Over the past seven years (2016-2022), Brazil has suffered successive tax adjustments aimed at balancing public accounts, directly affecting investments in science and technology. Although the year 2014 also brought negative economic results and a much lower GDP than expected, from 2018 onwards significant cuts and resource emergencies were observed in the field of science.
The new Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Luciana Santos, announced that science will be a priority in the country and highlighted the need for investments in basic sciences for the country’s technological development. She laid out her priorities, including the realignment of the region’s budget, the full implementation of the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FNDCT) and a commitment to expand and strengthen the national science, technology and innovation system and to prioritize the return of scholarship programs from study to research.
Low resources in technology
The most significant recent MCTI portfolio reductions have been in CNPq and FNDCT grants, due to Interim Measure 1,136/2022, which has made these resources emergency. to me national index Science, Technology and Innovation In the MCTI (2021), there has been a decline in public spending on science, technology, research and development since 2015, both in terms of aggregate values and in relation to GDP.
The COVID-19 pandemic scenario further contributed to the emergency measures that freeze investments in various sectors of the economy, but also emphasized the need to invest in science and innovation and their direct impact on health.
In June 2022 a Search Conducted by the Knowledge Observatory – a platform created in 2019 by associations and federations of public university professors that advocate education and research guidelines for the benefit of the country’s social and economic development, it determined that the scientific research budget lost more than 80 billion in the past 7 years, which was represented in June 2022 Only 38% of what was invested in 2014.
The current scenario and the lack of specialists
The current minister, Luciana Santos, is in Meeting With President Lula on the 13th (Friday), he talked about the portfolio budget and the FNDCT emergency. She claims that these cuts affect the generation of knowledge and science in the country and also advocates readjusting research grants from both CNPq (affiliated with the MCTI) and Capes (affiliated with the Department of Education).
Luciana pointed out the need to train the workforce specialized in information and communication technology. Citing the case of Porto Digital in Recife, which has more than 2,000 vacancies to meet the demands of providing technology services, it showed the importance of training professionals to work in this sector.
reports Recent reports comment on the wave of dismissals and financial and business reshuffles of the world’s major technology companies, “Big Techs”, which have been shaped by market giants, such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta. This information may give the false impression that the market does not need a global IT workforce, but according to a report by the Brazilian Association of Information Technology and Communications Companies (Brascom), the demand for these professionals is expected to jump from 70,000 vacancies to 329,000 vacancies by 2024 in Brazil alone.
On the one hand, if it is the largest consulting firm in the world, Mackenzieit is estimated that automation could cause 45 million people to be relocated or lose their jobs, on the other hand, there is great potential to make machines and people collaborators rather than competitors in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution scenario, as stated Article Recently published by Stanford.
Challenges and goals for the coming years
The challenge for the new minister is to return investments in science and technology at least to the level prior to the fiscal adjustments of recent years. For private companies that want to start or continue investing in innovation, a viable alternative that continues to grow in subscriber numbers is government incentive mechanisms, such as The law of good (Law No. 1,196/06) and the Information Technology Law (Law No. 8,248/1991) and FINEP, which can be used in the formation of technological competencies generated from human resources allocated in innovation projects.
Maisky, who has been in the sector for more than 20 years, sees the country’s potential as great and says the demand for IT professionals tends to increase further with the advancement of technology and the power of artificial intelligence (AI). He reiterates that investment in basic sciences and qualified work are necessary for social and economic development and for Brazil to move from being a supporting player to being a champion in the sector.
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