Letter IEDI n. 1264—Special 35 Years of the IEDI
On May 23, 1989, the IEDI was conceived by a group of prominent national industrial entrepreneurs who understood that thinking about the development of their country is an important and non-delegable duty with the Nation, nurturing and strengthening the debate about a National Project with the State and Brazilian society.
It emerged and remained over the years as an Institute of technical studies, free from partisanship and corporatism, and with a long-term vision. Its purpose is to analyze the evolution of Brazil’s economy and industry and propose principles and actions for a development strategy that would ensure sustained economic growth and better living conditions for our population.
Today's Letter IEDI is a special edition in celebration of the Institute's 35th anniversary, in which Guilherme Gerdau Johannpeter, its current President, and Eugênio Staub, Emeritus Counselor, Former President and Founding Member, reflect on the motivations and convictions that permeate the history of the IEDI and that continue to function as its pillars of support.
The timing of this reflection is also opportune for another reason. Just as in the period of the IEDI's creation, when information technology advanced and productive and financial globalization gained speed, the world today is also undergoing profound transformations, with the emergence of the so-called “industry 4.0”, the intensification of commercial and technological competition between the US and China and growing geopolitical tensions. All this, under the pressure of climate change derived from global warming.
Once again, it is essential for Brazil to have a strategic vision, steaming from the democratic debate and from the construction of consensus around its potential and the necessary means to carry it out, at the risk of moving further away from the “world standard.” It is an invigorating context for the IEDI's work.
The interviews that make up this Special Letter were granted to the Institute's economists, Julio S. Gomes de Almeida and Rafael F. Cagnin, in the second half of May 2024.
