The implementation of 5G internet could add around $1.2 trillion, or approximately R$ 6.5 trillion, to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2035, according to a study by Nokia. The technology brought by 5G, with its high-speed performance, the possibility of multiple connections, and low response time, has the potential to foster the development of technologies that will optimize the productive sector and significantly impact the country’s economic growth.

The boost in innovation and economic competitiveness driven by 5G was discussed on the 11th of the last month during the first edition of the international seminar 5G.BR, promoted in São Paulo by the Ministry of Communications. One of the event’s panels focused on the revolution that the new technology could cause in the industry and the economy of the country. The speakers debated how the fifth generation of mobile data impacts digital transformation, enhancing the use of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Igor Calvet, president of ABDI, believes that with 5G, we are experiencing the fourth industrial revolution, which went through steam, electricity, data processing, and now will take advantage of the integration of the physical world with the digital one, with an optimization never seen before.

“We are facing something that can enable a revolution from the industry’s point of view. I would say that this connectivity allowed by 5G will bring consumers closer to suppliers, will bring the supply chain much closer, will bring various areas within the company closer together. So, the connectivity that will indeed provide the connection of various actors, and between the physical and digital worlds,” says Calvet.

The CEO of V2COM, Guilherme Spina, explains that 5G will directly impact industry productivity and effectively enable the digitization of real assets, with greater value generation and cost reduction.

“Waze is an asset optimizer. The city has an investment in assets, which are the streets, and the use of these assets in a non-digitized manner generated a series of bottlenecks. If we think of an industrial environment, which has a series of assets in place, 5G will enable the emergence of ‘wazes,’ the optimizers of this installed capacity, improving productivity,” explains Spina.

The WEG group, of which V2COM is a part, has been conducting tests for two years on 5G technology in private networks and production structures. The tests have shown that fifth-generation internet will leverage the digitization of the production environment and provide gains in support processes, improve managerial decisions, and reduce risks and waste.
Industry 4.0

According to a survey by the Ministry of Economy, the use of 5G solutions could represent an impact of R$ 590 billion per year in the country, both due to increased productivity and cost reduction enabled by Industry 4.0.

The high data navigation speed of 5G, combined with the low response time of commands and the capacity to support connections of multiple devices on the same network, is what favors the development of 4.0 business models, with increasingly intelligent factories and production spaces.

In the so-called Internet of Things, connected machines “talk” to each other, opening space for applications such as big data, automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence. These are technologies that optimize production, integrate processes, ensure greater efficiency, reduce costs, and increase the competitiveness of the Brazilian productive sector.
Upcoming seminars

The capitals Porto Alegre, Natal, Manaus, and Brasília will host the next editions of the 5G.BR Seminar, where the Ministry of Communications will continue to discuss the advances made possible by the new technology and the means to apply them in service of citizens. Of these upcoming capitals, only Porto Alegre and Brasília have already made 5G available. Natal and Manaus are still awaiting the completion of the cleaning of the 3.5 GHz band. The entire 5G implementation process in the country’s capitals should be completed by September 29 to meet Anatel’s requirements.

Source: Brasil 61

The technology market has been growing steadily and rapidly in Brazil over the past two years. This data was released by a survey from the Applied Information Technology Center (FGVcia). The same survey indicates that the adoption of Digital Transformation processes and information technology in companies happened earlier than expected, meaning what was supposed to occur over one to four years was accomplished in months.

The survey points out that at the beginning of 2023, Brazil will reach the milestone of 216 million computers (desktops, notebooks, and tablets) in use, which means it will achieve the mark of 1 computer per inhabitant (100% per capita). Studying and working in a hybrid manner continue to be on the rise.

A survey by the Association of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Digital Technologies Companies (Brasscom) estimates that by the end of this year, R$ 345.5 billion will be invested in the area, with a focus on big data, cloud storage, and the Internet of Things. The sector is expected to grow until 2024.

Santa Catarina companies are examples in the quest for innovation in the IT area
Research for innovation and the development of new technologies has been fundamental to the sector’s growth. Companies have been seeking to foster this process. An example is Ellevo, a company based in Santa Catarina and present in 22 countries. It recently had a Research, Development, and Innovation project approved under the Human Resources Training Program in Strategic Areas (RHAE) of CNPQ in partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation.

According to Ellevo’s CEO, Irene Silva, the objective of the RHAE program is to encourage the participation of researchers, especially masters and doctors, in development and innovation to further contribute to the technology market. “Another point to be highlighted is the encouragement to seek innovative solutions for problems or improvement of products, processes, and services,” she says.

These initiatives are important for retaining researchers in the country. Last year, Brazil received $45.7 billion in technology investments. This amount represented 1.65% of the $2.79 trillion invested in the area worldwide. Brazil can grow more. The data is from the Brazilian Association of Software Companies (Abes). This 1.65% represents an increase of 17.4% compared to 2020. In 2021, the country reached 10th place in the ranking of technology investments.

