Transcript ApexBrasil - DebateGraph

Country Experiences in Pursuing National
Digital Transformation: Brazil perspective
Virgilio A. F. Almeida
National Secretary for Information Technology Policies
Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
Palo Alto, October 2015
Warning:
NO MATTER WHAT THE CURRENT SITUATION IS, ONE
THING SEEMS CLEAR: THE FUTURE WILL BE DRIVEN BY
THE DIGITAL ECONOMY.
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Main obstacle to create a digital transformation strategy:
LACK OF AN INTEGRATED AND STRATEGIC VISION FOR
THE DIGITAL FUTURE, THAT IS USUALLY SPREAD OVER
SEVERAL MINISTRIES AND AGENCIES
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Brazil
5th largest territory in the world
Facts and figures
Population: 210 million
85% living in urban area
GDP: USD 2.246 Trillion in 2013
ICT MARKET 169 billion US$ in 2013
North
GDP: 14%
POP: 27.8%
ARE: 18%
105 million Internet users (2014)
Northeast
GDP: 5%
POP: 8.3%
ARE: 45%
Center west
GDP: 72%
POP: 57%
Southeast
GDP: 10%
POP: 7.4%
ARE: 19%
GDP: 55%
POP: 42.1%
ARE: 11%
South
GDP: 17%
POP: 14.4%
ARE: 7%
Source: IBGE 2011
Obstacles
• Due to the nature of digital technologies:
• The transversal, distributed and multidisciplinary nature of digital
technologies is a blessing and a curse: initiatives are scattered in different
directions;
• The lack of understanding by high-level government officials of the
disruptive nature of digital technologies;
• The way different parts of government view digital technologies: e.g.:
culture (IP, political), telecommunication (telcos), S&T (innovation),
economy (taxes);
• Digital technologies are viewed as means that might increase inequality;
• The fast pace of the digital technology evolution:
• 2011 – use of tablets
• 2015 – tablets are declining – now are IoT and sharing economy tech;
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Obstacles
• Due to characteristics of developing economies
• Competition for resources between digital transformation initiatives and
fundamental and legitimate needs of the society, such as water supply, sanitation,
waste disposal, public transportation, etc. (false dilemma)
• Traditional economists and policy makers do not ``understand’’ the digital
economy; their focus is mainly concentrated on fiscal adjustment, inflation, taxes,
regulation, IMF, etc.
• Digital transformation strategies should go hand-in-hand with economic agendas,
but usually they are not related.
• In large countries, national strategies are difficult to implement due to deep
regional differences;
• Setting national long-term goals is difficult, due to the fast changing pace of
technology;
• Lack of indicators and statistics on the use of information and communication
technologies in many countries.
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What can be done?
• Short and long term initiatives: concrete actions
• Focus of digital transformation strategies should be on people – not technology;
e.g.: let’s take the case of IoT: Who benefit from it?
• Training programs for high-level government officials;
• Education – emphasis on STEM disciplines;
• Attract scientists from social sciences and humanities to study the digital
transformation of the society;
• Attract girls and women to digital technologies;
• Use TV Networks to create role models for the digital economy : presence of
software engineers, programmers in soap operas, local movies, music shows, etc
• Modernize government interfaces with apps that facilitate the daily life of citizens
(in particular poor people). Governments have difficult to do this. Simple question:
compare the popularity of FB, Google, Whatsup with e-gov services.
• Create MOOCs, through public-private partnerships, to attract and equip young
people of the less-favored classes with digital technology skills. Use a combination
of technology, art and music.
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What can be done?
• Government macro initiatives
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A digital transformation strategy must be part of the economic and political agenda of
the country;
A digital transformation strategy should be a combination of a central (federal)
government initiative with regional initiatives for the digital future (e.g. startup
programs)
Strengthen cyber-security programs in a multi-stakeholder way.
• Private Sector & Society
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Include digital technologies issues in the agenda of political parties, similar to what was
done with environment issues;
Collect and make statistcis about digital society publicly available
Creation of think-tanks in developing countries to understand the impact of digital
technologies:
• Impact on job creation and destruction is not well studied and understood;
• Impact of digital on the food production chain;
• Impact of digital on healthcare;
• Impact of digital on public safety.
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Positive Characteristics of Brazil
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Modern cyberspace governance framework
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Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) – multistakeholder organization
Marco Civil – Internet Civil Rights Law
Personal data Protection Bill –
Large set of statistics and indicators on the use of Internet and ICT:
http://cetic.br/english/
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ICT in Health 2014
ICT in Electronic Government 2013
ICT in Brazilian Schools 2013
ICT Kids Online Brazil 2013
Society is open to new technologies
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Government programs to reduce taxes on products for the digital economy: PCs,
smartphones and tablets.
Association of digital initiatives with social programs of government-based
Startup programs
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Agenda for Digital Brazil: 2016-2018
Main Areas
Digital
Society
Competitiviness
Government as
Plataform
Technological and Digital Sovereignty
Crosscutting Initiatives
Thanks!
[email protected]
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