In 2025, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) contributed 6% to the national scientific output. The magnitude of this impact can be evidenced by the more than 700 citations our research received in documents that defined global public policies, by the presence of 82 faculty members in the Elsevier Top 2% ranking, and by nine areas of study ranked among the top 100 in the world. Additionally, Unicamp received the CNPq institutional merit award granted to the PIBIC program, and CAPES classified 82% of our postgraduate programs with scores higher than 5, and awarded the Grand Prize for Thesis in the area of Exact, Technological and Multidisciplinary Sciences.
Maintaining the operation of a research ecosystem of this magnitude requires a continuous and efficient flow of supplies and equipment. Recently, the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the largest funder of research conducted in the State of São Paulo, transferred responsibility for import processes to the universities. Something that was previously recognized for its efficiency and speed was transferred to São Paulo universities without adequate time for the incorporation and adaptation of this task into the routine of research groups and the Central Administration.
Although Unicamp has tax immunity to import research items without incurring taxes, the required customs and fiscal procedures are highly complex. The alternative of operationalizing imports through the Unicamp Development Foundation (Funcamp) was implemented in the first half of 2025, but it ran into the exhaustion of the annual global import quota for research from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in the middle of the same year, which would force the foundation to bear the tax expenses in an unsustainable way.
To avoid halting imports carried out by Funcamp and related research, Unicamp made an emergency decision that, given the situation at the time, import requests of up to US$18 would continue to be processed by Funcamp and that the respective import taxes would be paid with extra-budgetary resources from the agreement fees collected for FAEPEX. This action enabled the import of 255 research items between September and December 2025, 238 of which were linked to projects funded by Fapesp, reflecting a positive impact on research conducted at Unicamp. The institution's administrative and financial effort, as well as the financial cost of this decision – approximately R$2,3 million – represented a quick and respectful response to our community, which is always committed to academic excellence.
Simultaneously with Funcamp's actions, imports with values exceeding US$18 began to be handled by the General Directorate of Administration (DGA), utilizing Unicamp's tax exemption. During the same period, 12 import processes were finalized by the DGA and 11 are in progress. Of these 23 processes, 20 are linked to Fapesp and three to projects of the Financing Agency for Studies and Projects (Finep).
We acknowledge that this contingency model has increased import processing times compared to FAPESP's previous approach. However, we have found new administrative methods for carrying out imports and have assumed the burden of these taxes. These were crucial institutional decisions to maintain the continuity of activities in research and extension laboratories.
The Central Administration of Unicamp, including the PRP (Pro-Rectorate for Research and Graduate Studies), together with the DGA (General Directorate for Administration), the Attorney General's Office, FUNCAMP (University Foundation for Campinas), and FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation), are working to establish the legal means and instruments that will allow FUNCAMP to act with the DGA to begin importing research items, utilizing Unicamp's tax exemption. In addition to making all international acquisitions made with FAPESP funds tax-exempt, this initiative will reduce the University's dependence on the use of CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) funds, providing greater security and predictability to the processes of importing research equipment and materials. Therefore, we reaffirm: "Research at Unicamp matters."