Source: infor channel

It is impossible to think of a prosperous nation without considering technology as one of its main engines of development. As we witness the advancement of new technologies, we need to be clear about the importance of putting investment in innovation on the agenda as one of the key pillars for promoting the economic and social growth of a country.

In 2022, Brazil is undergoing another electoral process, electing leaders in the state Executives, as well as the president of the Republic, members of Congress, and legislative assemblies. In this new scenario — and regardless of who is elected — we need to work with the vision of the technology industry and the research and development ecosystem as strategic and essential for the future of the nation.

Broad support for these areas is fundamental not only for the efficient management of public and private entities but, above all, for propelling the well-being of an advanced society. The main public agents, especially at the highest levels of the Executive and Legislative branches, must prioritize the advancement of the technology and innovation agenda in the country — focusing on medium and long-term policies.

In recent years, especially during the pandemic, we have seen how fundamental technology has been in ensuring the continuity of basic activities — both in public and private sectors. The so-called digital transformation has reached unprecedented levels. For example, since 2020, technology has played an essential role in enabling the inclusion of basic financial and social services for the population. Examples of this include the granting of Emergency Aid, with the benefit paid entirely digitally; the implementation of Pix, the Central Bank’s instant payment system; and, more recently, Decree No. 10,977/2022, which stipulated the new identity card — called the National Identity Card (CIN) — being gradually implemented in all federative units.

Brazil has a history of adopting technology to automate processes and streamline services to the population — even ahead of mature countries like the United States. However, there are still many challenges that hinder the sector from advancing further. The pursuit of efficiency supported by technology, improving services to citizens, must be constant. A series of measures can still be improved.

For example, in public health, with remote scheduling of appointments and telemedicine; in urban management, with improvements in traffic engineering in large metropolises; and in interacting with the population, with less bureaucracy in public service. This is without considering public safety, which has already been undergoing changes, with increased monitoring of public spaces through cameras that use computer vision and data analysis. All this will progress with the use of technology and innovation.

Whether due to competitiveness, regulation, or investment in education and training, Brazil faces the challenge of paying even more attention to sensitive points that impact its development in this area. One of these is the inclusion and training of technology professionals. Data from the 2021 Sector Report by Brasscom indicates that the country could create a demand for nearly 800,000 IT professionals by 2025. However, there is still an annual deficit in the training of these talents of around 106,000 people, requiring a rethink on how to increase this pace of qualification.

To further advance the technology and innovation agenda, we need to build a national project focused on digital transformation opportunities for the population, creating technology jobs from anywhere with better remuneration, aiming at the digital economy. The new reality has shown us that young technology professionals no longer need to be in major urban centers to seek highly qualified positions in the sector.

The government should view this challenge as a long-term opportunity. The advancements of new technological tools as promoters of innovation, such as 5G mobile networks and cloud computing, will be fundamental to supporting a new phase of technological growth worldwide. Brazil cannot afford to miss this chance.

From 2023 onwards, future governors and legislators need to see technology as a fundamental means to accelerate the development of our country — improving the quality of life for citizens and offering opportunities in a fair, equitable, and connected manner. We are facing a new context that begins now and can bring decades of accelerated development. It is in our hands to ensure that the 2020s will not be another lost decade.

Source: Poder360

Shutterstock offers one of the largest image libraries on the market. Now, the company will begin selling AI-generated images on its platform, according to a press release revealed on Tuesday (25). This new development is the result of a partnership with OpenAI, the creator of Dall-E.

The partnership will expand Shutterstock’s catalog. If you’re not familiar, the platform offers one of the largest image libraries in the world. This means that users of the service will have access to both photos taken by cameras and images created by artificial intelligence systems, such as Dall-E.

The company stated that this new feature deepens the partnership between the two companies, established in 2021. “The data we licensed from Shutterstock was critical in training Dall-E,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Now, the collaboration between the two companies will move forward.

“When this integration launches on Shutterstock in the coming months, customers will have direct access to these AI image generation resources, enhancing their creative workflows,” they announced.

Shutterstock will pay royalties to photographers

Contributors to the image library will not be left unsupported. In a press release, the company stated that users will be compensated for the content that helped develop the technology. The compensation will be offered through royalties when intellectual property is used to create images developed by OpenAI’s system.

This is a legitimate concern. On the other hand, I echo The Verge’s sentiment: it is a significant move, but there are many legal and ethical issues in this discussion. Especially when it comes to copyright – after all, these AI-generated images use other content to create the final file.

But Shutterstock seems to have a solution. The company explained to the site that “ownership of AI-generated content cannot be attributed to an individual.” Therefore, this approach “should compensate the many artists involved in creating each new piece of content,” which justifies the prohibition of images generated by other systems in the repository.

