Analysis: Market reserve made the national computer industry a birthplace of clones

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When we talk about competitiveness, some people may not understand the real impact on their daily lives. But, obviously, they feel in their pockets when they need to buy their everyday companion — be it a cell phone, a laptop or a desktop.

To understand the evolution of the Brazilian IT market, we need to go back to 1984, when the first law on IT in Brazil, Federal Law No. 7,232/84, established the market reserve for the branch.

The objective was to induce government and private sector investment in the training and specialization of human resources aimed at the transfer and absorption of technology in microelectronic assembly, hardware architectures, development of basic and support software, among others. But what was intended to strengthen and encourage development turned out to be a resounding failure.

We could have had a vibrant industry back in the 1980s, but the market reserve law ended up making the sector a birthplace of clones, without the development of local technology.

The NE-Z80, manufactured by Revista Nova Eletrônica (linked to the famous Prológica), and the TK 80, produced by Microdigital, are clones of the Sinclair ZX80, a small home computer introduced to the British market in February 1980, which became famous for less than 100 pounds. Another example was the TRS-80 model, manufactured in the USA by Tandy Corporation and sold in the famous Radio Shack stores, which was also copied by Prológica. Around here, the equipment was named CP 500, and it was a great sales success.

Numerous copies of the Apple II, created by Steve Jobs, also appeared at the same time. Soon after, came the PCs developed by IBM, with the differential of open architecture, which encouraged the market to produce similar models. However, they cost up to ten times the value of an imported one, and the market reserve policy prohibited the importation of equipment if a similar domestic one was identified.

As there were numerous clones on the market, the most coveted models had their importation prohibited. The very high price practiced in Brazil made access impossible, resulting in a technological delay in the country.

Elebra, famous for manufacturing Emilia printers, had 5,000 employees. Like Prológica, it was a good example of the failure of information technology policy at the time. When the market reserve ran out, without incentives or plans for the Brazilian industry to become competitive, the result was the bankruptcy of practically the entire sector in Brazil.

Gradually, multinationals started to produce here, and appropriate incentive policies allowed the emergence of new players.

The importance of technology in the competitiveness of any business, as well as a country, is unquestionable. We lost decades with the policy of market reserve, making it clear the importance of incentives for the Brazilian industry to be truly competitive at a global level, without protectionism.

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