Th e Ex pa n sion of t h e M a t e r ia ls Scie n ce Ar e a
The Mat erials Science area has present ed an im port ant perform ance in t he last years. This has been show n by a st udy based in dat a m ining m ade bet w een 2003 and 2009 of t he art icles published in scient ific j ournals indexed by Thom son/ I SI (ht t p: / / w w w .fiocruz.br/ ioc/ m edia/ relat orio_2009.pdf) . While in t he w hole w orld t he Mat erials Science area expanded 34% in t hat period, t he growt h observed for all areas of knowledge w as sm aller t han 26% . I n Lat in Am erica t he Mat erials Science area has grown 39% in t he period 2003- 2009 and up t o 41% in Brazil. This show s t hat t he region of t he world t hat is charact erized by t he int ensive product ion of prim e m at t er has recent ly progressed very m uch scient ifically on t he com prehension, on t he developm ent and on t he opt im izat ion of new and convent ional m at erials. An exam ple is show n in t his edit ion of t he Mat eria j ournal, w hich present s t he possibilit y t o use nat ural fibers in engineering applicat ions w here t hey m ight subst it ut e w it h advant ages convent ional and synt het ic fibers. The next st ep t o t his scient ific advancem ent w ill be t he effect ive use of t hese and ot her new m at erials by t he societ y. To do t hat , an effort w ill be needed in t he t echnology innovat ion area t hat dem ands financial invest m ent and business creat ivit y. The Lat in Am erican area of Mat erials Science has creat ed t he basis for t his t echnological advancem ent , w hich is im agined t o be in it s daw ning process.
Sincerely yours,
