Amazon needs fiber optics now – 08/27/2023 – Ronaldo Lemos

Thinking about the Amazon from the perspective of technology and the knowledge economy is an interesting exercise. I am in this task because of the recording of the 7th season of Expresso Futuro, which this time takes place in the region.

Right off the bat, you can see that there are changes going on. Especially because positive agendas for the Amazon have returned to the cycle of interest in Brazil and abroad.

To understand technological processes, it is always necessary to think of at least four layers: infrastructure, hardware, software and content. All are on the move in the Amazon region, with the first being the fastest changing.

The arrival of Elon Musk’s Starlink is bringing internet connectivity to people in the most remote places. Before that, the connection infrastructure was already advancing in the region, but slowly, with the use of geostationary satellites from the Hughes company and the installation of optical fibers along the course of the rivers. The arrival of Starlink changed the game. The company is on its way to becoming dominant in much of the region.

The consequence of this is that expanding internet access in the Amazon becomes a priority issue. The region cannot depend on a dominant provider.

The answer that needs to be given is clear: more connection, with the acceleration of widespread fiber installation. But now with total urgency and also thinking about the arrival of the service to the end user, promoting competitive and high quality local providers.

Starlink needs to be celebrated, but it is also a warning sign for Brazil to stop hesitating about connecting the Amazon. His arrival reminds us that, now, ignoring this issue is hatching a serpent’s egg in the country.

With regards to the hardware layer, there is also a lot going on in the region. Starting with the Federal University of Amazonas (Ufam).

In addition to its campus being one of the most impressive in the world, integrated into a native forest reserve of over 600 hectares in Manaus, there are many projects coming from there. For example, research on nanopolymers carried out in Professor Edgar Sanches’s laboratory, using materials from the region.

There are both materials for industrial and medicinal applications, such as a “bandaid” made from plant polymers with healing properties.

As for software, there is the relevant work done by Professor Edleno Moura in computer science with a practical application bias. Several Brazilian startups are connected to his work and his laboratory at Ufam has become a developer hub for companies from the Southeast as well, many of them “unicorns” with well-known names.

In the content layer, the work done on games at the University of the State of Amazonas based on the Ludus Lab is interesting. It is an interdisciplinary laboratory that brings together people from different backgrounds thinking about building games. From programmers to designers, from story writers to music composers.

As McLuhan said, new media content is old media. Games are examples of this: they absorb cinema, music, theater, texts, etc. To develop them competitively, a multidisciplinary effort is always needed. Ludus Lab is betting on this.

In short, at different speeds, the Amazon region is building the foundations to expand its participation in the knowledge economy, the economy of people and ideas. This is certainly a sustainable path.

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