This report was published at Foreignaffairs.com at October 28,2011 and was written by Ronaldo Lemos (Director of the Center for Technology and Society at FGV), this is a summary and the title is above.
On October 13, Brasilia reached an agreement with Foxconn, the largest global manufacturer of eletronic components, to build iPad in Brazil. Backed by a $12 billion investment drawn in part from BNDES. The country`s business class celebrated the deal, which has long been marred by excessive protectionism and a deficit of engineers. Unfortunately, their optimism is misguided: Even if the production goes off without a hitch (a big if), the iPad will not put Brazil on a path to becoming an technology giant.
Although Brazil has moved away from its protectionist tendencies of the past, challenges to technology development are still considerable. When Brazilian President spoke about the agreement in may, she said it would create 100,000 jobs, 20% for engineers. But Brazil might not even have 20,000 engineers available to hire. A study indicates that Brazil is fast approaching an engineering deficit, especially considering that if professional migration and the present growth continue, some 330,000 engineers will be in demand by 2015.
But staking the future of Brazil`s technology sector on Apple`s device - as opposed to focusing on affordable technology that could be consumed by more people domestically - will not encourage development. Exporting the iPad to markets abroad may not work. Moreover, because Apple tightly controls the iPad`s technology, foxconn`s plant will hardly lay the foundations for long-term innovation through the spread of technological prowess.
Take for example, the Chinese manufactures Wei and Eyo, each of which produces its own iPad spin-off. Both companies produces technology items that are either unknown or rejected by traditional reviewers but are hugely popular among lower-income consumers. In Brazil, they sell for only $140 (as opposed to the iPad $930).
Brazil` s technology sector would do well to learn from Chinese companies, which operate in clusters based on an open-hardware policy of sharing designs and circuits. This encourages new business, makes manufacturing easier, and keeps the cost of the final product down. Their affordable products are not merely copycats, as many reviewers insist.
One solution would be to create a media lab - a collaborative research initiative among universities, companies, and government - aimed at meeting the technology needs of low-income populations through original, cheap designs in hardware and software.
Brazil could also provide incentives for local companies to partner with many global manufactures besides Foxconn to produce low-cost products under an open-hardware policy. There are plenty of international researchers, engineers and designers passionate about this goal - people like Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the MIT media lab, who has been championing the One Laptop per Child project for years. With little cost, Brasilia could attract talents to Brazil and offer them partneship with universities and local business.
