Economic boom of new technologies requires balance between state and companies, says researcher

Only a balance between the State and private initiative will guarantee that Latin America does not lose the train of economic growth promoted by new technologies again.

The assessment is made by researcher Carlota Perez, for whom Brazil still has the capacity to lead this leap in development.

This Monday (29) the economist opened the New Economy course for Journalists promoted by iFood with the Sheet. Perez is considered one of the great experts in the relationship between technological change and economic development.

For her, there is a pattern in the cycles of great innovations that can help us understand the current moment and identify opportunities for the future. This is because, before the consolidation of a technological revolution, there is a moment of collapse – and the world is now experiencing the end of this period of failure and recession, says Perez.

“Each revolution is a distinct set of opportunities,” he says. “It’s important to understand the complexity of each revolution and how they encompass processes, systems — and many of them are revolutionary in their own right.”

One of the patterns observed by the researcher is that, at the end of periods of bankruptcy and recession, productivity jumps depend on a combined action between governments and companies.

The free market, he says, opens up many opportunities, but does not solve the problem of inequality. The state alone cannot handle development either.

“No country has jumped to leadership and development without a strong, clear and intelligent promotion of innovation by the State”, he says. “They all had a strong and active state and a dynamic private sector.”

She cites the examples of Asian countries that had development leaps since the 1980s, such as South Korea and Singapore. In the latter, she says, the government looked to the private sector for agents with the highest level and experience and with conditions to deal with the complexity of development processes.

“Neither to the State, nor to the market”, says Perez. What is needed, according to her, is a consensus in which all government bodies act and attract local communities, allowing the creation of capillarized networks of specialization.

For Perez, Brazil is a source of great concern precisely because of the disarticulation between companies and public policies.

“There is a lot of innovation, but they are isolated. It is necessary to have a clear direction, an ambition of how to work”, he says. “It calls attention to inequality, one of the worst in the world, with the exception of Venezuela [Perez é anglo-venezuelana]but I believe that Brazil has such great potential, it is a natural leader.”

The brain drain – the name given to the immigration of professionals, which has been intensifying in the technology sector – is a drama, in Perez’s opinion, and a movement that is difficult to reverse. “How do you want them to stay here if they don’t give you real opportunities?”

With Brazil just over a month away from presidential elections, Perez sees little room for dialogue if Jair Bolsonaro (PL) is reelected, but points out that it is up to the private sector “to make them understand, with universities, unions. about politicians.”

Journalists, professors and communication students from all over the country participate in the course on the New Economy. There will be 30 hours of training in weekly meetings in online and face-to-face formats. Discussions on behavior, new businesses, conscious capitalism, sustainability, the role of the state and labor relations are on the agenda.