By JOSÉ DIRCEU*
The launch of the new phase of NIB in September is important because it deals with the digital transformation of the industry that is transversal to all its segments
The goals and objectives seem consistent and the update of the New Industry Brazil (NIB), the industrial policy of the third Lula government, articulated with the new PAC and the Ecological Transformation Plan, has everything to rebuild and modernize our industry, increase its productivity and competitiveness in the foreign market, prioritize the densification of production chains that bring comparative advantages to the country and invest in technologies that reduce our dependence and enable us to generate more qualified jobs and be more competitive.
The great barrier to the development of policies that have everything to be virtuous are the high interest rates that continue to be practiced by the Central Bank, without any rational cause to justify them other than the appetite of the financial market that today exercises enormous power in relation to the State institutions. And high interest rates, as we know, inhibit investment.
Even with this uninspiring scenario, the launch of this new phase of Nova Indústria Brasil in September is important because it addresses the digital transformation of the industry that is transversal to all its segments. Total investments of R$186,6 billion were announced. Of this total, R$100,9 billion will be provided by the government, through Finep, BNDES, BNB, Embrapii and Basa – with R$42,2 billion already being implemented in 2023/2024 and the remaining R$58,7 billion disbursed over the next two years.
The private sector will invest R$85,7 billion in digital transformation, distributed as follows: companies in the electrical and electronic sector, R$34,8 billion; semiconductor industries, R$24,8 billion; companies that invest in research, development and innovation of their products and solutions developed in the country, R$16 billion; and the American Amazon, one of the largest data storage companies in the world and which operates in e-commerce, streaming and artificial intelligence, R$10,1 billion.
The goal of the digital transformation program is that, by 2026, 25% of Brazilian industry will have adopted at least three of the important digital technologies to improve productivity and competitiveness, such as cloud services, ERP/CRM, big data, service robots, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. By 3033, the goal is to cover 50% of the industry.
In parallel with the work of evangelizing the industry, which has been carried out by institutions such as Senai/Senac, ABDi and Embrapii, which served, within the Brasil + Produtivo plan, 33,5 thousand companies last year and will serve another similar contingent this year, at a cost of R$ 1,5 billion, calls were launched by Finep and BNDES for the development of smart factory projects involving resources of R$ 560 million (part credit and part non-reimbursable resources).
Production chains
Dubbed mission 4 of the New Industry Brazil, the digital transformation also focuses on strengthening production chains that have already been mapped and in which the country can have comparative advantages (whether to reduce external dependence, due to the expectation of market growth, opportunities in Latin America, the employment of more qualified labor and an increase in the average salary, etc.).
Among them, the semiconductor industries (chips and design) stand out. en casa), industrial robots (mobile manipulators, digital twins, humanoid robots) and advanced digital products and services (cloud computing services, digital platforms, audiovisual industry and gaming industry).
It is important to highlight that digital transformation is one of the four axes that the Plano + Produção addresses for the New Industry Brazil, to increase innovation and digitalization of the industry in search of greater competitiveness and development of new sectors. The other three axes are more production (producing with higher quality and reducing costs), more exports (improving the external insertion of Brazilian industry with a focus on increasing exports with higher added value) and more green (decarbonizing the industry to increase Brazil's contribution to combating the climate crisis and generating quality jobs).
To achieve the goals of mission 4 of the New Industry Brazil, there is a regulatory environment that allocates resources to the sector that need to be used within a more systemic program. We have the ICT Law (PL 13/2020), formerly the Computer Law, which, according to the MCTI, benefits more than 500 companies in Brazil, resulting in investments of R$2,8 billion in R&D&I.
Last year, the Padis – Program to Support Technological Development of the Semiconductor Industry represented an investment in R&D of R$62 million, generating revenue of R$1,8 billion in the companies receiving incentives. Two other initiatives complete the measures for the success of Mission 4: a R$4,5 billion credit from Finep for digital transformation in the period 2024/2026, and R$2 billion financing from BNDES for data centers green.
As we can see, the country is on the right track. There is still a need for greater coordination between the government and industry, workers' organizations and civil society to transform this and other missions, which benefit everyone, into common causes that mobilize the various segments of society in the defense of their interests. But we will only build consensus if the government is successful in taming the interest rate.
* Jose Dirceu he was Minister of the Civil House in the first Lula government. Author, among other books, of Memoirs – Vol. 1 (Editorial generation). [https://amzn.to/3H7Ymaq]
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