State has extensive network of research and knowledge production institutions
By Edwaldo Costa – São Paulo, SP
The Navy’s General Directorate for Nuclear and Technological Development (DGDNTM-Diretoria-Geral de Desenvolvimento Nuclear e Tecnológico da Marinha) transferred its headquarters from Rio de Janeiro to the city of São Paulo on July 18. The new facilities are located in the Navy Technology Center Complex, on the campus of the University of São Paulo (USP).
Among the factors that justify this transfer, we highlight the presence in São Paulo of important high-tech production centers and renowned universities, with their research centers and internationally recognized laboratories.
São Paulo, being one of the hubs with ideal conditions for research and development, will allow the Brazilian Navy to continue improving its initiatives in the search for the scientific-technological autonomy necessary to guarantee national sovereignty, as a primary task of the Naval Force.
The establishment of this new Headquarters is part of the progress in technology transfer and human resources training, through the programs of the Directorate, particularly in the nuclear area. The future vision of the nuclear sector demands intense synergy between the government, the industrial base and Brazilian society. The convergence of efforts increasingly contributes to a self-sufficient nuclear sector.
According to the Navy’s Director-General for Nuclear and Technological Development, Admiral Petronio Augusto Siqueira de Aguiar, the Navy’s commitment, through the DGDNTM, the central body for Science, Technology and Innovation (ST&I) of the Force, to make efforts to research, develop and adopt products and services with indigenous technologies, is permanent.
“The Science, Technology and Innovation System of the Brazilian Navy acts in a synergistic and dynamic way in the expansion and solidity of strategic partnerships with the Scientific Community, Industry, Institutes and Foundations, aiming to ensure the effective use of national technology capable of protecting and preserving the wealth and continental dimensions of the ‘Blue Amazon’, but which also materializes in social benefits and socioeconomic development for Brazilians “, explains the Director General.
On the occasion, the Rector of the University of São Paulo, Carlos Gilberto Carlotti Júnior, stressed that this union will accelerate Brazil’s nuclear development and facilitate innovation within the state. “We have in development the Conventionally Armed Submarine with Nuclear Propulsion. We have at the Polytechnic School an undergraduate course in Nuclear Engineering that was only created because of this partnership with the Brazilian Navy”, said the Rector.
Structure of DGDNTM
The General Directorate will be close to the Military Organizations that coordinate and collaborate for the advancement of the Submarine Development Program and, consequently, of the Brazilian Nuclear Program, such as: the Navy Technological Center in São Paulo, the Aramar Nuclear Industrial Center (CINA), the Navy Nuclear Development Directorate, the Aramar Nuclear, Biological, Chemical and Radiological Defense Battalion (BtlDefNBQR- ARAMAR), the Navy Studies Coordination Center in São Paulo and the Navy Technological Intendence Center in São Paulo. CINA and BtlDefNBQR-ARAMAR are located in the municipality of Iperó (SP), 125 kilometers from the capital of São Paulo.
However, the DGDNTM continues to operate in Rio de Janeiro, where it maintains the Navy Technology Center, the Center for Naval Systems Analysis, the Navy Research Institute and the Admiral Paulo Moreira Institute for Sea Studies.