SEBRAE

Up to 90% of the project funded, with no repayment at the end

The programme EMBRAPII and SEBRAE: Innovation for small businesses and startups combines both forms of support: EMBRAPII provides up to 50% of the total project amount, the remainder is negotiated between the company and the Unit, and SEBRAE covers up to 70% of the counterpart set for the micro or small business.

Who can take part

Micro and small businesses with annual revenue of up to R$ 4.8 million.

How much SEBRAE covers

The figures below are the ceiling on SEBRAE's share of the company's counterpart. They are not project value ranges.

  • A project by a single micro or small business up to R$ 150,000
  • A project by a micro or small business together with a medium-sized or large company up to R$ 200,000
  • A project bringing together several micro and small businesses up to R$ 300,000

Project management and the financial reporting of the investment, including the company's counterpart, are the responsibility of the EMBRAPII Unit.

Talk to us about an EMBRAPII + SEBRAE project

Intellectual property

Intellectual property in the solution is negotiated directly between the contracting company and the EMBRAPII Unit, under the rules of the Operating Manual. There is no automatic ownership: it is part of what the contract defines.

How your company contracts a project

Continuous flow, no call for proposals. This is EMBRAPII's official path, from challenge to start of execution:

  1. 1 Defining the technological challenge
  2. 2 Identifying the expertise required
  3. 3 Finding an EMBRAPII Unit qualified to develop the technology
  4. 4 Scheduling a meeting with the Unit to present the challenge
  5. 5 Assessment of project feasibility by the Unit
  6. 6 Presentation of the project scope to the company
  7. 7 Negotiation of contractual terms
  8. 8 Signing of the contract
  9. 9 Transfer of funds to the EMBRAPII Unit
  10. 10 Start of project execution

In practice, a company that comes to the Institute does not walk the first steps alone: we turn the demand into a project, identify the Unit with the right area of competence, and carry the presentation through to contracting.

Have a technical challenge and want to share the risk?

Tell us the problem. Our team assesses whether it fits the area of competence of one of the partner Units and puts the scope together.

Talk to our team

Official sources