The Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) is a distinctive scientific and technology research funding agency in Brazil, that supports grants and research projects in one of the most industrialized states and where three of the most important public universities of the country are located. The vital landmarks of its history are connected to the 1940s, in the post-war period, when a new industrialization process started. It is also in such period that the discussions on the scientific and technological policies definition are intensified.

Even though it was established in 1947´s State Constitution, FAPESP was implemented in the early 1960s with financial and scientific autonomy, i.e., with freedom to define its own research agenda. In the late 1980s, FAPESP´s budget increased from 0.5% to 1% of the state tax collection to reach appropriately the new demands from other society sectors, such as the need to expand the technological research in a partnership with the industry. The funds have also been essential to develop scientific projects with local and overseas reach. The researches supported and developed encompass all the knowledge fields, from cosmic rays to health, from the environment to microelectronics, from climate changes to bioenergy, from internet to genome, among others. Through all FAPESP´s history, a high quality level has always been required from its projects, as per the peer and external consultant review scientific standard.

The goal of this article is to describe and analyze FAPESP´s history over its 50 years of activities, based on three different stages. The first one, from 1962 to 1989, could be defined as laissez-faire, in which the scientific and technological spontaneous demands servicing was focused. The second one, from 1990 to 2006, was a modernization stage in relation to the current procedures of the scientific and technological policy with spontaneous and induced demands; and the third one, the internationalization stage, in which the Brazilian research relation expansion and deepening fostering is presented and evidenced, especially the production of the state of São Paulo, with acknowledged excellence scientific research international centers.

This presentation is based on work co-authored by Marilda Nagamini and Paulo Escada.