The e-Brasil Project was launched at the 33rd National Seminar on Public Informatics (SECOP 2005), held in Cabo de Santo Augustino, Pernambuco, Brazil on 13-14 October 2005. See the presentations made at that event by Peter Knight, Paulo Alcântara, Nagy Hanna, and Yuri Hohlov. The proposal is ambitious and seeks to raise awareness of political leadership at the state and federal level and of the public at large concerning the importance of a strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to accelerate Brazil's socio-economic development. The project seeks to promote the concept of e-development, which is more far-reaching than e-government, including the private sector, civil society organization, and academia as well as governments and public sector enterprises.   Peter Knight, Ciro Fernandes, Franklin Coelho, e Maria Alexandra Cunha The authors and core team of the project are Peter T. Knight, Ciro Campos Christo Fernandese Maria Alexandra Cunha ― two co-authors and a contributor to the book e-gov.br – a próxima revolução brasileira and the Coordinator of the Piraí Digital project, Franklin Dias Coelho. A book by Peter Knight with the title Rumo ao e-Brasil (toward e-Brasil) promoting the project was published in May 2006 by the Editora Garamond of Rio de Janeiro. See the cover and Author's Preface (in Portuguese).  This book is based on his articles previously published in the monthly financial sector magazine Banco Hoje, including a panel discussion with leading Brazilian authorities on e-governnment, e-learning, business executives from the ICT sector (e.g. Cisco, IBM, Micropower), members of the project's Advisory Council and journalists. The book can be purchased online from Livraria Cultura.     A second small book edited by Peter Knight and Ciro Fernandes with 61 autores, e-Brasil -- Um programa para acelerar o desenvolvimento socioeconômico aproveitando a convergência digital was published by Editora Yendis in September 2006. It contains the e-Brasil Program and 10 Point Program for e-Brasil Candidates. A third book, e-Brasil: Um terceiro livro, e-Desenvolvimento no Brasil e no Mundo: subsídios e programa e-Brasil, edited by Peter Knight, Ciro Fernandes and Maria Alexandra Cunha, com mais de 60 autores e 500 páginas, should be published in march of 2007, also by Yendis. An international edition in English is also planned. The e-Brasil Portal is already online. It is a meeting place where the internaut can find information and discussions related to the use of ICTs to build a more equitable and competitive Brazil. The portal seeks to attract organizations from the Brazilian ICT sector as partners so that they can show the contribution they can make to achieving these two fundamental objectives. Another goal of the Portal is to help build consensus around public policies which favor the achievement of these same objectives. The e-Brasil project also has a  strategic communication campaign in the print and electronic media. Financial resources donated to the e-Brasil project will be channeled through the Euclides da Cunha Foundation of the Federal Fluminense University. See the sponsors to date and details on donations. Read an executive summary of the project:  Executive Summary of the e-Brasil Project Over the last twenty-five years, Brazil’s economic growth has been unsteady and averaged less than half the rate achieved over the period 1920-1980. Brazil’s growth has also been much less than that of India and China, to mention two large and complex countries, of the Asian “Tigers”, Chile and Costa Rica in Latin America, and of European countries such as and Finland and Ireland. Brazil suffers from social problems rooted in a highly unequal distribution of income, education, and wealth that reduces economic competitiveness, threatens social cohesion, and undermines public safety. The country is undergoing its worst political crisis since the re-democratization of the country in the 1980s. Public frustration with crime, corruption, unresponsive political institutions, tortoise-like judicial systems, and lack of economic opportunities is rampant. There is no real consensus on development strategy among key elites or the public at large. President Juscelino Kubitschek transformed the country in the 1950s with his vision of fifty years of progress in five. Today, with skilled leadership, Brazil can formulate a broadly shared vision for accelerated economic and social development and build the consensus to make that vision a reality. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) play a major role in national development strategies of some fast-growing countries and are powerful tools for enhancing competitiveness in today’s global and knowledge-driven economy. Examples are Canada, Finland, Ireland, and Singapore. E-governance can save citizens and enterprises time and money, cut the costs of government, improve the quality of public services, facilitate lifelong learning, increase transparency, reduce opportunities for corruption, increase public safety, contribute to judicial reform, and encourage citizen participation. It can also facilitate institutional re-design, especially in public administration, improving efficiency, streamlining organization, and facilitating decision-making and the formulation of public policies.   The e-Brasil project was launched in October 2005 to help design and implemtnt a new development strategy supported by ICTs. In addition to this site, there is information on the project available in English and Portuguese at www.e-brasil.org.br.  