By Maurício Antônio Lopes, president of Embrapa
Modern science creates unprecedented opportunities for all citizens to be involved in the life of society. A clear impact of the latest scientific and technological advances is the expansion of connectivity. It empowers citizens with information and multiple interaction environments, creating innovative mechanisms for participation, sharing and building solutions to society's problems. There is a great effort underway to make broadband internet and digital tools available everywhere that increase access to services and decision-making channels, as a way of promoting civic engagement and enabling a more participatory development model. , comprehensive and systemic.
The impact of scientific and technological advancement is also evident on the economy and markets. The economic development model based on the industrial revolution and the oil economy gives way to a new economy, centered on knowledge and on multiple platforms created by information technology, capable of producing and disseminating innovations with great speed and efficiency. The wealth of solutions created by information technology makes the world migrate to a reality of reconversions and ruptures faster than any other process of change ever experienced in all human history. Since 2000, information technology has already made more than half of the 500 largest corporations in the world, ranked by the specialized magazine Fortune, disappear.
At a time when science opens up a multitude of new possibilities, governments, legislators and companies are challenged to act quickly to align their decisions to the emerging reality. Leaders and thinkers of economic development are being pressured to formulate rules and model incentives that prepare the productive sector for a new paradigm of growth and progress. These circumstances indicate that, in a world dominated by knowledge and technology, talent will be the most valuable and also the most expensive component to train and retain and, therefore, policies and incentives aimed at training and retaining talent for the new economy will possibly become the most critical components in defining the success or failure of nations.
The knowledge economy also offers us a new path to face the main challenges of our time, which are interconnected and dependent on systemic solutions. Climate change that goes beyond the physical limits of nations; economies that are excessively carbonized and dependent on non-renewable natural resources; interdependent and dynamic markets; demographic changes that produce a more urban, older, more educated and more demanding society; expansion of pluralism and diversity — spanning geography, culture, governance, etc., are some examples of challenges that portray the complexity ahead.
The good news is that the strong convergence between different branches of science is helping us to build a new understanding of the world and, with that, providing us with knowledge and innovations to overcome previously intractable challenges. The rapid collapse of barriers between the natural sciences — such as physics, chemistry and biology — gives rise to new strands of knowledge that enable an integrated and systemic understanding of the natural world. Genomics, big data, internet of things, advanced automation, predictive analytics, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence are examples of new strands of the natural sciences that will allow us to respond to many complex challenges.
The big question is that equal progress has not yet reached most of the social sciences. While technological development advances at an exponential pace, politics, economics, law and, above all, education follow a linear pace, with little focus on reaching the systemic solutions that the world so desperately needs. It is worrying, for example, that a large number of countries are not able to organize a process of harmonious and distributed development that reaches, trains and empowers communities, where the life of nations, in fact, pulsates. This reality is evident in Brazil, a country where regions, states and municipalities operate according to disconnected and asymmetrical processes, which makes the prospects for advancement in the new knowledge economy and systemic development that the future requires minimal.
It is therefore essential that this discussion gain space in the formulation of plans, projects and goals for the country, in preparation for the 2018 elections. This is the ideal time to innovate, discussing the importance of systemic planning, talent, science and technology to build a development paradigm capable of making Brazil a winner in the emerging economy, which will be marked by complexity and knowledge.
The impact of scientific and technological advancement is also evident on the economy and markets. The economic development model based on the industrial revolution and the oil economy gives way to a new economy, centered on knowledge and on multiple platforms created by information technology, capable of producing and disseminating innovations with great speed and efficiency. The wealth of solutions created by information technology makes the world migrate to a reality of reconversions and ruptures faster than any other process of change ever experienced in all human history. Since 2000, information technology has already made more than half of the 500 largest corporations in the world, ranked by the specialized magazine Fortune, disappear.
At a time when science opens up a multitude of new possibilities, governments, legislators and companies are challenged to act quickly to align their decisions to the emerging reality. Leaders and thinkers of economic development are being pressured to formulate rules and model incentives that prepare the productive sector for a new paradigm of growth and progress. These circumstances indicate that, in a world dominated by knowledge and technology, talent will be the most valuable and also the most expensive component to train and retain and, therefore, policies and incentives aimed at training and retaining talent for the new economy will possibly become the most critical components in defining the success or failure of nations.
The knowledge economy also offers us a new path to face the main challenges of our time, which are interconnected and dependent on systemic solutions. Climate change that goes beyond the physical limits of nations; economies that are excessively carbonized and dependent on non-renewable natural resources; interdependent and dynamic markets; demographic changes that produce a more urban, older, more educated and more demanding society; expansion of pluralism and diversity — spanning geography, culture, governance, etc., are some examples of challenges that portray the complexity ahead.
The good news is that the strong convergence between different branches of science is helping us to build a new understanding of the world and, with that, providing us with knowledge and innovations to overcome previously intractable challenges. The rapid collapse of barriers between the natural sciences — such as physics, chemistry and biology — gives rise to new strands of knowledge that enable an integrated and systemic understanding of the natural world. Genomics, big data, internet of things, advanced automation, predictive analytics, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence are examples of new strands of the natural sciences that will allow us to respond to many complex challenges.
The big question is that equal progress has not yet reached most of the social sciences. While technological development advances at an exponential pace, politics, economics, law and, above all, education follow a linear pace, with little focus on reaching the systemic solutions that the world so desperately needs. It is worrying, for example, that a large number of countries are not able to organize a process of harmonious and distributed development that reaches, trains and empowers communities, where the life of nations, in fact, pulsates. This reality is evident in Brazil, a country where regions, states and municipalities operate according to disconnected and asymmetrical processes, which makes the prospects for advancement in the new knowledge economy and systemic development that the future requires minimal.
It is therefore essential that this discussion gain space in the formulation of plans, projects and goals for the country, in preparation for the 2018 elections. This is the ideal time to innovate, discussing the importance of systemic planning, talent, science and technology to build a development paradigm capable of making Brazil a winner in the emerging economy, which will be marked by complexity and knowledge.
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