Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo, or FAPESP) is a public foundation located in São Paulo, Brazil, with the aim of providing grants, funds and programs to support research, education and innovation of private and public institutions and companies in the state of São Paulo. It was founded in 1962 and is maintained by endowments by the State government which are guaranteed as a fixed percentage of the State's tax income, besides the income generated by the financial fruition of its considerable assets.
FAPESP has been and still is an extremely important institution for Brazilian science. More recently its investment on directed and priority projects, such as genomic science and industrial innovation, has resulted in a big international visibility for Brazilian science and technology. It has also supported the strong use of digital information technologies in São Paulo, such as the Academic Network of São Paulo (ANSP), which is the academic Internet provider in the state, SciElo, one of the largest projects of scientific digital libraries in the world, and a pioneering network of virtual research institutes. The academic network of São Paulo is currently being upgraded to be one of the fastest in the world (TIDIA), using optical networking technologies.
FAPESP has also been lately active in the popularization of science. It publishes a science magazine, Pesquisa FAPESP, which has been awarded the José Reis Award for the Divulgation of Science by the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).