German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)

The São Paulo Office has been established in collaboration with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The DAAD is the world's largest organization supporting the international exchange of students and scholars. It maintains contact with and provides advice to its main partner countries on every continent via a network of 14 regional offices and 50 information centers. In Brazil, the DAAD has been operating a regional office in Rio de Janeiro since 1972, and an information center in São Paulo since 2001. With an annual budget of € 370 million (2009), the institution runs over 250 programs, through which it funds more than 55,000 German and foreign scholars worldwide per annum.

---

German Houses of Science and Innovation (DWIH)

The initiative to establish German Houses of Science and Innovation (DWIH) in strategic partner countries was jointly started by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany. It shall intensify the exchange of scientific personnel and ideas and serve as platform to stimulate the initiation of new research cooperation and innovation projects between German researchers and their partners in the host countries.

The staff of the DWIH São Paulo is strongly supported by two consortium members to identify the ideal location and legal framework for the future House: a) The German-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in São Paulo (AHK São Paulo) and b) the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

The joint representation of German Science and Innovation in one location will create synergies between the German organizations themselves and will increase the visibility and accessibility of the German Science landscape especially for our Brazilian partners.

In this context the German House of Science and Innovation in São Paulo will offer:

• Information and News – about the German and Brazilian Science landscapes
• Network and Contacts – in science, innovation and economy
• Services and Coordination – for events, exchange of personnel and  cooperation
• Innovation Bridge – between young innovative companies from Brazil and Germany

---

Partner Universities

Freie Universität maintains wide-ranging international contacts to other universities and organizations that provide key impulses for research and teaching. In the 1950s, Freie Universität had already established partnerships with leading American universities such as Stanford, Princeton, and Columbia, as well as with Western European universities. Today, Freie Universität has more than 100 bilateral partnerships worldwide and more than 340 university partnerships within the ERASMUS mobility network.

A list of current partnerships with Brazlian universities can be found here.