Starting in 2021, the second round of proposal submissions in the BRICS Framework Program began, and member countries decided to conduct competitions with greater order. In this round, the number of flagship projects increased, and the volume of financial support was strengthened.
The fifth call in 2021 was held in two stages. South Africa added two new funding institutions, namely the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the Water Research Commission (WRC), bringing the total number of funding institutions to 12.
The winning projects were implemented over two to three years, with budgets provided by the funding institutions. In total, around 333 proposals were submitted in 10 thematic areas to the Secretariat in 2021. Details are shown in the blocks below.
Number of proposals submitted in BRICS Fifth Call (2021)
Among the submitted proposals, 33 projects received funding. The thematic distribution of these projects is shown in the chart below.
Data from this round shows that call outcomes are not directly linked to a country’s scientific capacity, but rather to the funding volume of institutions. The more budget a country allocates, the more projects from that country may be selected.
Reviewing 2021 projects shows that a significant portion of financial support continued to be allocated to biotech and biomedical fields. This insight can be useful for countries like Iran to provide targeted support aligned with national priorities.
The sixth round took place in 2023, focusing on key topics related to climate change and adaptation. Project duration was set to three years. In total, 104 proposals were submitted across four thematic areas, with 19 projects selected for funding.
In this round, China and India had the highest participation (81 and 80 proposals, respectively). Brazil submitted 74 proposals and led in selected projects. Russia performed worse than in previous rounds, with funding institutions reduced from three to two, and the main institution unable to provide extensive funding due to structural changes.