During the electoral year of 2006, the project team carried out systematic research on the best international and Brazilian practices in e-edevelopment and mobilized Brazilian and international expertise with the support of an Advisory Committee composed of internationally recognized Brazilian and international specialists. Public events (international and national conferences, seminars, courses, and speeches), publications, and a strategic communications campaign using print and electronic media will promote a national debate on an attractive new vision for Brazil’s development Brazil. Among the e-Brasil achievements in 2006 were the publication of two books.  The first is a small promotional book, Rumo ao e-Brasil (Toward e-Brazil), published by Editora Garamond of Rio de Janeiro in  May. Authored by the project's coordinator, Peter Knight, it also included a preface by Carlos Alberto Wanderley and a debate among specialists, business peopleand journalists held in São Paulo in January. The Second book,e-Brasil: Um programa para acelerar o desenvolvimento socioeconômico aproveitando a convergência digital (e-Brasil: A program for accelerating socio-economic development taking advantage of the digital convergence) was published in September by Editora Yendis of São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo. It is based on project documents and papers on international and Brazilian best practices in e-development prepared for the project, many of them presented at an international conference held near the prize-winning digital town of Piraí 22-24 May 2006. It includes a summary of those papers, suggestions of the project team for new public policies and a national e-development strategy (The e-Brasil Program), and the Ten Point Program for e-Brasil Candidates, a prioritized list of policies which the project team hopes will find their way into government programs of candidates. That happened in a number of cases in the 2006 elections. The next elections will be at the municipal level in 2008.  The third and most complete book, with some 40 chapters and over 500 pages will be published in March 2007, also by Yendis. The authors of the second and third books represent diverse political affiliations, regional bases, and sectoral specializations, but they share a common interest in e-develoopment. Copies of the second book were made available to the presidential and gubernatorial candidates, their principal advisors, and public opinion makers. The full text is available on the Internet on this site and at www.e-brasil.org.br. An interactive Internet portal (Portal e-Brasil) was developed by Matemart Computação (www.matemart.com.br) with support from BRISA (www.brisa.org.br) and  da Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda. During its first year the portal (located at www.e-brasil.org.br) is being financed by the Development Gateway Foundation será financiado pela Development Gateway Foundation and by Brazilian sponsors. It includes a sub-portal for the e-Brasil project. Other sub-portals include content mobilized by various professional and trade associations of the Brazilian ICT sector that become partners of the portal.  Partners can show the contribution they can make to achieving these two fundamental e-Brasil objectives and participate in portal debates and campaigns. Another goal of the Portal is to help build consensus around public policies which favor the achievement of these same objectives. The strategic communication campaign lanunched in 2006 is being accelerated in 2007 with the professional support of Comunicarte. Strategic alliances with professional and trade associations are being established -- the first are with the Brazilian Telecomunications Association (TELECOM) and the Brazilian Chamber of Electronic Comerce During 2007 the project team will work with newly elected state and federal governments to develop policies, programs, and projects to implement the e-Brasil strategy at the federal and state levels. Seminars, conferences, publications and media events are also being planned. For projects developed within the e-Brasil framework the team will help to mobilize funding from international financial institutions, and to attract needed private investment. The e-Brasil project is being conducted by a core team of four e-development and e-government specialists – supplemented by consultants and research assistants to the extent resources are available. The project also receives guidance from an Advisory Council  composed of world class professionals from Brazil, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States, and international Institutions. The project also has an office provided by the Association of Mayors of the Municípios of the State of Rio de Janeiro (APREMERJ) and a tax-free account administered by the Euclides da Cunha Foundation of the Fluminense Federal Univeristy, where financial resources donated to the project are deposited and audited. The project also accepts donations of goods and services. The project team is seeking financing from Brazilian, European and North American sources and from international organizations. The team hopes that the necessary financing can be obtained for components or specific modules – including conferences, workshops, seminars, publications, and development projects conceived within the e-Brasil strategic framework. During 2006, specific proposals were prepared for four priority sub-projects – the international conference, the e-Brasil books, the e-Brasil Portal, and the strategic communication campaign. These proposals as well as the overall project proposal, are available for potential donors. Information on how to make electronic deposits in the project bank account administered by the Euclides da Cunha Foundation, and the logos of the organizations that have already contriuted to the project are available on this site.   Updated on 13/01/2007