New feature will arrive in the coming months

The AI-generated images are not yet available. According to Shutterstock, consumers will have access to the content “in the coming months.” The company did not provide pricing details. However, the platform may keep access available to subscribers of the service, which starts at $29 (around R$150) per month for the annual Image Subscription plan with monthly payments.

Royalties payments will be made every six months.

In addition to Shutterstock, Microsoft also wants to utilize the capabilities of Dall-E. On the 12th, the company announced Designer, which is notable for its integration with Dall-E. This solution from the company behind Windows aims to compete directly with Canva.

Source: tecnoblog

Carbon: a simple element that represents very deep problems for us.

The excess of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere contributes to global warming, with the threat of irreversible climate collapse.

However, carbon is also the essential building block of all life. It makes up the food that sustains us and provides the energy that fuels the economy.

So, if there is so much carbon in the air and we need this element for our daily lives anyway, why not use it to our advantage?

That is the idea behind several projects that aim to capture greenhouse gas emissions directly from the atmosphere and use them productively.

Climeworks from Switzerland and Carbon Engineering from Canada are two such companies that use Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and use it to make everything from pants to diamonds.

But these jewels, of course, come at a cost.

First of all, it is worth noting that DAC is not a “silver bullet” — and the sector representatives themselves admit this.

The process of capturing and extracting CO2 will likely release some carbon into the air. Furthermore, the technology is still very expensive, and its current contribution to removing pollutants from the air is minimal.

However, many experts believe that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology — which includes DAC — is one of the crucial tools we need to use to avoid a climate catastrophe in the coming decades.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — the United Nations body that assesses the science related to the issue — concluded in its April 2022 report that “deploying CDR to counterbalance residual emissions is inevitable.”

This need is recognized by the market. Much of the captured CO2 will simply be stored underground or at the bottom of the sea, but a growing sector seeks to use this essential element in production chains.

Data released by Reuters in 2021 showed that several startups involved with this technology raised about $800 million from investors that year to manufacture a variety of products using CO2 emissions. This amount is three times what was invested in 2020.

Here are some interesting things that can be made from polluted air.

Diamonds from ‘thin air’

Diamonds are essentially an extremely condensed piece of carbon. Aether, a New York-based jewelry company in the USA, produces diamonds from CO2 extracted from the atmosphere and ensures that all stages of the process are done with sustainable energy.

According to Aether, these lab-grown diamonds are chemically and visually identical to mined diamonds. The only way to tell the difference is through a deeper chemical analysis. They are even certified by the International Gemological Institute, just like “original” diamonds.

But how are diamonds made from pollution? First, in partnership with Climeworks, giant vacuums pull air from the atmosphere. Then, a special filter captures the carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

The CO2 is then sent to a facility in Europe, where it is converted into hydrocarbon methane, which serves as raw material.

This, in turn, is sent to Aether’s reactor in Chicago, USA, where extreme heat and pressure allow the diamonds to “grow.”

Essentially, the million-year heat and pressure process needed to create a natural diamond is done in a lab in about three to four weeks.

And Aether is not the only company investing in this idea — several others around the world are producing similar lab-grown diamonds.

Vrai, backed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, says its diamonds are created in a zero-emission foundry in the Pacific Northwest, using 100% hydroelectric power from the Columbia River in the USA — the foundry has been certified since 2017 by Natural Capital Partners for not producing excess carbon.

SkyDiamond, based in the UK, uses a similar process to make diamonds with only renewable energy, carbon, and rainwater.

Yoga pants and more…

LanzaTech, based in Chicago, USA, is also a carbon transformation startup, whose “product” is used to make everything from yoga pants to food containers and laundry detergent.

LanzaTech specializes in converting carbon released by industrial ethanol plants. This material is used to feed a type of genetically modified anaerobic bacteria.

These bacteria — first identified decades ago in rabbit feces — metabolize the gas and produce sustainable ethanol, which can be used to make a variety of synthetic materials.

In partnership with sportswear retailer Lululemon — famous for its yoga pants — the company created the world’s first fabric thread made from recycled carbon emissions.

Stronger concrete

Unlike CO2 capture that relies on giant fans, Heirloom, based in California, USA, uses limestone to capture carbon directly.

The company then stores this material permanently and securely underground or in materials such as concrete.

The technology works as follows: limestone, composed of calcium oxide (CaO) and CO2, is one of the planet’s most vital carbon deposits.

When ground and heated, the CO2 is released, and the remaining CaO acts like a “sponge” that absorbs some of this CO2 — which can return to its natural limestone state.

Heirloom places these CO2-hungry rocks in large trays stacked on top of each other like mini-buildings. This accelerates the limestone’s natural property, reducing the CO2 absorption time from several years to just three days.

