Mobile Time – 10/03/2026
By Isabel Butcher
In its regulatory agenda for 2026, the Abes suggested the creation of Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation and Digital Infrastructure. The Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES) believes it is necessary to address the issue of "Technology" systemically, not only in the Federal Government but also in state governments and the National Congress. To this end, ABES has proposed to hold roundtables with all candidates for President of the Republic and for state governorships in states with a higher concentration of its members, such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, and Rio Grande do Sul. The proposal is for candidates to include concrete suggestions for digital transformation in their political platforms, with clear goals.
There is no intention to promote a candidate for state governor solely based on technological rhetoric, but suggesting policies focused on this issue will be essential.
“Here at Abes we have niche business verticals, with companies that offer solutions only for smart cities or for health, for example. We can instill in the minds of public managers the perspective of digital transformation as a government program. Perhaps we can achieve a much better reality. We can envision a horizon of change in this way,” says Marcelo Almeida, Director of Government Relations at Abes, in an exclusive interview with Mobile Time.
ABES's strategy in Congress
Marcelo Almeida, Director of Government Relations at the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (ABES). Credit: Press release
Although the National Congress is not the association's main focus at the moment, the idea is to encourage the candidacy of people who have already experienced the good and the bad of entrepreneurship in the technology sector and who want to take the cause to the political arena.
“Today in the Brazilian parliament, we identified that the topic of technology is disconnected when we consider more minute issues. One example is Redata. Associating technology infrastructure with artificial intelligence is not a good approach because infrastructure offers far greater possibilities and benefits for the country than AI processing,” he explains.
Almeida points out that including Redata in the AI legal framework bill by Congress ended up hindering the progress of the infrastructure project. “And everyone who deals with technology – software companies, engineering firms, importers, and other companies that offer technology to the public – wants Redata. This strategy [combining the two issues into a single bill] stems from a political construction, but also from a lack of understanding of what can truly bring good results for Brazil.”.
Therefore, Abes believes that in this moment of political renewal it is important to find people with "a discourse closer to the regulated reality, to the reality experienced in the economy and in technological production," summarizes Almeida.
With the aim of attracting these people, Abes will promote discussion groups with candidates to try to incorporate the discourse of Brazilian technological transformation into their political platforms, a topic that needs to be revisited "and which cannot remain just a promise," he summarizes.
“We need to achieve digital literacy in Brazil and set goals for it, give a number that creates commitment and requires us to work towards it. We must analyze the past to project the future,” he says.
To achieve this, Abes will incorporate several KPIs into the Brazilian digital transformation strategy that do not currently exist.
“If I have 386 data center infrastructures, how many do I want to have in four years?” he asks. “We have the perspective of trying to influence the electoral process so that we can substantially build a technology caucus in Congress. It's not a technology caucus that's more concerned with taking selfies in the middle of the plenary and posting them online. It's a group that understands the importance of creating an institutional dialogue on technology so that we can move to the next level. It's a systemic discourse, aimed at positioning Brazil on this chessboard. Creating possibilities,” he explains.
THE Abes He's not thinking about creating a parliamentary front for technology, but about having politicians engaged in the cause.
“We don’t need a parliamentary front. We have credentials and we’re going to use that to get our message across. The fact is, I feel the lack of someone like you have in the ”bullet caucus,’ the police, the people in agribusiness who experience the problems of agribusiness firsthand; we need someone who has gone through a journey in technology, managed to become an entrepreneur, and decided to transform their journey into a political agenda. I don’t see that person in the current National Congress. I have to try to create synergies to put these people on the board. That’s what we have in a democracy,” he states.
Criticisms of the current government
According to Almeida, the current federal government is making successful, albeit sporadic, efforts. This is the case with the advancement of government digitalization, with improvements in systems such as public procurement bidding or the Ministry of Health, which is progressing in digitalization.
The proposal is that, by creating a national digital transformation strategy with a dedicated ministry involved, technological matters should be centralized, permeating all ministries. This makes it easier to measure the impact of public policies according to sectors such as education and health. "And within those ministries, structures are created for, for example, data market optimization, artificial intelligence, policies for vulnerable populations regarding accessibility, digital literacy, and so on," he summarizes.
“All of this connects with other agendas, with other ministries. When I talk about literacy, I'm talking about the Ministry of Education. But if you look at the organizational structure of the Ministry of Education, technology isn't transversal; it's within higher education training and development. So, literacy has to be present everywhere,” believes Almeida, who sees the lack of a systemic perspective in the government as a weakness.
Therefore, if the plan to create the ministry fails, Abes wants to convince the presidential candidates that centrality is essential for the issue to be systemic.
“Why don’t I have digital literacy throughout the Brazilian education system? Why is my software engineer living in Lisbon? Why aren’t the best qualifications in Software Engineering or Computer Science in Latin America in Brazil? That’s what it’s about. It’s about creating a native digital transformation environment,” says Almeida.
“The idea behind the centrality of transformation is to enable a systemic perspective in the construction of public policies for the next four years in Brazil. And we are open to dialogue; we want to hear what the candidates have to say. We want to hold meetings with the gubernatorial candidates from these states and with the presidential candidates as well,” he adds.
