How much public universities contribute to research in Brazil?

As Brazil’s fiscal crisis worsens, education has ended up at the forefront of the government’s contingency plans. While lack of funding is nothing new for Brazilian students and researchers, the minister of Education claims that federal universities have become a place for “shambles,” instead of knowledge, sparking a deeper question: how much do Brazilian universities contribute to science in the country?

There is more than one way to measure the importance of a university. According to Brazil’s Intellectual Property Index, 28 percent of patent requests last year were filed by institutes of education and research, and the government. Large corporations, meanwhile, were responsible for 18 percent of the 7,473 total applications.

Besides quantity, Brazilian research is also recognized abroad. According to the Research in Brazil report, provided by Clarivate Analytics, Brazil is the 13th largest producer of research publications globally and the country’s “citation impact”—a measure that analyzes how relevant research is for other studies—has increased 18 percent from 2011 to 2016. The study also shows that among the 20 most important Brazilian universities, 15 are federal institutions.

Brazilian research is also having an important impact outside...