Brazil Internet of Things (IoT) national action plan

The plan is aimed at positioning the country in the forefront of technology development within the next five years.
 

The document, which will subsidize the preparation of the IoT National Plan  was released this Tuesday, 3rd , in the Brazil Auditorium of FutureCom, in São Paulo

The study includes more than 70 initiatives for innovation, human capital, regulatory environment, and connectivity

Emphasis will be made on health, smart cities, industrial, and rural areas

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) and the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation, and Communications (MCTIC) this Tuesday, 3rd, launched the results of the study Internet of things: an action plan for Brazil, which will subsidize the development of the IoT National Plan. 

The release took place in the Brazil Auditorium of Futurecom 2017, the largest event on information technology of Latin America, which takes place in São Paulo until Thursday, 5th . “Brazil needs to be ahead on the IoT scenario. BNDES is the active institution to put the plan in motion,” stated the Managing Director of Planning, Research, and Information Technology of the Bank, Carlos Da Costa, who represented the institution at the release.

The study gathers more than 70 proposals to guide public policies and actions on the internet of things between 2018 and 2022, including proposals focused on environments mapped as priority such as: health, smart cities, industry, and the rural environment. “It is time to materialize the study results and deliver them to society,” said the Director.

Da Costa emphasized the plan is an opportunity for the Bank to act as inducer and supporter of the planned initiatives as well as to review and improve their innovation support instruments. “Investing in innovation is strategic to BNDES, that is why we conducted this study along with the MCTIC,” he added.

The impact potential and relevance of the IoT to the country can be evidenced in the study proposals such as supporting pilot projects in these prioritized environments. For instance, we could mention initiatives such as “Hospital 4.0,” which reduce queues for hospital services, operation costs, and hospital infection, among other indicators. In rural areas, we may highlight initiatives such as “Fazenda Tropical 4.0” (Tropical Farm 4.0), which increases the productivity and quality of Brazilian rural production using data that, for example, help to accurately monitor biological assets. 

In the industrial area, the implementation of the IoT in small and medium-sized companies allows increasing local manufacture productivity, through more efficient and flexible factory processes, those of productive chains integration, and the design of products and business models of greater aggregated value.

Mobilizing agenda – The study also shows the need for increasing the offer and quality of technical, professional, and extension programs focused on basic competences on the internet of things as well as the incentive to the IoT adoption through funding of studies and pilot projects that demonstrate significant benefits in adopting such technologies. Another singled out bias is the importance of implementing a regulatory framework, with an improvement of legal and institutional aspects, to deal with the increasing risks to information security.

Thematic innovation networks, according to the document, will also be created, in such a way that large companies, startups, and research centers can generate, more and more feasible projects to the market, with the combination of public and private funding. Da Costa considers the internet of things as a perfect mobilizing agenda to accelerate the absorption of gains that technologies can bring to the country. “As quickly as possible we will deliver to society  gains to city environments, health, rural, and industrial areas,” he said.

National Study of the IoT – Selected last year through a public call from BNDES, the consortium McKinsey/Fundação CPqD/Pereira Neto Macedo conducted the study Internet of things: an action plan for Brazil. The diagnosis stage was the first one of the work, concluded in March, in order to obtain an overall view of the IoT impact on Brazil, to understand the national competencies of information technology and communication, and to define the initial aspirations for the IoT in the country.

The second stage, of selection and prioritization of vertical and horizontal themes, ended in May. In September, the third and last stage of works was concluded, which resulted in the preparation of a vision and action plan for the 2018-2022 period. The fourth and ultimate step, implementation support, is dedicated to the preparation and implementation of the Action Plan.