São Paulo – No country in the world can aim to develop without a well-made data policy. So said Brazilian lawyer and technology expert Ronaldo Lemos (pictured above) on Thursday (11) in an online event hosted by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC). The webinar got viewed by around 700 people from Brazil and elsewhere.
According to Lemos, the world lives in a data economy and countries must have a data policy. Data legislations must both protect information and promote innovation. “It has to allow the data to circulate and be used for innovation,” he said. The expert believes these two purposes – protection and innovation – are equally important.
Lemos showed how data collection is all around us in the current society, as information is being generated on the people and the world around us at all times, when we access the web, do groceries, ask questions to our phones, pass under smart cameras on the street.
The lawyer gave a history of how the world reached this level, starting with the Internet, which was just a computer network in the 60s, through the 90s, until it became a people network. “We are at this point where a great value is being generated by connecting people,” he said.
But a new phase is coming, too, of connecting things. Any thing can be connected to the network and so acquire new functions, from the electric iron to the city infrastructure. “As connecting people generates value, connecting things also generate an extraordinary value and is a trend that is open to be explored and innovated across all countries. It’s not established yet,” he said.
And there’s the Internet of services, made primarily with Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is something increasingly present in people’s lives. “With this huge change going around us, we’re moving deeper and deeper into a data economy,” said Lemos during the webinar.
Tech China
The lectured talked about how China is an example of technological change. He hosts the TV show “Expresso Futuro” on Canal Futura and recorded in 20 Chinese cities. Lemos pointed out China used to be a poor, agricultural country from the 40s to 70s and has managed to take a leap, first to become an industrial economy and then a technological economy.
Lemos identified the four pillars adopted by China to develop competitiveness in information technology: AI, cloud computing, Internet of things, and big data. “These are the four pillars the country has used to boost the economic development, job creation, population management, income distribution, and public service delivery,” he said.
The lawyer also mentioned the Smart Dubai project, which uses AI to develop the emirate, as a source of inspiration for Brazilian cities and suggested the ABCC promotes the exchange of experiences between Brazil and the Arab countries from the information technology perspective. The idea was readily accepted by the entity’s president Rubens Hannun, who participated in the webinar.
Lessons in a connected world
Lemos shared five lessons from his travels across the globe that can be useful for people in a rapidly changing technological scenario: The ability to learn, the search for practical knowledge, teamwork, the change in knowledge in products and services, and the relation of the digital change not only with the country’s institutional and industrial capacity but with individuals as well.
The expert said the challenge for developing countries is to become competitive in information technology. “Brazil is great in turning natural resources into products and services, but in today’s world that’s not enough. We must learn to turn knowledge into economic value,” he said.
When asked by Hannun about how Brazil is positioned regarding the technological change, he said one of Brazil’s challenge is the government’s digital change, although it has seen advancements and positive sides. He believes the digital transformation is well planned in Brazil, but it needs to be implemented.
Blockchain
When asked by ABCC secretary-general Tamer Mansour, Lemos talked about blockchain, a certification tool he described as decentralized and auditable that can be useful for the Brazilian agribusiness. “For the agribusiness, the blockchain can have a very positive impact,” he said, recommending its use for certifying products and processes, including those regarding environmental issues, which add value to products compared to the competition.
The webinar “Prospects for the Economy, Innovation and Technology in 2021” also featured a lecture by Bahrain’s economist dr. Jarmo Kotilaine, who addressed the economic situation in the Arab countries. The ABCC staff presented the entity’s activities calendar for 2021. Find out more in other stories.
Watch the full event on YouTube.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