In partnership with Canadian concrete company CarbonCure, the technology serves as an attempt to “mineralize” the gas in concrete.

When recycled CO2 is mixed into the concrete manufacturing process, it makes the mixture much stronger — which the partnership says is a win-win scenario for both the climate and the construction industry.

Concrete itself has been part of the climate problem, accounting for about 8% of global carbon emissions. Therefore, using it to permanently store recycled CO2 is an attractive solution.

The fact that concrete is so widely used and currently has no real substitute is also an advantage. Adding CO2 to concrete reduces the need to add more cement to the mixture (and this is the ingredient with the largest carbon footprint).

Heirloom says it aims to use limestone’s natural power to remove one billion tons of CO2 by 2035, using the “world’s most cost-effective” DAC technology.

Can we trust DAC?

While we can make many things with CO2 captured from the air, DAC is still a very nascent — and extremely expensive — technology.

According to a May 2022 report by the World Resources Institute, there are 18 DAC plants of varying sizes that capture just under 8,000 tons of CO2 per year. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of about 1,740 cars.

The cost of DAC ranges from $250 to $600 per ton of CO2 extracted — therefore, it is much more expensive than reforestation, which typically costs less than $50 per ton.

Part of the reason DAC is so difficult and expensive is that CO2 is very diluted in the atmosphere, at about 400 parts per million (ppm) in the air. To compare, if there were 5,000 tennis balls representing air molecules, only two of them would be CO2.

But Peter Psarras, an assistant research professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, says it is important to start and study the subject.

“The problem is that we are running out of time. That is why DAC and other CDR need to take on such an important role to achieve climate goals,” he told the BBC. “We have to start today; otherwise, we won’t be able to scale the technology in time.”

He adds that DAC is one of the simplest technologies to study and verify results because the scientific community has a “solid understanding of engineering.”

“DAC is happening in real-time, and you can see it in practice. You can observe the CO2 through a [system] into the ground. [DAC is] durable, easy to monitor and verify, but it comes at a cost.”

“Compare this to a forest, which has a series of variables that can impact the amount of CO2 that comes in and out of there. Measuring that is infinitely more complex,” the expert concludes.

Source: BBC

Using forest fire combat techniques combined with technology, the Military Fire Department of Mato Grosso do Sul managed to extinguish the fire in the Nabileque region, near Forte Coimbra, in the Pantanal. The flames were controlled after two days of work, and now the teams have been monitoring the region since yesterday (9th) to ensure the area’s safety.

The fire line reached approximately 4km in length. “On Sunday, we detected through geomonitoring that the fire was extinguished in Brazilian territory. Two teams remain on site monitoring and controlling the situation,” explained Lieutenant Colonel Tatiane Inoue, head of the CPA (Environmental Protection Center) of the Fire Department, which operates in Campo Grande.

The fire was identified on Friday (7th) after the CPA received images of the region in flames. “We gathered information through geomonitoring. Immediately, the team was sent to the location by boat along with the Army and began the combat. On Saturday (8th), two more teams arrived to reinforce the fight in the region,” explained Lieutenant Colonel Tatiane.

The fire line reached approximately 4km in length.
Sub-lieutenant Clodoaldo da Silva of the Corumbá Fire Department explained that one of the techniques used helped direct the fire to a wet area, which enabled the flames to be extinguished.

“Our forest fire team fought the fire in the region, and we realized that we were not successful with direct combat. So, we opted to use the ‘fire against fire’ technique and managed to direct the fire line towards the river. We used the same technique on the fire head that was approaching the Forte Coimbra region and directed it towards a bay. Drone images confirmed that there are currently no more fire outbreaks. We will keep a team on standby,” said Silva.

The area will be monitored for 48 hours to ensure no new outbreaks occur. Vigilance is expected to continue until tomorrow. The alert from the teams also exists because there are fire outbreaks in Bolivia, near the border region where the fire was extinguished.

Training in the Nascentes do Rio Taquari Park
The Fire Department recently conducted two training sessions for forest fire combat teams. Between June 28th and 30th, a pilot action was carried out in the Várzeas do Rio Ivinhema State Park, located in the municipality of Juti, which extends to Taquarussu and Naviraí.

The action gathered approximately 60 people, including firefighters and teams from Imasul (Environmental Institute of Mato Grosso do Sul), Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) through PrevFogo (National Center for Prevention and Combat of Forest Fires), brigadiers, and UFMS (Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul).

The same training occurred between July 5th and 7th in the Nascentes do Rio Taquari State Park. “The location has entirely different characteristics from the Ivinhema park region, such as vegetation, wind, humidity, and temperature. Everything was more unfavorable, a different experience. We had to postpone the start once, but when the work began, everything went well. It was a great learning experience to expand next year,” explained Leonardo Tostes Palma, manager of Conservation Units at Imasul.

Source: Acritica