Brazilian IoT plan inches closer to reality
Brazil's national strategy for Internet of Things (IoT) has moved closer to reality as the plan has now been submitted today (June 14) to be signed into law.
The minister for science, technology, innovation and communications, Marcos Pontes, has forwarded the final version of the hotly anticipated plan to president Jair Bolsonaro, which has been subject of much debate and changes since the end of the previous administration.
The document sets out the national strategy for stimulating business and attracting investments based on technologies related to IoT, as well as the introduction of some incentives.
The four core verticals of Brazil's IoT plan are Smart Cities, Healthcare, Agribusiness and Manufacturing. The plan was preceded by a study , funded by Brazil's National Development Bank (BNDES) and carried out by a consortium led by consulting firm McKinsey.
Getting a final version of the plan, which estimates the generation of 172 billion reais ($44 billion) to the Brazilian economy, was one of minister Pontes's main goals since taking over the MCTIC in January.
Internet of Things is, however, a topic MCTIC had been working on for the last couple of years. Previous minister Gilberto Kassab was pushing for the release of a decree that would implement public policies for IoT in Brazil before the end of the mandate of previous president, Michel Temer. But Temer ended his mandate and the decree was not signed.
Talks of a national IoT plan in Brazil started back in 2015 when a working group was formed to set guidelines to foster research and development activities, the creation of related businesses and connect isolated initiatives.