* By Werter Padilha
It is a consensus among all of us that our Brazil has great challenges due to the negative impacts that this pandemic has brought to our economy, such as the generation of jobs and income. The economic measures, reform agenda and social policies are being revised and proposed with a view to lifting the country from falling even in the short term, returning to the resumption of growth in the medium and long terms.
I could be regretting (and reasons would not be lacking), but I consider it much more productive to point out the opportunities for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship that have been presented to Brazil in just over four months of the pandemic, which allows me to say that technological innovation in Brazil has not been quarantined.
On the government side, we had, in the period, several notices and selection processes coming from organizations such as Finep, Brazilian Company for Industrial Research and Innovation (Embrapii), Senai, Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development (ABDI), with the support of technology parks, accelerators and companies . Projects aiming at Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, big data, industry 4.0, health tech, among other technologies. On the private initiative side, it is worth remembering that Venture Capital (VC) investments also continued, where tech startups and more mature companies continued to receive contributions in the period, considering that only the Brazil represents more than 50% of the volume Latin America VC business. We are a power!
For example, a notice important project was promoted through a partnership between SENAI, ABDI and Embrapii, which selected more than 30 projects aimed at preventing, combating or treating the effects of the new coronavirus, in which R? 27.7 million. It is worthwhile to see the projects to be invested and to observe their creativity and innovation. Impresses! Still seeking to mitigate Covid-19, we have the Porto Digital Technological Pole in Recife, which, together with the Public Ministry of Pernambuco (MPPE), selected startups for open innovation projects in order to create solutions to face the pandemic thinking in short-term implementation. Another initiative worth mentioning was the challenge, carried out by 100 Open Startups, in search of innovative solutions in the most varied areas, such as distance work, health and treatments, retail, commerce and logistics, education, mobility.
Encouraging innovation beyond the pandemic
The IA2 MCTI Program, an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovations (MCTI) that is being conducted with the support of Softex, also advanced during this period. They announced the list of thirteen Institutes of Science and Technology (ICTs) and accelerators, which will select and support artificial intelligence projects in agribusiness, health, industry and smart cities, the four verticals prioritized by the National IoT Plan.
Coming out of the oven, which deserves to be highlighted, was recently launched by Finep / MCTI, with notice who will allocate R? 50 million in economic subsidy for 4.0 technologies, in search of excellence in solutions aligned with industry, health, agriculture and smart cities (again the priority verticals by PNIoT). Proposals from companies that contemplate at least one of the enabling technologies, such as: 5G, IoT, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Robotics, Cloud Computing, Additive Manufacturing, among others, will be analyzed.
And speaking of the so battered Brazilian industry, a sector that has already demanded a lot of technological digitalization and innovation within industry 4.0 for the new post-pandemic times, we have the traditional Innovation Notice for the segment via a partnership between Sebrae, Sesi and Senai, which aims to increase the productivity and competitiveness of our industry. Notice that has been reinforced with the mission of enabling entrepreneurial agents in solutions in the most diverse categories, including the special chapter for Rota 2030 that encourages the development of solutions for the automotive chain industry.
I could also talk, here and there, about Embrapii and its various lines in IoT, Route 2030, the most recent ones involving several new ICTs in agreements with many Federal universities; Finep Connects; and many others. I am a witness in person that there is a commitment orchestrated by the federal government via the Chambers of Industry 4.0, Agro 4.0 and Health 4.0 seeking to encourage entrepreneurship through these investments. Despite the freezing sensation that the pandemic brings us, it could present several other initiatives as good or better, but the fact is: Brazil has not stopped! Neither does our initiative, resilience and creative and entrepreneurial capacity, including our DNA to do / accomplish more with less.
Now, going back to talking about private sector investments, let us also see, for example, the agreement between the Qualcomm Ventures LLC - Qualcomm's investment arm, and the BNDES : they recently selected Indicadora Capital as the investment fund manager in the order of R? 160 million and which will invest in startups that develop products and services for Internet of Things.
Believe me, in the first 4 months of this year, despite the political, economic and health crises, investments in "seed" and "pre-seed" not only remained, but even increased compared to the same period last year. The data organized by the Astella Investments point out that VC contributions are a class of countercyclical assets and the total contributed by investors has gone up, with the main startups receiving contributions being fintechs, adtechs, healthtechs and retailtech.
Of course, with the pandemic, there is a business trend that points to the growth of investments in the areas of remote work, distance learning, telemedicine, last mile logistics, e-commerce, home entertainment and financial services. digital. Another direction has been the movement towards Fusions and acquisitions , which showed a retraction in April, but is already accelerating again and attracting contributions, mainly in the more resilient sectors, such as agribusiness and technology. The fall in interest rates in the domestic market is stimulating the migration of capital to the VC market, which, in turn, will invest its resources in businesses that prove to be more sustainable and more resistant - "camel startups" is a rising term. After all, lesson learned.
It is evident that we will not overcome the current crisis if we isolate ourselves. Investing in innovation and new technologies is fundamental to reversing this crisis and joining forces is essential to overcome the challenges, in addition to being attentive to government notices and opportunities through the attraction of investments, national and foreign, that characterize Brazil's strength in the world. I continue to invest in our human capital, in creativity, in the entrepreneurship capacity and resilience, in the good sense of opportunity of our investors. Everything well orchestrated will certainly make our Brazil happen.
* Werter Padilha has been working for over 35 years in the IT area, CEO of Taggen Soluções IoT and Sawluz, companies specialized in IoT / IA solutions and logistics / EDI processes. He acted as an advisor in the structuring of the Brazilian Internet of Things Plan. He is currently an advisor to ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies) and also an expert on the IoT Committee since 2016.
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